Justification By Faith Alone is Not Biblical

No man was eternally redeemed through that repentance. Eternal Redemption awaited Christ's Offering of Himself.

Repentance is a factor in salvation, I don't think anyone will deny that, but, as shown you earlier, repentance is generated by the ministry of the Comforter, not because men set their will to repent. The natural man must first be made to understand the Gospel, and that is how God grants repentance.

If you were in a store and someone came up and smacked you in the back of the head, there's a good chance you would get angry. That anger would be a response, not something you willed yourself to do. So too with repentance, as well as faith and belief, it is a response to the truth we are shown by God. This places Him as the Author.

And it is He that sustains us:


1 Peter 1
King James Version (KJV)


1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.


Thus He is the Finisher (Completer):


Hebrews 12:2
King James Version (KJV)

2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.



God bless.

 

What exactly do I have to repent from to be saved? This all seems like Catholic teaching to me, not Protestant teaching. No one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him, and none that Jesus draws can be lost. Do you think a person can be draw, not repent, and become lost again?

Granted, we are called to repent and obey, but I don't think that affects the value of the blood of Jesus. How did the thief on the cross repent?

I'm a 5 point Calvinist, by the way.

 

There is not a single verse in the bible that says anyone has free will unto salvation. But there is scripture confirming reformed theology.

John 6:37-39English Standard Version (ESV)

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.


John 6:44English Standard Version (ESV)

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.


Romans 9:14-24English Standard Version (ESV)

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,[a] but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?


Ephesians 1:3-11English Standard Version (ESV)

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us[a] for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known[b] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,


Romans 8:28-30English Standard Version (ESV)

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[a] for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.



Ephesians 2:8-10English Standard Version (ESV)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.


Acts 13:48English Standard Version (ESV)

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.


Colossians 2:13English Standard Version (ESV)

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,


Titus 3:5English Standard Version (ESV)

5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,


1 Peter 1:3English Standard Version (ESV)

Born Again to a Living Hope

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,


2 Timothy 2:25English Standard Version (ESV)

25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,


Ezekiel 36:25-26English Standard Version (ESV)

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.



Deuteronomy 30:6English Standard Version (ESV)

6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

 

As I read all of these posts, I must say that it reminds me of any time a group of Baptists get together to discuss the Bible.
1. We all agree that it is the inerrant Word of God
2. We all agree that we personally interpret it correctly
3. We try to be understanding of the rest of you who are wrong.

I see a lot of Scripture quoting but we must remember that any verse taken out of context can say what the reader/speaker wants it to say. Case in point, my father had, of all things, a very liberal professor of religious studies in college who said that he could "prove" that Jesus was a homosexual using Scripture.

Instead of using anything from the Bible to make my own point, let me use my own life. I came to Christ by accepting Him as my Saviour in February 1975. I did not, however, surrender my entire self to Him for many years. In fact, the worst actions of my life were committed even after I had gone back to becoming an active member of a local Baptist church, only to backslide again. (There are police records and improper relationships to prove it). The point is, I did not truly repent until many years later. The faith did, in fact, save me, but my lack of obedience kept me from having a true and fulfilling relationship with my Lord.

 

You are not understanding repentance OR faith. They are inseparable. It is by grace alone through faith, but true saving faith does not dismiss repentance less it be not faith that saves.

Salvation takes repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Acts 20:21. Make no mistake. We cannot be a friend of Christ and remain a rebel against God. The word repent, from the Greek word “metanoia”, means a change of mind or direction. That change is not 50%, 75%, or 99%. It is 100% or we are not repenting.

God is not receiving those who almost or kind of repent. It is like the word about face which is a 180 degree turn. We turn from not wanting God fully in our lives to accepting Him fully in our lives.

When any person comes to the place where they are broken over their sin to the point they want to get right with God no matter what it will cost them they are in a state/spirit of repentance toward God.

We then take that heart we have towards God and place it on the Lord Jesus Christ and that becomes faith. At that moment God’s grace through Christ is applied to us and we are born again, saved from eternal hell and sealed by the Spirit so that we will never again return to the practice of sinning. 1John 3:9,10.

Repentance of sin is the result of the new birth/salvation and will be part of the sanctification process and our new life with the Lord Jesus Christ, Eph 2:10. While we may sin from time to time after salvation it will not be our practice 1John 3:9,10.

 

SBG, your problem is that you don't understand Calvinism or Salvation by Grace through Faith. Neither of these great truths deny CHOOSING.

The fact is that both faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) and repentance (Acts 5:31; 11:18) are gifts of God. The fact is that the unsaved CHOOSE to reject Christ, not because God prevents them from believing but because their wicked unbelieving hearts (John 3:19; 1 Corinthians 2:14) lead them to REFUSE and REBEL. God must first do a work of prevenient grace in their hearts (John 6:44; Acts 16:14) before they will CHOOSE to repent and trust in Christ. Whoever wills may come to Christ (Revelation 22:17), but when He comes he will find that God has loved him from eternity past and has drawn him to Christ and to salvation with covenant mercies (Jeremiah 31:3).

 

Repentance is granted by God---"with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth," (2Tim.2:25)

 

This is a discussion that should be discussed by every Sunday School Class and at other gathering of Christ Followers and Lost People. And every time the Church Families gather, there are Lost people all around the Christ Follower.

The subject cannot, in my opinion be determined by ripping the scriptures apart. First and foremost, all scripture from, "In the Beginning..." in Genesis through thd very last word of Revelation is written/spoken by a single author, Yashua. And no single scripture, no passage of scripture and no collection of scripture can ever be fully understood without the light of all scripture shinning on it.

On the matter of salvation I can only say that I was on stage singing in the New Year as 1990 dawned when the Holy Spirit overcame me and caused me to realize I didn't need the money bad enough to finish that gig.

Did I repent before I received the Holy Spirit? I don't believe so but God was busy breaking my Heart from the Fall of '89 until that night. And He used the strangest tool, Dollie Parton. That year Dollie put out her version of He's Alive and I watched and listened to CMT all day, every day when I was at home.

Every time they played that video and no matter where in my apartment I was and no matter what I was doing, I would tear up and weep. YHWH had stripped me down to riding a bicycle to and from work, ten miles away, in the Winter Rains of Houston, Texas. My third wife was divorcing me and I was financially stripped.

I was filled with the Spirit before I went to Church and began vto serve the LORD. I tried to deal with YHWH first by promising Him I would go to Church after that last New Year's Gig but by indwelling me with the Holy Spirit, I did all but the last two sets and I made not a penny for the night, nothing to help me purchase a car.

The next Sunday I went to Church and went forward at the invitation and never returned to the Joints and the Clubs again, I repented of my sins, I would have to say before and after I received the infilling of the Holy Spirit.