Quick Question

cm24 said:

I was wondering, if we are saved by grace alone, why does Jesus tell us to repent? Repentance, or to be repentant, is an act, or work. If no work can save us, only faith, why does He ask us to do the work of repentance?

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Repentance is a gift from God.

2 Timothy 2:25-26 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Acts 11:18 and 2 Peter 3:9 are two of the many verses that teach that repentance is necessary for salvation.

My favorite: 2 Timothy 2:25-26 (NIV)
Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Repent is NOT an addition to salvation but PART of salvation along with Grace.

The whole of Scripture teaches salvation by grace through faith, but at the same time, the first and initial act of obedience in the early church, the first and initial act of obedience was the public confession of that faith. Repentance basically means at salvation, we repent of our sins which is a willingness in our hearts to want to turn away from all our known sins and give them to Jesus. Christians are quick to learn that sin is destructive and besides that they don't want to offend their Loving Father. Biblically, a person who repents does not continue willfully in sin. Repentance is a turning from sin, and it always results in changed behavior (Luke 3:8). While sorrow from sin is not equivalent to repentance, it is certainly an element of scriptural repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10).

There will be a lot of people who will claim Jesus as Lord of their lives, but won't truly repent of their sins and won't submit to the commands of the Word of God in reference to the habit pattern of their lives.

Well, GEL and Jim beat me to the punch. But just for fun, I'll repeat it: repentance is a privilege, and it is the precious gift of God. Repenting of our sins isn't something we do to keep God happy. Rather, it's God's way of setting us free of our sins. So God's grace to us is that we should repent of our sins and trust that Christ has forgiven us for them.

cm24 said:

I was wondering, if we are saved by grace alone, why does Jesus tell us to repent? Repentance, or to be repentant, is an act, or work. If no work can save us, only faith, why does He ask us to do the work of repentance?

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Ok since I am way behind.....I would also like to add to all the above answers. Repentance is also way for us to build our relationship with God in our spiritual walk. Keeping our eyes on Him at all times.

Initially Repentance and Faith are two sides of the same coin. By repentance your turning away from sin, by faith, you’re turning towards God. Repentance is humbling ourselves before God so we are ready at all times to hear his voice. It is not a work in that regard; it is an action I believe based on the choice we have to repent or not once having heard the gospel.

As Christians the Bible does teach us a "way" of living. Not that it will get us any closer to heaven than our belief (Heb 1:11). Salvation is a free Grace (gift) from God based on that belief. Because we believe, we see that Gods way is better than our way of living. And we will constantly struggle with our flesh side. (naturally gravitating to focus on worldly things as opposed to Godly things) By nature we are sinful, by nature we don't want to do what is right. But because of Gods gift - we now can recognize this within ourselves. When we notice something sinful about our nature - repentance is telling God, we see the error in our ways. It is an acknowledgement to him.

Think of it this way. Your father unconditionally loves you and you know this by all the sacrifices He has made and things he has done to show you. But he has asked you to do things a certain way. But you make a mistake and do things your way or another way. And feel badly for this. Why do you feel badly? Because you know your father loves you, and it hurts him when you go against him. And you don't want to disappoint him as that He has given you so much. It is out of Respect, an awe for how much he means to you. (This is the correct fear of God - Godly fear is “revere” or “reverence”) So you apologize and never do it again (or try not to!) With salvation we are graced with the knowledge when we are doing things wrong. It is a tool for building our relationship with him.

cm24 said:

I was wondering, if we are saved by grace alone, why does Jesus tell us to repent? Repentance, or to be repentant, is an act, or work. If no work can save us, only faith, why does He ask us to do the work of repentance?

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Repentence isn't a work, and repentence isn't necessary to salvation.

Faith alone saves--all the repentence in the world will not save.

Suppose there is this guy who robs a bank and kills 12 people. He doesn't get caught, but he is full of remorse; he didn't want to kill those people! He cries, he wails, he totally goes over and over how sorry he is and wishes he could do it over and not kill anyone, in fact, he wouldn't even rob the bank at all. That's repentence, to rethink what you did and come into line with the moral way of doing things. But there's no interaction with God at all, no relationship, no asking for forgiveness, no admission that Christ's death on the cross cancelled the sin.

The only thing that would save that bank robber is if he admits he is a sinner, believes that God has made a way through Jesus's death on the cross to erase the sin, confesses that he needs Christ as a savior and determines to have God be his master forever. Faith is not an emotion, it is not a rethinking of past behavior, it is not crying or wailing. It is a commission of your life, past, present and future, to the Lord Jesus Christ. All the repentence in the world has no effect on one's soul. Faith alone saves.

cm24 said:

I was wondering, if we are saved by grace alone, why does Jesus tell us to repent? Repentance, or to be repentant, is an act, or work. If no work can save us, only faith, why does He ask us to do the work of repentance?

