Feedback: Salvation and Repentance

R.S. asks,

Your site under the Gospel section - states repent a believe the gospel. My son in law has taken issue with that opening wording. Then you then state—Whoever truly believes this message and turns from their sin (repents) is able to be forgiven....... his issue is with your wording as he is stating ONLY by Christ blood can we be saved. In other words the repenting doesn't save us—Christ blood saves us and moves us to repent and move toward sanctification as we grow to be more like Christ. So guess I am asking clarification here on what your organization believes. Christ blood saves or our repenting of our sins saves?? Told him I think he is splitting hairs here so to speak I think you believe Christ blood saves us .... not our repenting. Could you clarify please. Thanks for all your organization does!

Hello R., thank you for writing to Answers in Genesis.

As a ministry, AiG does not take a stance on several things, including Calvinism vs. Arminianism, Eschatology, Covenant vs. Dispensational theology, etc. And to understand why we don’t, please see this article: Where Do We Draw the Line?.

That being said, it seems your son-in-law’s issue is with the article saying that we must ask for forgiveness and repent as opposed to just having faith in Jesus Christ. Confess is the term usually used in English translations for the process of recognizing our sins and asking God for his forgiveness. Confession would be (and is) the result of the Spirit’s work.

Repentance

Another term that frequently appears in connection with salvation is repenting. Repentance is not just “apologizing” about your sin: it is feeling bad about your sin (as you obviously do) and having a desire (given by the Holy Spirit) to not continue sinning. However, being descendants of the first Adam, we will continue to struggle with sin, this side of glory. But the point that is being addressed in the Bible is that if we have not been saved by grace through faith (i.e. are not true Christians), we will not regret our sin (though perhaps the consequences) and will not seek to change habits, lifestyles, friends, circumstances, etc. (2 Corinthians 7:9–11; 2 Peter 2:22).

The true Christian will feel sorry for their sins, repent, and then go back to following Christ. But as Paul says, he/she will still continue to sin throughout their life. It is the motivation which has been changed by being born again. We sin, but ultimately we don’t want to be in that condition, we regret our sin and by the grace of God go back to following Christ. According to 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

One of our articles on salvation (What Does It Mean to Be “Saved”?) includes the following:

The Bible is clear in several passages how to receive salvation. It doesn’t mean you are perfect after you are saved, but it does mean that you are perfectly forgiven and saved from the penalty of sin by God’s grace.

Ephesians 2:8–9: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Romans 10:9–10: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Acts 16:30–31: He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

These verses point out the importance of belief in Jesus Christ. It is a simple and free gift. It doesn’t matter how many steps you’ve taken away from God; it is only one step back.

I wholeheartedly agree with you that eternal life is a (free) gift from God—and cannot be earned or deserved!

Can Works Earn Our Salvation?

I wholeheartedly agree with you that eternal life is a (free) gift from God—and cannot be earned or deserved! Salvation is by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. As quoted in Ephesians 2:8–9:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Any work that is added nullifies the gospel of grace, for we read in Romans 11:6:

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis or works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

So then grace and works are like oil and water, they don’t mix; they are mutually exclusive!

The Apostle Paul, in Romans 3 and 4, defines and concludes that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. Paul states in Romans 3:23–24, that all are sinners (Romans 3:10–18) and in need of the Savior:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

We also read in Romans 3:28:

For we hold that one is justified (legally declared righteous) by faith apart from works of the law.

And in Romans 4:16, he concludes:

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring.

The author Luke (writing about Paul’s message to the Ephesian church leaders while in Miletus) in Acts 20:21 states,

Testifying both to the Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

First, the Greek word for repentance is metanoia (met-an’-oy-ah is the syllabification according to Blue Letter Bible), which literally means a “change of mind” (the two Greek words put together are meta, which has several possible meanings, but here denotes change, and nous which means mind).

Second, in the New Testament, the words faith and repentance are used somewhat interchangeably. For example, we read in Acts 26, where Paul is testifying of his conversion before King Agrippa, starting in verse 15:

And I said, “Who are you, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

In both of these passages faith and repentance are like opposite sides of the same coin. Paul was commanded by Christ to preach salvation by grace through faith, yet Paul said he was not disobedient to the command and preached repentance! They are different words emphasizing different aspects of the same condition. Faith implies placing your complete trust in Christ, while repentance indicates the changing of one’s mind. In other words, a sinner needs to change his mind in order to place his complete trust in the Savior!

Faith implies placing your complete trust in Christ, while repentance indicates the changing of one’s mind.

It is God’s grace that brings us to recognize our sin and turn to him in repentance (see John 16:7–11 for the Spirit’s role in this), believing by faith that what Jesus has done to accomplish salvation is sufficient, and our good works accomplish nothing in our salvation. Therefore, boasting in self is silenced. No person in heaven will be able to say he is there because he did something in and of himself. Our boast can only be in God and in the finished work of Christ (1 Cor. 1:29–31) accomplished in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Repentance is also described as a gift from God. 2 Timothy 2:24–26 teaches that repentance is graciously granted by God and it reads:

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their sense and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Recall that Jesus taught repentance during his earthly ministry:

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14–15).

And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31–32).

Jesus also taught his disciples to preach the same message:

So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent (Mark 6:12).

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things (Luke 24:45–48).

Since repentance was a part of the message preached by Jesus, and passed on to his disciples to also preach, we also want it to be a part of the gospel message we teach as we point people to him.

I hope this answers your question.