"Repent of Your Sins" False gospel

[BabeinChrist]

Repentance CANNOT save

 

I'm writing on the topic of repentance in regards to salvation because this is a subject that is very misinterpreted today, (even amongst Independent, Fundamental Baptists) and there’s a LOT of false teaching out there under the guise of repentance that is actually teaching a works-based salvation. The mistake that most people make is that, whenever they see the word "repent" in the Bible, they add these words after it:  “of your sins”.

So whenever they see the word "repent" they just automatically add "of sin"... repent of your sin.

In fact, they often think that just the word "repent" means to turn from sin, but the Bible does not teach that, and since the King James Holy Bible is the Word of God, it should be our final authority on doctrine.

I've noticed that typically, one can find the meaning of a word used in the Bible by searching for its first appearance, where it is often defined.  So before we study repentance in regard to salvation, let’s just get an understanding of what the word "repent" even means in the Bible, by going to its first use. To the best of my knowledge, that is in Exodus 32:12, we have Moses speaking to God:

 “Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people.”

So we can see repent means "to turn".  Moses is pleading with God to turn from His anger or wrath towards his people. It continues...

“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.” “And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”

That proves that repenting does not mean "repent of your sins" because we KNOW God doesn’t have any sins, God never has sinned and God is perfect in EVERY way ---and yet--- did God repent in this scripture?

Yes, He did.

He turned..... He turned from one course of action unto another. He didn’t turn from sin, He turned from anger, He turned from his wrath, He turned from the judgement He was going to pour out. So we can be sure that repent does not mean to repent of your sins in order to be saved.

It's interesting to note, that if you do a word study on the word "repent" in the King James Bible (the ONLY Bible I will use), you'll discover that the one who "repents" the MOST in the entire Bible is : God!

"Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?  And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." (Jonah 3:9-10)

“And God saw their works,” What did God see? Works. “ God saw their works,” now he is going to tell us what those works were: “that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”

That right there says when you turn from your evil way, that is your WORKS, so if you believe that a person has to turn from their evil way and believe on Christ, then here’s what you're saying is required to be saved: to believe on Christ and have works!

The Bible says salvation is without works and Jonah 3:10 says turning from your sins or turning from your evil ways is works, so that’s why this is such an important doctrine to understand and be clear on! 

Of course, the devil wants to get you to trust in your works to save you --- this goes all the way back to Cain and Abel, where Cain is trusting his works instead of the blood of the lamb, all the way back to the Tower of Babel, where they’re trying to do their works/build their way to heaven, and all throughout Galatians he warns us: It's a false gospel when you think that you are justified by works, all throughout Romans he tells us we are not justified by works.

All throughout the Bible God warns us.. 'trust Christ for salvation, don’t trust works' !

The devil wants to get in the back door, he doesn’t just want to come right out and say, 'trust works!' knowing good and well that the Bible says NOT to trust works, so he wants to deceive you so you think: 

"Well... it's not works but you do have to repent of your sins",

.....OR....

"Well.... I’m not saying it’s works but you can’t just live however you want, you gotta do something right... You gotta at least go to church three times a month or something, I mean you know you gotta do something right?"

NO !!

You have to do nothing because Jesus did everything, you believe on Christ, HIS works are sufficient, we don’t have to add anything to His works, JESUS CHRIST PAID IT ALL. 

 

[TheSword1227]

The apostle Peter told the Jews they needed to repent and be baptized. This is different from what Paul said. The things many Christians don't realize is that Peter was preaching to Jews, not Gentiles. Pentecost was a Jewish Feast Day. He accuses the Jews of killing Christ and that they needed to repent of this crime and get baptized.

This is where the misunderstanding come from. Those who adhere to a "works" theology, claim Peter taught repentance and baptism as necessary for salvation. But they miss the context. It's very important to know who was writing , to whom they wrote and what were the circumstances.

[BabeinChrist]

3 hours ago, TheSword1227 said:

The apostle Peter told the Jews they needed to repent and be baptized. This is different from what Paul said. The things many Christians don't realize is that Peter was preaching to Jews, not Gentiles. Pentecost was a Jewish Feast Day. He accuses the Jews of killing Christ and that they needed to repent of this crime and get baptized.

