Do you need to repent to be saved?

[Dave M]

Recently I have herd several discussions on whether you need to repent to be saved or not. I believe you do. And my thoughts are as follows.

We know certain types of people who will not enter into heaven Corinthians 6:10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Yet I know drunkards that believe in Christ , but according to the bible unless they stop being a drunkard (repent) they are not getting into heaven. So I would say repentance is necessary to be saved. that is the way I see it. But I will also say that we are still unworthy for heaven making it grace because no matter what we do we are not good enough. what are your thoughts???

Now the other line of thought that we do NOT need repentance seems to come from when Paul was braking out of jail and the Guard asked Paul what he must do to be saved and Paul said believe in Christ They replied,Acts 16:31 "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household no mention of repenting.

I personally think if you truly believe it will cause you to repent and those that say they believe with out repenting do not truly believe they just want fire insurance.

Would love to here your thoughts on the subject

 

[B-A-C]

Matt 4:17; From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Mark 1:15; and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

Luke 13:3; "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Luke 13:5; "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Acts 2:38; Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 3:19; "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
Acts 8:22; "Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.
Acts 17:30; "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,

Rev 2:5; 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

This comment isn't directed at Dave. Just some churches in general. But it seems some pick out just the verses they like and build a doctrine
on it. Then leave out all of the other verses (such as those listed above for example) and say they don't apply anymore.

Whatever doctrine you pick, has to agree with ALL the scriptures. Not just the ones you like.

Also "believing in Jesus" is a phrase tossed around alot. But what does that really mean?
Just that I believe there was a guy named Jesus? That's it? That's all I need to believe?

Or do I need to believe in EVERYTHING about Him? What He taught. What He stood for. What His example was. What His heart was.
Does believing in Him mean I need to be "conformed to His image" and become more and more like Him, and start acting like He did.
Do I need to put off the old man (and it's fleshly desires) and really put on the new man? Do I need to die to the old self (which is
really repenting). When I say I believe in Jesus, does that mean I have to believe the verses above, in which He was speaking? Or
can I forget about all that stuff, and just go on living the way I was living before... the only difference is... "I believe in someone named Jesus".

Rev 2:21; 'I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.

There are people Jesus wants to repent, He gives them time to repent... and yet they "do not want to".

Matt 3:8; "Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;

2 Pet 3:9; The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

 

[Dave M]

BAC that is a most excellent post thank you for sharing !!

 

[Lanolin]

Hmm well in acts the guard was going to kill himself. But Paul told him not to. So presumably he repented of that and didnt...

Just because in some passages it does not explicitly say repent..doesnt mean nobody did.

Repent means stop what you doing, change your mind, and the guard did..

 

[Dave M]

Hmm well in acts the guard was going to kill himself. But Paul told him not to. So presumably he repented of that and didnt...

Just because in some passages it does not explicitly say repent..doesnt mean nobody did.

Repent means stop what you doing, change your mind, and the guard did..

Outstanding !!

 

[Born Again 2004]

For me, the number one problem in some "so-called" Christians is the lack of a repentant heart. This and repenting for salvation is a personal thing between you and God and not for man to discern. Like, for some , "Water Baptism" is a must for repentance and salvation. Though many are saved during the "man-made" act of water-baptism, many are not. Why? Salvation not from the cleansing aspects of the water, it is change in heart towards God; results in a repentant heart towards him.

I recently left my church of 30 years, because the "Ruling Body" change their stance on homosexuality....they will now allow same sex marriages and Gay Pastors in our church. I am not a "homo-phoebe" I simply do not want to worship with or be preached to by persons who say they have Christ in them but, there is no repentance in their heart!

 

[roguesoul]

Recently I have herd several discussions on whether you need to repent to be saved or not. I believe you do. And my thoughts are as follows.

We know certain types of people who will not enter into heaven Corinthians 6:10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Yet I know drunkards that believe in Christ , but according to the bible unless they stop being a drunkard (repent) they are not getting into heaven. So I would say repentance is necessary to be saved. that is the way I see it. But I will also say that we are still unworthy for heaven making it grace because no matter what we do we are not good enough. what are your thoughts???

Now the other line of thought that we do NOT need repentance seems to come from when Paul was braking out of jail and the Guard asked Paul what he must do to be saved and Paul said believe in Christ They replied,Acts 16:31 "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household no mention of repenting.

