Salvation has ONE condition, repentance. And repentance is NOT being sorry for your sins, it's "changing your mind" about who Jesus Christ is. Once you change your mind to understand you are a sinner, once you change you mind to believe Jesus is the Son of God, once you change your mind and believe He lived a sinless life, once you change your mind and believe that he died on the cross to pay for every sin (past, present, future), once you change your mind and believe that Jesus was resurrected and defeated sin and death, once you change your mind and believe that the only way to go to heaven is through believing/accepting Christ as your savior (i.e. FAITH), then you are SAVED from that moment you first believe, throughout eternity!
Well, I don't know which Bible you are reading, but that is certainly not true.
Repentance involves a Godly Sorrow:
2 Corinthians 7:10 says, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death"
We even see in the "
Parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee" that the tax collector was more justified than the pharisee because he cried out to God to have mercy on him for his sins (Luke 18:9-14).
A. Repentance Part 1:
Calling out to God for forgiveness (or the Sinner's Prayer):
The word "repent" can be used in Scripture so as to mean a prayer unto God for the forgiveness of a specific transgression (with that person intending to turn away from their evil). For Peter told Simon the Sorcerer to repent of his wickedness by way of prayer (
Acts 8:22).
In other words, the word "repent" is just another way of saying the "Sinner's Prayer."
What is the "Sinner's Prayer"? Well, the "Sinner's Prayer" is a prayer towards God admitting that you are a sinner who is in need of His forgiveness and or salvation. While the Sinner's Prayer applies to both the new believer (who comes to the faith for the first time) and or the seasoned believer (who may stumble on occasion), here are verses that just support the Sinner's Prayer for the new believer.
#1.
Romans 10:13 (cross reference with
Joel 2:12-13 and
Joel 2:32).
#2.
Matthew 3:6 (which then lines up with
Matthew 3:8). Also, in
Mark 1:4-5, it says John preached the "baptism of repentance" for the remission of sins (verse 4), and it then defines this "baptism of repentance" by saying they confessed their sins when they were baptized (verse 5).
#3.
Luke 18:9-14 (it is not said whether the Tax Collector is a new convert or a seasoned believer). The point of the parable is that the Tax Collector was "humble."; And we know Scripture says elsewhere that, "God gives grace to the humble." (
James 4:6).
#4.
Acts 2:38,
The New Living Translation says in
Acts 2:38 to "repent of your sins."
Douay Reheims says in
Acts 2:38 to "Do penance."
New Life Version says in
Acts 2:38 to "Be sorry for your sins"
Oh, and as for the seasoned believer and the Sinner's Prayer:
Well, John tells believers to confess their sins so as to be forgiven of their sin -
1 John 1:9.
Side Note 2:
Please also take note that I believe in rare cases a person can be initially saved by merely believing Jesus Christ as their Savior (
John 1:12-13). However, I believe that in time, if the believer has the capacity to do so, they will come to accept those verses in the Bible that teaches them that they will also call upon the Lord to save them from their sinful condition. In other words, it is sort of like the topic of the Trinity (Which is a true teaching in the Bible). A person does not need to know about the Trinity in order to be initially saved. But in time, when they come to later learn of the Trinity, they cannot reject such a truth (after it is was revealed to them), otherwise they would be denying the very God as described in the Holy Scriptures. However, most people are aware "repentance" in the plan of salvation, so most people are without excuse when it comes to "repentance."
B. Repentance Part 2:
Turning Away From Your Sin (i.e. A Life That Shows That You Have Been Born Again Spiritually):
Also, the word "repent" also includes turning away from sin (In addition to a prayer of forgivness towards God, too). For Jesus says that the Ninevites will rise up against this generation because they did not repent at the preaching of Jonah (
Matthew 12:41). If you were to look at
John 3:6-10 we would see that the Ninevite King had told the people to both:
(a) Cry out to God.
(b) Turn away from their wicked ways.
Then when God noticed that the Ninevites had turned from their evil ways, the LORD had then turned away from the destruction He was going to bring upon them.
In fact, a believer is to examine themselves on whether or not Christ lives within them unless they be reprobate (
2 Corinthians 13:5). How can we have an assurance of knowing Christ? Well, 1 John 2:3 says, we can have an assurance in knowing Him if we find that we are keeping His Commandments (i.e. the Commands in the New Testament and not the Old Testament - For even the moral laws have changed because they are no longer attached with death penalties; And Hebrews 7:12 says the Law has changed.).
For true repentance is always followed by right action. We see this in the "
Parable of the Two Sons." (Matthew 21:28-32). For the son who did the will of the father was the son who had repented and then went out and did what his father told him to do. In the "
Parable of the Prodigal Son", when the son returned home, the father said to his son that he was dead and now he is alive again. This is speaking in spiritual terms. The son was dead spiritually when he went prodigal and he became alive again spiritually when he came home to his father and was willing to confess his sin to his father and before heaven and was willing to be a hired hand for his father (Luke 15:11-32).
DarthNeo said:
Ephesians 1:13-14 says, " In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were SEALED in Him with the Holy Spirit OF PROMISE, 14 who is given as a PLEDGE of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory." The Spirit is a SEAL, a PROMISE, and a PLEDGE of our salvation and eternal security!
Belief also implies doing what Jesus says. Remember what Jesus said to Peter when he couldn't walk on the water? Jesus said that Peter had little faith and that he shouldn't have doubted (Matthew 14:21). So belief or faith is tied with action. For Jesus says, why do you call me Lord, Lord if you do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46).
In other words, if a person truly trusts Jesus their belief in Him will help them to walk and do the work that He requires of them.
For this is what
1 Timothy 4:10 says. "Trust." It also says we labor because we "trust" in the living God, too. The two go hand in hand. Labor and trust. Belief and action. Let me give you a real world example:
If God told Rick to sit in his old porch chair that he knew from before was a weak chair and it would easily break under his weight and yet God told Rick to sit in the chair and to not worry what was going to happen, and yet he refused to do so, would Rick be trusting in God? Surely not.
This is why Jesus says if you love me, keep my Commandments (
John 14:15).
Jesus says we are his friends if we keep his Commandments (
John 15:14).
Do you think people who do not love Jesus and who are not his friends will enter the Kingdom of God? Surely not.
But what about Ephesians 1:13-14?
John 6:27 says,
"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed."
Did you catch that?
Those who LABOR for the meat that endures unto everlasting life which is by the gifting and power of Jesus Christ is in whom God the Father has sealed. So we are to LABOR for the food that endures unto everlasting life (Which is a part of our gift in Jesus Christ) in order to have God's seal. If one is not LABORING in this way (they are not truly believing God by doing what He says), and they do no have His seal.
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