This is where the misunderstanding come from. Those who adhere to a "works" theology, claim Peter taught repentance and baptism as necessary for salvation. But they miss the context. It's very important to know who was writing , to whom they wrote and what were the circumstances.

Actually, the Jews DID kill Christ. But that's another subject.

I believe we should, as believers, repent from our sins & strive to live a clean life, but that doesn't save. 

If we had to repent to be saved, NONE of us would go to Heaven! 

It's impossible to repent of ALL our sins, because we probably sin everyday because the Bible says even the thought of foolishness is sin.

Thank God for His grace & that salvation was paid for by Christ's righteousness, which is imputed on us who believe.

[swathdiver]

Repentance and Faith are two sides of the same coin.  One cannot enter into His eternal rest without making Repentance to God and putting one's trust (Faith) in Jesus Christ.

Repentance for salvation is a one time event, turning to Christ from sin.  

Repentance is...  https://www.wayoflife.org/database/biblical_repentance.html

 

An Excerpt:

“To repent literally means to have a change of mind or spirit toward God and toward sin. It means to turn from your sins, earnestly, with all your heart, and trust in Jesus Christ to save you. You can see, then, how the man who believes in Christ repents and the man who repents believes in Christ. The jailer repented when he turned from sin to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” (John R. Rice, What Must I Do to Be Saved?, 1940).

“Repentance is a godly sorrow for sin. Repentance is a forsaking of sin. Real repentance is putting your trust in Jesus Christ so you will not live like that anymore. Repentance is permanent. It is a lifelong and an eternity-long experience. You will never love the devil again once you repent. You will never flirt with the devil as the habit of your life again once you get saved. You will never be happy living in sin; it will never satisfy; and the husks of the world will never fill your longing and hungering in your soul. Repentance is something a lot bigger than a lot of people think. It is absolutely essential if you go to heaven” (Lester Roloff, Repent or Perish, 1950s).

[TheSword1227]

1 hour ago, swathdiver said:

Repentance and Faith are two sides of the same coin.  One cannot enter into His eternal rest without making Repentance to God and putting one's trust (Faith) in Jesus Christ.

Repentance for salvation is a one time event, turning to Christ from sin.  

Repentance is...  https://www.wayoflife.org/database/biblical_repentance.html

 

An Excerpt:

“To repent literally means to have a change of mind or spirit toward God and toward sin. It means to turn from your sins, earnestly, with all your heart, and trust in Jesus Christ to save you. You can see, then, how the man who believes in Christ repents and the man who repents believes in Christ. The jailer repented when he turned from sin to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” (John R. Rice, What Must I Do to Be Saved?, 1940).

“Repentance is a godly sorrow for sin. Repentance is a forsaking of sin. Real repentance is putting your trust in Jesus Christ so you will not live like that anymore. Repentance is permanent. It is a lifelong and an eternity-long experience. You will never love the devil again once you repent. You will never flirt with the devil as the habit of your life again once you get saved. You will never be happy living in sin; it will never satisfy; and the husks of the world will never fill your longing and hungering in your soul. Repentance is something a lot bigger than a lot of people think. It is absolutely essential if you go to heaven” (Lester Roloff, Repent or Perish, 1950s).

I agree. Peter was talking about a specific repentance for the Jews. He was handing down a 'murder indictment' against them for killing the Christ. Paul taught a different repentance. For salvation.

Edited June 26, 2017 by TheSword1227

[BabeinChrist]

On 6/26/2017 at 4:55 AM, swathdiver said:

Repentance and Faith are two sides of the same coin.  One cannot enter into His eternal rest without making Repentance to God and putting one's trust (Faith) in Jesus Christ.

Repentance for salvation is a one time event, turning to Christ from sin.  