I personally think if you truly believe it will cause you to repent and those that say they believe with out repenting do not truly believe they just want fire insurance.

Would love to here your thoughts on the subject

I think you can only repent once, then once you've been turned the other way you don't need to continue repenting.

 

[B-A-C]

I think you can only repent once, then once you've been turned the other way you don't need to continue repenting.

Do you only sin once? Or do you keep repeating that sin over and over?

 

[Hekuran]

Repent once or all the time? Both

Christian repentance is a commitment to turn away from pursuing our selfish interest and to follow Jesus. We can make a once-forever decision to follow Christ, but we also need to be renewing that commitment daily.

An analogy with marriage: on the island wedding day a couple make a lifelong commitment to each other. That vow lasts a lifetime.

But at the same time as couple will need to renew their commitment to each every day for the marriage to flourish.

 

[Curtis]

If "repent" means, "to change your mind", and it does, then how can anyone get saved unless they have changed their mind, and ask for salvation? It is kinda hard, but not impossible, to think about evil things while at the same time asking for salvation. This was the whole reason why God brought the flood upon the human race because the imagination of mans heart was evil continually. (Gen 6:5)

Jer 4:14 People of Jerusalem, wash your sins from your hearts and be saved. How long will you hold on to your evil thoughts?

Psa 66:18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

If there is no repentance then the Lord will not hear that persons prayer for salvation.

When the bible says NOT to think upon the things of this world, but on the things above where Christ sits on the right hand of God, that is "repentance"

 

[B-A-C]

But of course, there are "wishy-washy" people who change their minds about things everyday.

 

[roguesoul]

Do you only sin once? Or do you keep repeating that sin over and over?

Sin is an old concept people had before they knew the psychology of behaviour. We also don't need to reduce people down to good or evil actions, because good and evil are only subjective perceptions.

 

[amadeus2]

Sin is an old concept people had before they knew the psychology of behaviour. We also don't need to reduce people down to good or evil actions, because good and evil are only subjective perceptions.

What you say may sound good to men walking in men's ways, but God's Way is not as you say. Men have seemingly progressed phenomenally through technology, but in fixing the real problems that are in the human heart they have failed miserably and do so continuously.

Christianity has not failed but men who have gotten only halfway onto the highway of holiness often have made it seem that way. Redefining sin or saying that it doesn't really exist doesn't change what God has to say about it:

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom 6:23

In man's law the idea often invoked is that 'ignorance of the law' is no excuse, but actually in some cases real ignorance will yield at least a lesser punishment. But, of course, we cannot count on that. Consider the case of Jesus who never did anything worthy of death.

In God's law, ignorance is also not really an excuse, but God is merciful and fairer than any human law judge. He looks not only at the literal offense but at the heart of the offender. Usually His mercy means the person gets another change even though strictly speaking he is already deserving of death. Sometimes God give us a lot of chances to make it good with Him before finally allowed the penalty to be imposed.

It is usually people, even some bearing the label of Christian, who will condemn without forgiveness and with mercy.

 

[Sue J Love]

Recently I have herd several discussions on whether you need to repent to be saved or not. I believe you do. And my thoughts are as follows.

We know certain types of people who will not enter into heaven Corinthians 6:10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Yet I know drunkards that believe in Christ , but according to the bible unless they stop being a drunkard (repent) they are not getting into heaven. So I would say repentance is necessary to be saved. that is the way I see it. But I will also say that we are still unworthy for heaven making it grace because no matter what we do we are not good enough. what are your thoughts???

Now the other line of thought that we do NOT need repentance seems to come from when Paul was braking out of jail and the Guard asked Paul what he must do to be saved and Paul said believe in Christ They replied,Acts 16:31 "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household no mention of repenting.

I personally think if you truly believe it will cause you to repent and those that say they believe with out repenting do not truly believe they just want fire insurance.

Would love to here your thoughts on the subject

I believe we need to have a clearer understanding of what it means to believe in the Lord Jesus. Remember, James said that even the demons believe, and they shudder, and yet they are not saved.

