Subject: Christian Primer Terms? |
Bible Note: Kalos: You wrote: "To repent ACTUALLY means *to change the way you think and act.* (It does NOT mean merely to feel badly about one's sins. Nor does it mean confession by itself. As a condition for salvation, repentance 'is a false addition to faith when understood as a *prerequisite,* requiring the cleansing of the life [first] in order to be saved' (Dr. Charles C. Ryrie, Ryrie Study Bible, Moody Press, 1978)." I found it interesting that you apporvingly quoted Ryrie's stance on what repentance is when you seem to stand with MacArthur and so many others who disagree with this view. The word "metanoia" (repentance) literally means "a change in thinking." I disagree that repentance itself is the change in actions; it is a change in attitude toward sin that will inevitably RESULT in a change of actions. I hold that repentance is a gift of God that accompanies saving faith. Ryrie and Zane Hodges and others actually hold to a very weak view of repentance which doesn't necessarily mean any change of life at all. Most historically have held that repentance is a component of all true conversion. In Eastern Europe and Russia and other places in the world, they will actually use the term "repent" to describe their conversion. Rather than saying, "I was saved at age 30," Christians in this part of the world will say "I repented at age 30." Ryrie and Hodges hold that people who are saved can go through their entire lives and not show the marks of true salvation. For Ryrie, the biblical idea of repentence is not only not a prerequisite; it isn't truly necessary at all! And, of course, that denies several Scriptures which emphatically state that repentance is a part of saving faith and that the Christian will exhibit a markedly different life than the unregenerate: Jeremiah 8:6 Ezekiel 18:30 Matthew 3:2-11; 11:21; 12:41 Mark 1:15 Luke 13:1-5; 15:1-10; 24:47 Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31 (who GRANTS repentance?); 11:18; 26:20 Romans 2:4-5 2 Corinthians 7:9-10; 12:21 2 Timothy 2:25 2 Peter 3:9 I have even heard people in the so-called "free-grace" vein go so far as to say that murderers can go on murdering, homosexuals can go on practicing homosexuality, thieves can go on stealing (and I would assume that cannibals could even go on eating), all without repentance and still be heaven bound because they have professed Jesus as their SAVIOR. What do Jesus and the apostles say? "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit." Matthew 7:17-18 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit." Matthew 12:33 "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." --1 Corinthians 6:9-10 "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." --Galatians 5:19-21 "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:15-17 "Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother." --1 John 3:7-10 Sorry to belabor the point, but here inthe United States in particular is this evil notion that repentance and saving faith are mutually exclusive concepts. Repentance is not a work any more than intellectual belief in the facts of the Gospel is; hoever, repentance is inextricably linked to true, saving faith and will produce good fruit and the decrease of sin in the believer. --Joe! |