Repentance is...  https://www.wayoflife.org/database/biblical_repentance.html

 

An Excerpt:

“To repent literally means to have a change of mind or spirit toward God and toward sin. It means to turn from your sins, earnestly, with all your heart, and trust in Jesus Christ to save you. You can see, then, how the man who believes in Christ repents and the man who repents believes in Christ. The jailer repented when he turned from sin to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” (John R. Rice, What Must I Do to Be Saved?, 1940).

“Repentance is a godly sorrow for sin. Repentance is a forsaking of sin. Real repentance is putting your trust in Jesus Christ so you will not live like that anymore. Repentance is permanent. It is a lifelong and an eternity-long experience. You will never love the devil again once you repent. You will never flirt with the devil as the habit of your life again once you get saved. You will never be happy living in sin; it will never satisfy; and the husks of the world will never fill your longing and hungering in your soul. Repentance is something a lot bigger than a lot of people think. It is absolutely essential if you go to heaven” (Lester Roloff, Repent or Perish, 1950s).

Rice & Roloff must not believe the Bible then.

As I showed in my OP, "repent" simply means to turn from, or change from one course of action to another. It is certainly NOT required for salvation.

People mistakenly use the word "repent" in conjunction with sin and create a works-based false gospel.

The phrase "repent of your sin" is not even in the Bible.  It's an extra-biblical phrase found in texts outside of the Bible like the ones you quoted.

Why is it that of everyone in the Bible, God is the one who repented most? We know God has no sin.  So why then, would God repent?

Where does the Bible say we must repent of our sin to be saved? Perhaps I have overlooked it somewhere because I do not recall it ever stating repenting of sin was a salvation requirement.

And, how is it possible to repent of ALL sin?  

If repentance is required for salvation, that would mean salvation is by works.  Allow me to illustrate:

Imagine a heroin addict panhandling on the sidewalk.  He is highly addicted to heroin. He cannot stop using, no matter how hard he tries. A believer approaches him with a Bible and shows him from directly from the Word of God how to be saved, and gives him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The man BELIEVES it with all his heart. He understands he is a sinner, and is relieved that Jesus Christ died for his sins so he could be saved from Hell. Together they pray and the man vocally proclaims his belief in the work Jesus Christ did to save him & he asks God to give him the gift of eternal life so he doesn't go to Hell. The man says he now knows for certain he is now saved.....

Swath.....are you saying that this man wasn't saved because he did not repent of his sins?

And what if he sees his dealer approach him 20 minutes later & he gives in to his temptation and gets high?  

Did he just "lose" his salvation?

One more thing swath: Have you  repented of ALL your sin? When you got saved, you repented/turned from all of your sin, right?  So that means you must not have committed a SINGLE sin your entire post-salvation life, right?  Not a single lie, nor lusting after anyone who isn't your spouse, no feelings of envy or covetousness, no thoughts of foolishness, not a single sin WHATSOEVER, is that correct?

[No Nicolaitans]

If a person is genuinely saved, are they not turning from something and turning towards something else?

Just something to think about...

[swathdiver]

On 6/26/2017 at 4:17 AM, TheSword1227 said:

I agree. Peter was talking about a specific repentance for the Jews. He was handing down a 'murder indictment' against them for killing the Christ. Paul taught a different repentance. For salvation.

More Ruckmanism/Protestant garbage.  No sir, the bible teaches one way to heaven for all, for all times.

8 hours ago, BabeinChrist said:

Rice & Roloff must not believe the Bible then.

As I showed in my OP, "repent" simply means to turn from, or change from one course of action to another. It is certainly NOT required for salvation.

People mistakenly use the word "repent" in conjunction with sin and create a works-based false gospel.

The phrase "repent of your sin" is not even in the Bible.  It's an extra-biblical phrase found in texts outside of the Bible like the ones you quoted.

Why is it that of everyone in the Bible, God is the one who repented most? We know God has no sin.  So why then, would God repent?

Where does the Bible say we must repent of our sin to be saved? Perhaps I have overlooked it somewhere because I do not recall it ever stating repenting of sin was a salvation requirement.

And, how is it possible to repent of ALL sin?  