4100 pisteúō (from 4102 /pístis, "faith," derived from 3982/peíthō, "persuade, be persuaded") – believe (affirm, have confidence); used of persuading oneself (= human believing) and with the sacred significance of being persuaded by the Lord (= faith-believing). Only the context indicates whether 4100 /pisteúō ("believe") is self-serving (without sacred meaning), or the believing that leads to/proceeds from God's inbirthing of faith. Strong's Greek: 4100. πιστεύω (pisteuó) -- to believe, entrust

Belief in Jesus Christ means we are divinely persuaded by God as to his will for our lives, i.e. this is God-given faith, and if it is from God, then repentance is clearly part of it, because it is spiritual, supernatural faith, and not human faith, because it comes from God, and because God's word teaches we must turn from our sin and turn to follow our Lord in obedience or we don't have eternal life with God.

 

[Hekuran]

Sin is an old concept people had before they knew the psychology of behaviour. We also don't need to reduce people down to good or evil actions, because good and evil are only subjective perceptions.

Reducing good and evil takes you into dangerous territory. How can evil - greed, rape, murder, slander, abuse of other - be resisted if there is no objective reality to evil? Or perhaps the state of the world does not bother you?

Life is good and destroying life is evil.

 

[Wired 4 Fishen]

I think you can only repent once, then once you've been turned the other way you don't need to continue repenting.

That would be a false teaching or doctrine of demons.

The problem there is sin.
Scripture commands us to forgive.
So if you don't forgive you have unrepentant sin.
Unrepentant sin is as an open door for the enemy to begin to steal, kill and destroy.

If it were truly once repented always repented, you would not have, get away from me, I don't know you, but Lord we cast out demons in your name.

No friend there is no once saved always saved and there is no once repented always repented.

Say your spouse cheated on you and they repented and you forgave them.
So now that they repented of cheating, do they now get to keep on cheating because they already repented of the one time?

Why would Jesus tells us to forgive 70 times 7 if our brother sins against us?
Wouldn't Jesus have known once repented always repented.

You might want to rethink that one.
Blessings
W4F

 

[Wired 4 Fishen]

Sin is an old concept people had before they knew the psychology of behaviour. We also don't need to reduce people down to good or evil actions, because good and evil are only subjective perceptions.

Who devised this psychology of behavior? Why it was man.
Who calls things diseases that are sin? Why of course that would be man to.

God's word will Always Be. If He calls it Sin then it's sin and always will be.

Man makes excuses and calls it clinical or manic or its not your fault, you are just bipolar. God sees a spirit of anger. ...

Who do you think has it correct?
Blessings
FCJ

 

[Curtis]

Sin is an old concept people had before they knew the psychology of behaviour. We also don't need to reduce people down to good or evil actions, because good and evil are only subjective perceptions.

Mat 25:31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit upon His glorious throne.
Mat 25:32 All the nations will be gathered in His presence, and He will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Mat 25:33 He will place the sheep at His right hand and the goats at His left.

The excuse that "good", and "evil" are only "subjective" will not hold up on the day of judgement no matter how much anyone believes it.

 

[B-A-C]

I believe we need to have a clearer understanding of what it means to believe in the Lord Jesus. Remember, James said that even the demons believe, and they shudder, and yet they are not saved.

4100 pisteúō (from 4102 /pístis, "faith," derived from 3982/peíthō, "persuade, be persuaded") – believe (affirm, have confidence); used of persuading oneself (= human believing) and with the sacred significance of being persuaded by the Lord (= faith-believing). Only the context indicates whether 4100 /pisteúō ("believe") is self-serving (without sacred meaning), or the believing that leads to/proceeds from God's inbirthing of faith. Strong's Greek: 4100. πιστεύω (pisteuó) -- to believe, entrust

Belief in Jesus Christ means we are divinely persuaded by God as to his will for our lives, i.e. this is God-given faith, and if it is from God, then repentance is clearly part of it, because it is spiritual, supernatural faith, and not human faith, because it comes from God, and because God's word teaches we must turn from our sin and turn to follow our Lord in obedience or we don't have eternal life with God.

This is a statement I've seen you make before, but it is a little confusing to me. We may be "divinely persuaded" but we
are not divinely "forced". Just because we have the faith to do things, doesn't mean we will always do it.
Faith "should" mean obedience, but who as a Christian can say they've never sinned? Also faith for salvation may be slightly
different from other faith (healing, repentance, miracles, etc...)
Many times in the new testament (over a dozen I think). Jesus says "your" faith has saved you. "Your" faith has healed you.
May it be done according to "your" faith. It's not God's faith that makes these things happen. It's our faith.
Jesus couldn't do many miracles in Capernaum, was it because He didn't have enough faith? Or was it because
the people didn't have enough faith? The disciples couldn't cast out a specific demon, they asked Jesus why... He
said because "your" faith was too small. This wasn't because God didn't give them faith.

