Jesus Himself says in Mark 1:15, that both "repentance and faith" are the core of the Gospel Message. He also says in Luke 13:1-5, that "unless you (sinners) repent, you will likewise perish". Again, He says in John chapter 3 that the sinner must be "born from above", in order to be saved. What I pointed out to you about quoting only the passage from Ephesians, that here Paul does not speak of "repenting", which shows that all of the requirements for salvation are not in this passage. No sinner can be "in Jesus", is they are "unrepentant", which is what some of the "Reformed" teach, when they insist that this is not a pre-requirement for ALL in order to be saved. It is such teachings that are "false", and not based on the Bible.
I am attempting to be brief as not to weary you and loose your concentration. If this becomes a problem, I will try to shorten the posts even more.
I assumed that you were aware that there is two types of sorrow.
They are best expressed (imo) in 2 Corinthians 7:
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, (leading to) salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Let’s see how it is that Luke 13 shows the statement of Christ concerning this same type of repentance:
1Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
2And Jesus said to them, “Do you
suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? 3“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
4“Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were
worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?
5“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
6And He
began telling
this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.
7“And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’
8“And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer;
9and if it bears fruit next year,
fine; but if not, cut it down.’”
First what the Lotd is stating:
1) He was acknowledging the Jews were taught what we might think of as “retribution theology.” That the amount or type of punishment is equal to the level and/or type of sin committed.
2) He is showing such thinking is false, that unless those listening repent (change the direction they are going) they also will perish.
3) He is giving the parable of the fig tree as an example that God, although agrees with the keepers for a time and is patient, will not tolerate the continual rebellious Jews (or anyone that bears His name that is obstinately rebellious) but will “cut them down.” (This done in 70AD). It was also that of some believers in both Acts and 1 Corinthians.
4) Fruit was the outward display (John the Baptist said, “...meat for or of”) that repentance has occurred rather than mere worldly sorrow. Like the old commercial, “Where’s the beef?”
What is not being stated.
1) Repentance brings salvation as in eternal life. Neither Luke nor 2 Corinthians have that focus.
2) The repentance precedes salvation. Neither this passage in Luke nor Corinthians is about eternal life, but physically not being “cut down.”.
So what is a summery.
The changed person bears fruit. No changed person bears fruit.
Taken the above with 2 Corinthians, one can see that God is directly involved in the repentance that leads to salvation (life preservation) and God is also involved in “cutting down” those who don’t turn their life around.
Pay attention to this, for this is vital. In neither passage is salvation as far as the eternal state as what is in play! I have repeated on purpose this so that, in your reading, you might have less chance of missing the truth.
Often this is missed in the rush to exuberance! Rather, both passages is the folks being saved or not from early physical death.
The believers were already believers when Paul addressed their repentance, because some had already been taken for excessive sinfulness. Example: in this group Paul earlier wrote “...some of you are already asleep....”
In the Luke passage, it was the physical death the Jews were concerned, and not eternal death.
If you think I am wrong, you need to use more Scriptures to prove your thinking, not just post a reference. Because then we know if you actually have a framework from which to draw your statements, as I demonstrated , above.
