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What is repentance and is it necessary for salvation ?
to mean " turning from sin " This is not the biblical definition of repentance. In the Bible, the word repent means " to change one 's mind. " The Bible also tells
us that true repentance will result in a change of actions ( Luke 3:8-14 ; Acts 3 : 19 ). Acts 26:20 declares, " I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. " The full biblical definition of repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of action.
What, then, is the connection between repentance and salvation? The Book of Acts seems to especially focus on repentance in regards to salvation ( Acts 2:38 ; 3:19; 11:18; 17:30; 20:21; 26:20). To repent, in relation to salvation, is to change your mind in regard to Jesus Christ. In Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2), he concludes with a call for the people to repent Acts (2:38). Repent from what? Peter is calling the people who rejected Jesus (Acts 2:38) to change their minds about Him, to recognize that He Is indeed
" Lord and Christ " (Acts 2:36). Peter is calling the people to change their minds from rejection of Christ as the Messiah to faith in Him as both Messiah and Savior.
Repentance and faith can be understood as "two sides of the same coin." It is impossible to place your faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior without first changing your mind about who He is and what He has done. Whether it is repentance from willful rejection or repentance from ignorance or disinterest, it is a change of mind. Biblical repentance, in relation to salvation, is changing your mind from rejection of Christ to faith in Christ.
It is crucially important that we understand repentance is not a work we do not earn salvation. No one can repent and come to God unless God pulls that person
to Himself (John 6:44). Acts 5:31 and 11:18 indicate that repentance is something God gives-it is only possible because of His grace. No one can repent
unless God grants repentance. All of salvation, in including repentance and faith ,
is a result of God drawing us, opening our eyes, and changing our hearts. God's
long suffering leads us to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), as does His kindness
(Romans 2:4).
While repentance is not a work that earns salvation, repentance unto salvation
does result in works. It is impossible to truly and fully change your mind without
that causing a change in action. In the Bible, repentance results in a change in
behavior. That is why John the Baptist called people to "produce fruit in keeping
with repentance " (Matthew 3:8). A person who has truly repented from rejection
of Christ to faith in Christ will give evidence of a changed life (2 Corinthians 5:7;
Galatians 5:19-23; James 2:14-26). Repentance, property defined, is necessary
for salvation. Biblical repentance is changing your mind about Jesus Christ and
turning to God in faith for salvation (Acts 3:19). Turning from sin is not the definition of repentance, but it is one of the results of genuine, faith-based
repentance towards the Lord Jesus Christ.
GotQuestions
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by thewatchman on
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"I tell you, Nay: but, except [unless] ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3,5).
"But now [God] commandeth [commands] all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30).
Now please, this does not mean that I have saved myself, Christ Jesus was the only one without sin that could have possibly saved me, BUT repentance is absolutely necessary, just as all of the other commands in the Word. That does not say that I am saving myself, but that I am saved IF I follow the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ died for all who will believe upon Him and follow Him. If this is not the case, then I beg someone to tell me why are there those that will not be saved?
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Permalink Reply by JB on
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I believe the only sin that will send a person to hell, is the rejection of Jesus Christ as their savior. If sin would send you to hell, which one will it be? Rom.14 says that whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
And if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1Jo.1:8.
Not trying to minimize sin, but to magnify and glorify the grace of God.
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Continuance in sin is a direct rejection of Christ Jesus. I would almost be inclined to write the whole Bible over again here, but it would not be possible. How do you magnify and glorify God??? No sin is able to penetrate the standards and precepts of the Bible. It does not lower for anyone. It's a thin red line that stays the same all throughout eternity, it does not measure you, you are measured by it. Please do not be deceived.
