This is my first post for quite a while. Thanks to all who prayed for our family in the loss of our son Matthew a little over 13 months ago. There is nothing that I have yet encountered in my life, or in the lives of others that compares to the sorrow of burying your children, except perhaps burying them with the knowledge that they did not know the Lord Jesus. Thankfully, Matthew’s faith was evident and has been a great comfort. For those who do not know us and would like to know about his illness and homegoing, go to MatthewPrince.net...
Here is a summary statement on "Repentance" in regard to salvation. I began the study of repentance while in college in 1974. I have spent many many many hours working through the meanings of metanoia, metanoew, metamellomai, and ametamelatos, the four Greek words translated "repent..." in the NT.
Repentance, as a condition for salvation, is not a turning from sin or a grief and sorrow over sin. These elements are present in passages that speak of a believer repenting, but never present in passages which speak of an unbeliever repenting and trusting Christ. The word that is always used in passages relating to saving faith means to change the mind. Unbelievers must change their mind and recognize that they are sinners and totally without the capacity to do anything to save themselves. They must turn from reliance on self-effort and fully trust in the sufficiency of the death of Jesus on the cross. They could not turn from sin, it is both within and without. Some people are joyful at learning of God’s grace in providing salvation. If repentance for salvation required an overwhelming sorrow over sin, one would have to say that a person who was focused on the grace and mercy of God at the moment of salvation was therefore not saved. Some may experience a deep conviction of sin, but this is not what saves them. Salvation comes as a result of their faith in the total sufficiency of Christ’s death on the cross.
In reading this thread I have noted a fair amount of discussion concerning being sorry for one’s sins, or even for one’s sinful state. THIS IS NOT REPENTANCE! As DHK has consistently emphasized, repentance is a "change of mind" when speaking of salvation. It is not a "turning from sin" or a "turning from a sinful lifestyle". Can children be saved? What if they have no great sins? What if the worst they have ever done was to disobey their parents? Should they experience a great conviction of terrible sin?
Does the Holy Spirit convict of specific sins (reprove, convince - Gk elegchw - w=omega, long oh sound) - What saith the Scripture? John 16:8-11 "8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged."
The Holy Spirit convicts unbelievers of the sin of UNBELIEF. In reality that is the only sin that will send a sinner to hell. He may burn hotter depending on the number and degree of his sins, but his loss or salvation is determined purely on the basis of whether or not his name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev 20:11-15). No one goes to hell because of their sins. They go to hell because they have not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Interesting, I did not see that anyone on this thread mentioned that John does not use any form of the word "repent" anywhere in his gospel. He simply says things like:
John 1:12-13 - 12 – But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 3:16-18 – 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:36 – 36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 5:24 – 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Why is a person condemned? Because they were not sorry for their sins? Hardly! Rather it is due to their failure to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I find it a little hard to swallow that there are people who call themselves Baptists and yet believe that a person once saved, can be lost! The "security of the saints" is a foundational Baptist belief! The belief that you can lose it, is a Wesleyan concept, not Baptist, at least not historical Baptist. The umbrella has gotten too big when a person who does not believe in the security of the saints fits comfortably under the designation "Baptist" – IMHO, of course.
One other thought is that more people need to repent of their own self-righteousness than their sin. Very few people believe that sin is OK, in my experience. Many people believe that their efforts at self-righteousness can somehow commend them before the Lord. That was the problem with the Jews. When Peter told the Jews at Pentecost "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38), he was not preaching to a sinful crowd, but to righteous crowd. These were the most zealous people on earth as far as human righteousness was concerned. When the rich young ruler told Jesus, "all these have I kept from my youth up", Jesus did not question the reality of the fact that as far as men were concerned, he was indeed righteous. The Jews in Acts 2 needed to repent because they thought that their righteousness was sufficient to gain them entrance into heaven – they needed to repent of THEIR OWN righteousness and trust in the righteousness which is by faith in Jesus Christ. Philp 3:9 "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:" The righteousness which is of the law can never save!
When Jesus told the Jews, "Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3,5) the problem was that they thought they were righteous. The believed the Galilaeans who Pilate had slaughtered and the eighteen in Siloam who were killed when the tower fell were evil sinners who deserved God’s judgement. By contrast they believed themselves righteous. Jesus said, "NO, UNLESS YOU CHANGE YOUR MINDS (about righteousness) YOU WILL ALL PERISH!" (my own paraphrase) The problem was that they believed they were righteous and therefore they were lost. The sinners who know they are lost can come to Christ much easier than those who believe themselves to be righteous. Hence, "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Mat 9:13).
Personally I find it to be the epitome of arrogance to believe that my own pitiful attempts at righteousness can either GET me saved, or KEEP me saved. I am depending on His Grace, not my works. To believe that I have some part in keeping myself saved is to trust in the sufficiency of my own righteousness – and that is a WORKS BASED SALVATION that Paul calls an accursed message (Gal 1:8). He could not have used any stronger language to condemn a message that exalts human effort as opposed to divine sovereign grace.
Oh, well that is my first salvo across the bow for quite some time now. Let’s see if the course of this discussion is in any way altered or if this ship continues to plow ahead on the same tack!