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Hi cm24:

Here's my post to a similar question:

"repentance in salvation verses - in those, the Greek meaning is "to change one's mind", not to be sorry for or to turn from sin (good things to do once a person is saved).
"It is so easy to get confused about this, because today's dictionaries would define repentance as something like "to be sorry for or to turn from sin". The thing we have to watch out for is to stick with the original meaning of the word (when it was first penned by the writers of the Bible when they dealt with salvation). The Gospel of John never even uses the word. I am not making all this up - this is common conservative evangelical teaching in Greek, and could be checked out on various websites. An excellent and scholarly one is www.faithalone.org/journal/1991i/wilkin.html


"Here’s an example of biblical repentance (to change one's mind) and salvation, in the hopes of making this clearer:

"Joe repented (changed his mind) about salvation - he used to think a person was saved by good works, but then he changed his mind and realized a person must make the decision to trust in Christ alone and His work on the cross, without counting on any good works of his own."

Finally, clear salvation verses such as John 3:16 and Acts 16:31 tell us to "believe" (rely upon or trust in), rather than to "believe and behave".

Hope this helps friend, when words change their meaning it can get pretty tricky. Aloha in Jesus

lambslove said:

Repentence isn't a work, and repentence isn't necessary to salvation.

Faith alone saves--all the repentence in the world will not save.

Suppose there is this guy who robs a bank and kills 12 people. He doesn't get caught, but he is full of remorse; he didn't want to kill those people! He cries, he wails, he totally goes over and over how sorry he is and wishes he could do it over and not kill anyone, in fact, he wouldn't even rob the bank at all. That's repentence, to rethink what you did and come into line with the moral way of doing things. But there's no interaction with God at all, no relationship, no asking for forgiveness, no admission that Christ's death on the cross cancelled the sin.

The only thing that would save that bank robber is if he admits he is a sinner, believes that God has made a way through Jesus's death on the cross to erase the sin, confesses that he needs Christ as a savior and determines to have God be his master forever. Faith is not an emotion, it is not a rethinking of past behavior, it is not crying or wailing. It is a commission of your life, past, present and future, to the Lord Jesus Christ. All the repentence in the world has no effect on one's soul. Faith alone saves.

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Lambslove I haft to disagree with that, repentence is verry necessary for salvation.

Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

We haft to have a change of mind and ways before conversion.
Converted is the strongest word used for salvation.

Judas never repented and he was never converted. Had he repented(had a change of mind) he could have been converted. For Judas thought Jesus was going to set up a earthly kingdom, and he wanted to be the tresurer of that kingdom.

Aberham believed God and it was counted to him for righitousness. And by doing what god said he was justified.

Jam 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

Jam 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

Rom 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for rightousness.

It is not faith alone it is faith plus works


So it is repent and be converted.

bethdinsmore said:

Hi cm24:

Here's my post to a similar question:

"repentance in salvation verses - in those, the Greek meaning is "to change one's mind", not to be sorry for or to turn from sin (good things to do once a person is saved).

Hope this helps friend, when words change their meaning it can get pretty tricky. Aloha in Jesus

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This is a very good post! You are correct. To Change ones mind!

E.W Bullinger I believe puts this in a good understanding:

The Synonymous Words for "Repent", "Repentance".
This Is Appendix 111 From The Companion Bible.
The Verb.

metanoeo = to change one's mind, always for the better, and morally. Because of this it is often used in the Imperative (Matthew 3:2; 4:17. Acts 2:38; 3:19). Not merely to forsake sin, but to change one's apprehension regarding it. It occurs thirty-four times. It answers to the Latin resipisco = to recover one's senses, to come to one's self.

metamelomai = to regret; to have after care or annoyance at the consequences of an act of sin rather than a deep regret at the cause from want of not knowing better. Hence it is never used in the Imperative. It occurs six times, and in each case (except Matthew 21:29, 32) never in the real Biblical sense of "repentance toward God". It is from meta = after, and melo = to be an object of care. See notes on 2Corinthians 7:8 and 10. It is used of Judas Iscariot (Matthew 27:3); negatively of Paul's regret (2Corinthians 7:8); and of God (Hebrews 7:21).
The Noun, metameleia, is not used in the New Testament.


The Noun.
metanoia = a real change of mind and attitude toward sin itself, and the cause of it (not merely the consequences of it), which affects the whole life and not merely a single act. It has been defined as a change in our principle of action (Greek nous) from what is by nature the exact opposite. It occurs twenty-four times, and except Hebrews 12:17 is a real "repentance toward God". It is associated with the word of the Holy Spirit, and is connected with the remission of sins and the promises of salvation.

The Negative Adjective, ametameletos, is used twice, videlicet; Romans 11:29, and 2Corinthians 7:10.
http://www.therain.org/appendixes/app111.html

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