Repentance
God has given us each a ministry. Every believer has been
given a commission from our Lord to spread the gospel, the good
news about God’s free gift of grace, to all creation – “making
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to
observe all that He has commanded.” My particular piece of
this ministry has evolved over the years by asking questions
about things most of us have taken for granted, unearthing and
exposing myths that have arisen over time – of which many of us
have bought in to. These distortions of truths taught by
Jesus, though perhaps initially innocuous, over time, some of
these distortions have polluted the simplicity of the gospel
message.
The simple formula of the gospel we should all remember is this:
Grace + Faith + Nothing = Salvation (Chart).
Since Jesus returned to heaven, attempts to complicate this
simple message are the constant worry of teachers like me.
I fear that some people may have heard a gospel of works rather
than the gospel of grace and that they may have rejected Jesus
needlessly not realizing the reality of grace, unmerited favor.
I am zealous for the unabridged version of the gospel to be
declared. I want to make sure that no one gets left out of
heaven because they were told and believed a lie rather than the
truth – I want them to decide where they will spend eternity
based on the simple gospel of grace.
The doctrine of repentance is one of those things that may have
perhaps been misunderstood and distorted the simple gospel
message.
G3340. metanoeo, met-an-o-eh'-o; a compound word derived
from G3326 meta, met-ah'; (to transfer, change, or
modify) and G3539 noieo, noy-eh'-o; (perception, thought,
comprehension, consideration); i.e. to think differently,
reconsider, change direction:-- v. repent. &
(G3341) n. repentance
Occurs 54 times in the New Testament.
The Greek word metanoeo is always rendered “repent” in the KJV
and NASB. The word means to reconsider or re-think
something. Though we have been led to believe that this
word is heavily associated with sin, it is not directly
connected to the idea of sinfulness. The thing that must
be reconsidered is always contextual. For example, in the
Old Testament in the book of Jonah, we find God repenting of the
destruction He had planned for Nineveh.
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." – Matthew
3:2, 4:17
Often we have perhaps been led
to believe that we must “repent from sin” in order to be saved.
We have been told that repentance must precede saving faith.
Salvation cannot occur without repentance from sin, they tell
us. Somehow it has become a pre-qualification before one
can be saved. While this sounds right, there is no solid
teaching that I could find in the New Testament to support this
doctrine. Peter’s message at Pentecost was not that they
should repent of their sins – but that they must change their
minds about what they believed concerning Jesus so that they
might receive forgiveness of sins. Let us re-read these
passages:
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;
repent (change your mind) and believe in the gospel (good
news about God’s free gift of grace)." – John the Baptist
speaking in Mark 1:15
“Repent for the kingdom of God
is at hand” was both the message of John the Baptist and Jesus.
John’s ministry was to prepare the way of the Lord and in so
doing he called the people to change their thinking about the
imminent appearance of the Messiah. In the Jordan River
John baptized those who came to renew their belief in the
expectancy of His coming. Jesus and His disciples began
their ministry preaching that all should repent and believe the
gospel. We have assumed that repent referred to sin, but
clearly it is in reference to belief – about the good news of
God’s love for all people.
Listen to words Peter uses in his sermon on the day of
Pentecost:
37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the
heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,
"Brethren, what shall we do?"
38 And Peter said to them, "Repent, and let each of
you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness
of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
– Acts 2:37-38
By the way, these same verses have been used to promote a
doctrine of the necessity of baptism to salvation.
Peter’s sermon on the day of
Pentecost is quoted most often as the support for this
mis-understanding of repentance. But most scholars agree
that Peter’s reference to repentance in Acts 2:38 was with
regard to their belief about the identity of Jesus. Peter
urged them to “reconsider” their unbelief, and believe that
Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah, Christ the Lord.
Note the people were “pierced to the heart” meaning they were
ready candidates for switching their unbelief into belief – and
that day about three thousand souls were added.
But I submit that requiring people to “repent of their sin”
before they are saved or as a pre-qualification for receiving
salvation, we are significantly modifying the gospel message and
the pure truth cannot be realized. Unbelief is the enemy
of the unsaved, not sin. They must repent of their
unbelief. (REPEAT)
So what is the place of “repentance from sin”? While I
cannot find this terminology used by the New Testament writers,
certainly this is a favorable behavior and necessary to live the
abundant life i.e., Romans chapters 6-8 – abandoning the mind
set of flesh in favor of a mind set on the Spirit.
8 "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU,
IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART"-- that is, the word of faith
which we are preaching,
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,
and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you
shall be saved;
10 for with the heart one believes, resulting in
righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in
salvation. – Romans 10:8-10
In this sense repentance is necessary before salvation. To
be saved, one must “turn” from unbelief to belief, confessing
and believing that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the
practice of faith, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
Word of God (More specifically the words of Christ).
Grace + Faith + Nothing = Salvation
If you want the biblical declaration on how to be saved, Paul
tells us plainly, “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord
will be saved.” – Romans 10:13