Matthew Henry Commentary
1:5-10 A message from the Lord Jesus, the Word of life, the eternal Word, we should all gladly receive. The great God should be represented to this dark world, as pure and perfect light. As this is the nature of God, his doctrines and precepts must be such. And as his perfect happiness cannot be separated from his perfect holiness, so our happiness will be in proportion to our being made holy. To walk in darkness, is to live and act against religion. God holds no heavenly fellowship or intercourse with unholy souls. There is no truth in their profession; their practice shows its folly and falsehood. The eternal Life, the eternal Son, put on flesh and blood, and died to wash us from our sins in his own blood, and procures for us the sacred influences by which sin is to be subdued more and more, till it is quite done away. While the necessity of a holy walk is insisted upon, as the effect and evidence of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus, the opposite error of self-righteous pride is guarded against with equal care. All who walk near to God, in holiness and righteousness, are sensible that their best days and duties are mixed with sin. God has given testimony to the sinfulness of the world, by providing a sufficient, effectual Sacrifice for sin, needed in all ages; and the sinfulness of believers themselves is shown, by requiring them continually to confess their sins, and to apply by faith to the blood of that Sacrifice. Let us plead guilty before God, be humble, and willing to know the worst of our case. Let us honestly confess all our sins in their full extent, relying wholly on his mercy and truth through the righteousness of Christ, for a free and full forgiveness, and our deliverance from the power and practice of sin.
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How do you magnify and glorify God???
Maybe you should reread my post, where did I say to magnify God? I said, "to reiterate my statement" I said to magnify and glorify the GRACE of God.
QT. Not trying to minimize sin, but to magnify and glorify the grace of God.
Magnify = Syn. Enlarge, Expand, Amplify, Increase, Augment.
Glorify = Syn. Worship, adore, Lionize, Exalt, Deify.
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Oh I'm very sorry JB for misinterpreting your words, guess it was just because the Bible tells us nothing about magnifying the grace of God, or to minimize sin. Neither in the Bible is correct.
1 Pet. 4:11. "That God in all things may be glorified."
l Cor. 10:31. "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
Please know that the chief end of man is to Glorify God, guess that's probably what I was thinking about.
I just find that to glorify anything else but God is to give Glory, Power, and Honor to something else. God is worthy of all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory, period.
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Serious, my friend. Why do you think I was trying to be facetious?
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By trying to say you were sorry, when all along you were actually telling a lie. what else could you call it?
Oh, I’m sorry as well, because I can see now you were not trying to be facetious, you were actually being facetious.
QT. “man, is to Glorify God.”
Do you glorify God in your responses to others?
How does a person glorify God?
If God can be glorified by man, why then couldn't His Grace be glorified as well. Would probably do you good to study what glorification means.
We, rather I esteem the grace of God above sin. Therefore, minimizing sin, and glorifying "exalting" the grace of God.
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Just a few scripture to show that "glory" is used more than glory to God.
I heard a preacher say one time that, there are a lot of people that are so heavenly minded, they are no earthly good.
Again, not to be judgmental of course.
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And I have never heard a preacher say that there are a lot of people that are so heaveanly minded that they are no earthly good; You were listening to the wrong preacher, my friend. Heavenly minded is THE best way to live. That is a lie straight from the devil.
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Watchman, Have you ever studied what a Pharisee is? Vines has a very informative explanation of it.
Qt.
In their zeal for the Law they almost deified it and their attitude became merely external, formal, and mechanical. They laid stress, not upon the righteousness of an action, but upon its formal correctness.
What the preachers that say such things, about "so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good" is saying that they are so religiously "piously" minded that they can't see any further than the law. i.e. pious ones," were a society of men zealous for religion.
Of course again, not to be judgmental.
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Permalink Reply by journeyman on
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Repentance is then necessary for salvation. Accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is repenting from not accepting him as Lord and Savior. We must turn from and change our ways about sin. We must want to stop the sinning and turn ourselves over to Christ. As we realize what God the Father has done for us by giving us his Son for us it becomes clearer what is the way to repentance.
I enjoyed your article David.
your Brother in Christ,
journeyman
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