If repentance is required for salvation, that would mean salvation is by works.  Allow me to illustrate:

Imagine a heroin addict panhandling on the sidewalk.  He is highly addicted to heroin. He cannot stop using, no matter how hard he tries. A believer approaches him with a Bible and shows him from directly from the Word of God how to be saved, and gives him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The man BELIEVES it with all his heart. He understands he is a sinner, and is relieved that Jesus Christ died for his sins so he could be saved from Hell. Together they pray and the man vocally proclaims his belief in the work Jesus Christ did to save him & he asks God to give him the gift of eternal life so he doesn't go to Hell. The man says he now knows for certain he is now saved.....

Swath.....are you saying that this man wasn't saved because he did not repent of his sins?

And what if he sees his dealer approach him 20 minutes later & he gives in to his temptation and gets high?  

Did he just "lose" his salvation?

One more thing swath: Have you  repented of ALL your sin? When you got saved, you repented/turned from all of your sin, right?  So that means you must not have committed a SINGLE sin your entire post-salvation life, right?  Not a single lie, nor lusting after anyone who isn't your spouse, no feelings of envy or covetousness, no thoughts of foolishness, not a single sin WHATSOEVER, is that correct?

You are still wrong, confusing repentance for salvation with repenting for sin.  They are two different things.  I sin daily and repent of my sins to keep fellowship with the Lord.

When I made repentance to God and put my trust in Christ at salvation, my thinking about sin changed, I no longer took pleasure in sin, my heart was regenerated and given new desires, namely, a desire to please the Lord.  That's not works.

Read the article if you're at all interested in getting right on this subject.  Your comments reveal that you did not read it through and through.

If your local New Testament church teaches what you've written, you need to find another church and get right with the Lord.  If you're not a member of a NT church, you need to be, and need to be to get right with the Lord.

[TheSword1227]

44 minutes ago, swathdiver said:

More Ruckmanism/Protestant garbage.  No sir, the bible teaches one way to heaven for all, for all times.

You are still wrong, confusing repentance for salvation with repenting for sin.  They are two different things.  I sin daily and repent of my sins to keep fellowship with the Lord.

When I made repentance to God and put my trust in Christ at salvation, my thinking about sin changed, I no longer took pleasure in sin, my heart was regenerated and given new desires, namely, a desire to please the Lord.  That's not works.

Read the article if you're at all interested in getting right on this subject.  Your comments reveal that you did not read it through and through.

If your local New Testament church teaches what you've written, you need to find another church and get right with the Lord.  If you're not a member of a NT church, you need to be, and need to be to get right with the Lord.

Nope, don't follow Ruckman or Protestantism. Only the holy Scriptures.Read Acts again and see what Peter said; He was addressing: "Ye men of Israel.

[TheSword1227]

46 minutes ago, swathdiver said:

 

You are still wrong, confusing repentance for salvation with repenting for sin.  They are two different things.  I sin daily and repent of my sins to keep fellowship with the Lord.

When I made repentance to God and put my trust in Christ at salvation, my thinking about sin changed, I no longer took pleasure in sin, my heart was regenerated and given new desires, namely, a desire to please the Lord.  That's not works.

Read the article if you're at all interested in getting right on this subject.  Your comments reveal that you did not read it through and through.

If your local New Testament church teaches what you've written, you need to find another church and get right with the Lord.  If you're not a member of a NT church, you need to be, and need to be to get right with the Lord.

I agree that we should confess those sins we commit daily as it does affect our walk with God. If we are saved, we confess them, not to receive forgiveness as we have already been forgiven by the shed blood of Christ, but  It can hinder our prayers and fellowship with God.

I've been thinking about this a bit more and I am coming to realize that it's a false teaching that's been making the rounds that we do not need to repent of current sins.Heaven can be like brass if these sins build up and are never confessed.

[swathdiver]

3 hours ago, TheSword1227 said:

Nope, don't follow Ruckman or Protestantism. Only the holy Scriptures.Read Acts again and see what Peter said; He was addressing: "Ye men of Israel.

