Is Repentance toward God the same as Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ?

[mbkjpreacher]

The definition of repentance from the Greek word Metanoia means a "Change of Mind".  When speaking of sinners, it means a change of mind and attitude toward sin or a change of mind and heart toward God about sin..  But as time goes by through some popular evangelists who are after a great number of professions of faith, the new doctrine of repentance is defined as a change of mind from unbelief to believe and they say it is not about sin.. Charles Spurgeon defined repentance as a change of mind and heart toward God about sin.   If repentance includes already the belief in Christ or faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, why is it necessary for Paul to state it distinctly REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD AND FAITH TOWARD OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST if the meaning of the two are just the same, and repentance is the same as faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?  

[Pastor Scott Markle]

To answer the question of the thread title from my perspective -

No, repentance toward God is not the SAME as faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ; but they are VERY CLOSELY connected in the matter of salvation.  Further, I myself would contend that this repentance toward God in the matter of salvation involves three categories of truth, as per the categories of truth wherein the Holy Spirit convicts the lost world - "of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." (See John 16:8-11)

[mbkjpreacher]

Right i agree with you.   There is a misunderstanding about the definition of repentance which S. Anderson is teaching, that it is unbelief to belief in Christ and that there is no need to repent of sin.   But the question is, Is unbelief sin?  They would not deny it, so if we ask them, should the sinner repent of the sin of unbelief?  And they would reply yes, therefore they still repent of sin, the sin of unbelief.  If they would say, no, no need to repent of the sin of unbelief then there is no change of mind from unbelief.

Since they would affirm that unbelief is sin, and they teach that the unsaved need not repent of sin then they have to remove the word unbelief in their definition, and what would happen? 

It leaves blank        A change of mind from __________ to belief in Christ.   And since they would admit that repentance is not faith so we have to remove belief in Christ in their definition and what would be left is ..  A change of mind from _______  to ________  .  It would be empty.  

The idea that there is no repentance of sin in salvation is because of their misunderstanding of Jonah 3: 10 which states:  

 

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 3:10 KJV)
 

Anderson and Jimenez interpreted this to mean that repentance is a work.  This is the only verse they have to support that repentance is a work.  However the passage does not say that repentance is a work.  

In Matthew 21:28-29 it says: 

But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. (Matthew 21:28-29 KJV)
 

The word, repented is not the action word "went".  Where did he go?  He went to work in the field.  When he went to work in the field of his father, that is the work, but the word repented is not the work.  It means a change of mind, since he did not obey his father but later on he changed his mind, decided to obey.  The question, is it possible for the father to know and see that his first son is working in the field?  Yes, because he went to work.   Now if we make the same statement similar to Jonah 3: 10, because the problem of Anderson and Jimenez is their understanding of the verse, and it is about English grammar.   So if there is a similar statement based on the true story of Matthew 21:28-29, and if you know the story how do you think you would understand the passage?  

If I make a statement like this similar to Jonah 3: 10:    "And the father saw his son's work that he repented from disobedience"  how would the readers understand it? 

Does it mean that the elder brother worked in order to repent or does it mean that he repented that is why he worked? 

Does it mean that the father saw that repentance is a work or he saw his son's work because he repented?  

The statement in Jonah 3: 10 is this, "And God saw their works, THAT they turned from their evil way..." 

The problem is because of their misunderstanding of the word "THAT".  

The Hebrew word of THAT is "Ki" and that can mean "for", "when", or "because".  

The Hebrew word "KI" was translated "for" 2373 times in the kjv Bible.  

It was translated "because" 477 times. 

It was translated "in that" 3 times.  

It was translated "when" 216 times.  

An example is in Genesis 26:20, the Hebrew word "ki" was translated as "because":

And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
(Genesis 26:20 KJV)
 

There seems to be a similar statement since "called" is past tense just like "saw" in Jonah 3:10 and "strove" is also past tense.  The word "because" is the english transliteration of the hebrew word "ki" which is the same Hebrew word used in Jonah 3: 10 translated as "that".  So if you would understand the word "that" to mean because of based on the Hebrew word, then you will not think that it is saying that their works is the repentance of sins.  Rather you would think that the work is the result of their repentance of sin.  Just like in Genesis, they did not call the well as Esek in order for them to strive for it.  Rather they strove with him first and that is the reason why they call it Esek.  In Jonah 3: 10 God saw their works because they repented of their sins.  If their repentance and faith is not real, then they would have nothing to show according to James 2:18.   Work is the manifestation of repentance and faith. The putting of sackloth is the manifestation that they already repented and believed in Jonah 3: 5.  Just like in the case of Abraham, in Genesis 22: 12:  The Lord through the angel said:  "Now I know..."  because of his work.  God does not want us to have a kind of faith that is dead faith, rather God wants us to have living faith , or true faith that produces works.  See James 2.