But even with faith....

Rev 2:19; ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than [at first.
Rev 2:20; But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Rev 2:21; I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.

The church had faith, but they were still lead astray by this woman, or at least the spiritual teaching of her.
Jesus gives her time to repent, would He give her time to repent without giving her the faith to repent?
But even if she did have the faith.... "she does not want to repent". Faith doesn't replace free will.

Acts 7:51; “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.

We may be divinely persuaded, but we still have the power to resist the Holy Spirit if we want to.
Does Paul condemn them for not having enough faith? Or for resisting the Holy Spirit. Faith doesn't take the place of free will.

Now maybe all of this isn't what you meant, but then... what is the point of saying this faith comes from God only?
It's God's fault when people aren't healed? People aren't repentant? People aren't saved?

 

[Sue J Love]

This is a statement I've seen you make before, but it is a little confusing to me. We may be "divinely persuaded" but we
are not divinely "forced". Just because we have the faith to do things, doesn't mean we will always do it.
Faith "should" mean obedience, but who as a Christian can say they've never sinned? Also faith for salvation may be slightly
different from other faith (healing, repentance, miracles, etc...)
Many times in the new testament (over a dozen I think). Jesus says "your" faith has saved you. "Your" faith has healed you.
May it be done according to "your" faith. It's not God's faith that makes these things happen. It's our faith.
Jesus couldn't do many miracles in Capernaum, was it because He didn't have enough faith? Or was it because
the people didn't have enough faith? The disciples couldn't cast out a specific demon, they asked Jesus why... He
said because "your" faith was too small. This wasn't because God didn't give them faith.

But even with faith....

Rev 2:19; ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than [at first.
Rev 2:20; But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Rev 2:21; I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.

The church had faith, but they were still lead astray by this woman, or at least the spiritual teaching of her.
Jesus gives her time to repent, would He give her time to repent without giving her the faith to repent?
But even if she did have the faith.... "she does not want to repent". Faith doesn't replace free will.

Acts 7:51; “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.

We may be divinely persuaded, but we still have the power to resist the Holy Spirit if we want to.
Does Paul condemn them for not having enough faith? Or for resisting the Holy Spirit. Faith doesn't take the place of free will.

Now maybe all of this isn't what you meant, but then... what is the point of saying this faith comes from God only?
It's God's fault when people aren't healed? People aren't repentant? People aren't saved?

I wonder, and I don't know that I have researched this, if there is a difference between saving faith and the faith to believe God for miracles.

Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us that that even the faith to believe God for salvation is a gift from God and not of ourselves, lest we should boast. We can't even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless the Father first draws us to him. And, there are also verses that say we are granted repentance unto faith. Plus the Greek word rendered "faith" or "believe" means to be divinely persuaded. Yes, not forced. And, yes, we still have free will to resist God and to not do what he says to do.

So, why do I stress that this faith to believe God/Jesus for salvation is "divinely persuaded"? Because so many people these days are saying that all we have to do is "believe" and we have our tickets to heaven, and they can't be taken away, and so it doesn't matter what we do from this point on, and that God requires nothing of us - no repentance, no obedience, no submission. And, then James stresses that even the demons "believe" and they shudder, yet they don't believe unto salvation.

So, there must be a faith which does not lead to salvation and one that does, so this goes along with being "divinely persuaded." In other words, if the faith originates with God, to believe him for salvation, and if it means being "divinely persuaded," i.e. convinced, then it is the kind of faith which submits to God, repents of sin, turns to God/Jesus, to walk in his ways, etc. It is the kind that results in eternal life. And, remember that believing in Jesus is not a one time event, but it is continuous. And, even Christians sin, but they should not walk in sin, i.e. make it their practice (lifestyle).

Human faith, on the other hand, can easily ignore the commands to obedience and repentance, because it doesn't come from God, i.e. it is not supernatural faith, and it is not divinely persuaded. So, it is important to make this distinction since so many have been told that all God requires is "belief" and they feel they have believed and therefore they feel their eternity is secure so if they still walk in sin, i.e. if they still practice sinning against God, they don't think it matters for their eternity. Yet, their faith was not based on truth, and it was not of God, because it did not submit to him, nor did they think they had to.