Good, but that doctrine comes from the Protestants.  Ruckman has a book on the seven different ways of salvation in the NT. 

As for Peter addressing the men if Israel, so what?  He was simply witnessing to the lost.

3 hours ago, TheSword1227 said:

I agree that we should confess those sins we commit daily as it does affect our walk with God. If we are saved, we confess them, not to receive forgiveness as we have already been forgiven by the shed blood of Christ, but  It can hinder our prayers and fellowship with God.

I've been thinking about this a bit more and I am coming to realize that it's a false teaching that's been making the rounds that we do not need to repent of current sins.Heaven can be like brass if these sins build up and are never confessed.

Well, I ask for forgiveness and get it.  Again, it's a different form of repentance.  If I'm unjustly angry with someone, I confess that sin and say I'm sorry, please forgive me Lord because I've behaved/conducted myself as I should have.  Our children do the same towards us.

[Alimantado]

6 hours ago, BabeinChrist said:

Imagine a heroin addict panhandling on the sidewalk.  He is highly addicted to heroin. He cannot stop using, no matter how hard he tries. A believer approaches him with a Bible and shows him from directly from the Word of God how to be saved, and gives him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The man BELIEVES it with all his heart. He understands he is a sinner, and is relieved that Jesus Christ died for his sins so he could be saved from Hell. Together they pray and the man vocally proclaims his belief in the work Jesus Christ did to save him & he asks God to give him the gift of eternal life so he doesn't go to Hell. The man says he now knows for certain he is now saved and exclaims to the believer his delight that, where once he personally hated God but feared where he would end up, now he knows he can hate God with all his heart and not worry about it.

BabeinChrist, do you have any thoughts on my slight revision of your story (in bold)?

[BabeinChrist]

6 hours ago, TheSword1227 said:

I agree that we should confess those sins we commit daily as it does affect our walk with God. If we are saved, we confess them, not to receive forgiveness as we have already been forgiven by the shed blood of Christ, but  It can hinder our prayers and fellowship with God.

I've been thinking about this a bit more and I am coming to realize that it's a false teaching that's been making the rounds that we do not need to repent of current sins.Heaven can be like brass if these sins build up and are never confessed.

No, I am NOT saying we should not repent as much as we can ONCE we are saved....we SHOULD.

I am merely saying repenting of all of our sins(turning from / stopping ALL of our sins) is not only NOT required for salvation, it is not possible while we are in the flesh, because our flesh is given to sin.

if we could turn from all of our sins from this day forward, we would NEVER sin again, and we cannot do that because we are not perfect. Only Jesus was able to not sin.

 

[BabeinChrist]

6 hours ago, Alimantado said:

BabeinChrist, do you have any thoughts on my slight revision of your story (in bold)?

I don't think anyone who hates God with all of their heart will believe on Christ.  I suspect a true hater of God has been turned over to a reprobate mind, like Pharoah, or Judas Iscariot. This is explained strarting in Romans 1:18.

[BabeinChrist]

7 hours ago, swathdiver said:

Good, but that doctrine comes from the Protestants.  Ruckman has a book on the seven different ways of salvation in the NT. 

As for Peter addressing the men if Israel, so what?  He was simply witnessing to the lost.

Well, I ask for forgiveness and get it.  Again, it's a different form of repentance.  If I'm unjustly angry with someone, I confess that sin and say I'm sorry, please forgive me Lord because I've behaved/conducted myself as I should have.  Our children do the same towards us.

Yes, I agree. 

But you are talking as a believer already. 

I am speaking of those who are not saved.

When we go soul winning we encounter some strange situations. Especially in the ghetto areas. Sometimes we'll knock a door and the person opens it and clouds upon clouds of marijuana smoke comes billowing out from behind them.

Do I tell them they MUST stop smoking marijuana or Christ will turn them away?

NO...that is works salvation.

i give them the Gospel of Jesus Christ in hope that they will BELIEVE, and pray that  the Holy Spirit convicts them of their drug use.

Repent of your sins false gospel says you must stop smoking marijuana IN ORDER TO be saved.

Do you see the distinction?