Would you say that a person has to repent to be saved? In other words, do you need to be sorry for God to forgive you?
God’s love is all powerful, and he’s definitely able to do anything, but we need to take a step back and look at the whole point of why we want to be saved. Is it to avoid going to hell? Or is it to have a beautiful relationship with our amazing, loving God?
God wants a relationship with us, and we should want a relationship with him.
God is so completely perfect that no sin or imperfection can be near him. That means, we can’t live in our sin and be with him. The only way is to be forgiven of our sins.
In my experience, if we apologize when we aren’t really sorry, it’s just a matter of time until we commit the same sin, over and over. How is this a relationship with the one who loves us?
Let’s see what the Bible says about repentance. (All verses are from the NASB.)
John the Baptist preached, “Repent! For the kingdom is near.” (Matthew 3:2)
He was absolutely right, however, his ministry took place under the old covenant, since Jesus had not yet died and rose again. That being said, we’re going to take a look at the new covenant verses about repentance as they relate to salvation. (See my series of blog posts about salvation.)
Luke 13:3 “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Acts 2:19-21 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; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.
Acts 2:38-41 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. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.
Acts 11:13-18 And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
I think there are few people that would dispute the need of repentance for salvation. But is repentance a work? Why or why not?
Does the command of repentance lessen God's grace to save us?
Read more in my blog post, A Lesser Testimony and the series of posts about salvation. Video is also available on our Youtube channel.