What does 'Repent' mean ?

[Pilgrimshope]

And that is as it should be. Which means that you have a shallow view of repentance, and the preaching of repentance is hardly being heard anymore.

2 CORINTHIANS: GODLY SORROW WORKETH REPENTANCE
9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

While the literal meaning of the Greek metanoia is a change of mind, the actual biblical meaning of repentance is far deeper. It is (1) a change of mind, (2) a change of heart, (3) a change of direction in life, (4) a recognition of past sins, (5) an earnest desire to make restitution for past wrongs, (6) a wholehearted acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior, (7) an earnest desire to obey and serve God and Christ, and (8) a total turning away from sins and idols as well as the occult. See the conversion of the Pharisee Saul for a proper understanding of repentance.

yes exactly people don’t stop doing things they feel good about even if they know it’s

You should explain what you mean by "lordship Salvation."
As opposed to what "mental agreement salvation" I give my vote for Jesus salvation? What salvation does not includ Jesus Lordship?

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2:10-13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

 

[throughfaith]

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭6:5-8‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Repentance begins in the heart but leads to corrective actions. Well never repent until we first acknowledge our sins and faith then should hit somewhere deep in our hearts enough to cause us to begin the changes we’re aware of.
‭
When we learn the truth it spurs and motivates and gives us faith to make changes we need to make repentance begins in the renewing of our thinking by accepting the truth of Gods word. Repentance begins in what we believe and what we’re willing to believe of Gods word

You should explain what you mean by "lordship Salvation."
As opposed to what "mental agreement salvation" I give my vote for Jesus salvation? What salvation does not includ Jesus Lordship?

'Mental agreement salvation ' and Lordship salvation are false and do not make sense . Because in order to be saved you need to recieve Jesus John 1.12 and recieve the atonement Rom 5.11 and recieve the Holy Spirit who seals you until the day of redemption Eph 1.13-14 amoungst other things .

 

[Pilgrimshope]

Agree .... change of mind away from one thing and towards another.

In the Old Latin and Latin Vulgate metanoia was translated as paenitentia which came to mean penance or acts of penance that had to be done if one hoped to obtain grace.... Augustine wanted to add in some contrition for sin.

It was actually the Reformation that saw the new church fathers begin to go back to the Classical Greek.

The word in Greek carries no sorrow, contrition or penance and is sin is not part of the meaning of the word..... context determines what is in view.

sin is perfectly ok I’m saved either way v. I Need to change some things but I know the lord loves me and is there with me to strengthen and house me forgive me if I fail and lift me up and dust me off . But I do need to change some things about my actions

 

[throughfaith]

And you think that is not Gospel truth? Evidently you have been looking at (or promoting) a watered down Gospel. Check Acts 2:38 for starters.

So we tell unbeliever s they have to turn from their sins to be saved ? Acts 2.38 ? Read the context and see who Peter is talking to and why .

 

[EleventhHour]

This is incorrect. See my post above.

We already had this discussion a few years ago... a linguistical study of the word in secular Greek texts and according to etymology.. simply means to change one's mind away from and towards something else.

In scripture context determines what is in view that one is changing their mind about.

 

[throughfaith]

Repentance is having a genuine sorrow for your sins.
It's a godly sorrow granted by God. Knowing the truth about HIS righteousness and it's working power, I believe, is an important factor in true, godly repentance.

Do you mean ' change your mind ' ?

 

[EleventhHour]

So we tell unbeliever s they have to turn from their sins to be saved ? Acts 2.38 ? Read the context and see who Peter is talking to and why .

Agree, that is a false Gospel the one Ray Comfort teaches .. we do not clean ourselves up and stop sinning to come to Jesus for salvation He gives his gift to the person who trusts in and believes upon Him for salvation because of His full and complete work.

 

[throughfaith]

Agree, that is a false Gospel the one Ray Comfort teaches .. we do not clean ourselves up and stop sinning to come to Jesus for salvation He gives his gift to the person who trusts in and believes upon Him for salvation because of His full and complete work.

Amen .

 

[Scribe]

So we tell unbeliever s they have to turn from their sins to be saved ?

Oh no... we never tell them that. Might frighten them off.

 

[EleventhHour]

Oh no... we never tell them that. Might frighten them off.

How does turning from sin save?

 

[throughfaith]

Oh no... we never tell them that. Might frighten them off.

So to be clear . You teach that unless an unbeliever turns from their sins they cannot be saved ?

 

[Scribe]

So we tell unbeliever s they have to turn from their sins to be saved ? Acts 2.38 ? Read the context and see who Peter is talking to and why .

Yes. We tell them to turn from their sins and have faith in Jesus Christ and He will not only forgive their sins but WILL GIVE THEM THE GRACE AND POWER TO Stop sinning and to be free.
Under the empowering of the Holy Spirit we have been sent, As the Father has sent Jesus so Jesus has sent us...
18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
When we preach we include this message of repenting from sin and turning toward Jesus Christ and the chains of these sins can be broken and people can be set free from the prison house of their addictions.
Else what are they being saved from?

 

[throughfaith]

Yes. We tell them to turn from their sins and have faith in Jesus Christ and He will not only forgive their sins but WILL GIVE THEM THE GRACE AND POWER TO Stop sinning and to be free.
Under the empowering of the Holy Spirit we have been sent, As the Father has sent Jesus so Jesus has sent us...
18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
When we preach we include this message of repenting from sin and turning toward Jesus Christ and the chains of these sins can be broken and people can be set free from the prison house of their addictions.
Else what are they being saved from?

So telling an unbeliever they have to turn from their sins and trust Jesus , so that they can be saved , so that He will not only forgive their sins but WILL GIVE THEM THE GRACE AND POWER TO Stop sinning and to be free. So before they are given grace and power they have to turn from sins in their own power in order to recieve the grace and power to stop sinnng ?
///Else what are they being saved from?//// An eternity in hell maybe?

 

[Scribe]

How does turning from sin save?

There is no such thing as Having faith in Jesus Christ that does not include a willingness to turn away from your known sinful living.
That might be just one or two things that a poor ignorant sinner is currently aware of, but the Holy Spirit always brings people to a point of contrition and a knowledge that they must make a decision to turn from that life and toward a new life that will be involved in serving God.

Repentance toward God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a connected and constitutes saving faith.

"Have mercy on me a sinner" is enough, but it includes an expectation to stop doing it after receiving forgiveness.
We do not preach that one must clean themselves up first. But we do always include that repentance is part of having Faith in Jesus Christ.

Repentance is never missing from the message. Repentance is not a message for another day After believing in Jesus. Repentance and Faith are always connected and included in our Gospel preaching. Why am I needing to state the obvious? What is the confusion about telling people to turn from their sins by having Faith in Jesus Christ.
And then we should immediately be teaching them to be baptized in water declaring their identification with the death and resurrection of Christ but also as a declaration that they will walk in Newness of Life, not living the way they were before.

Repent and Believe the Gospel, because you CANNOT believe the Gospel without Repentance.

Do a search for the word Repent, Repentance, Forgiveness of sins, sins etc in the book of Acts and you quickly see how often it was repeated in the message of every example of someone that preached the Gospel. It is obvious that Luke wrote with the theological intention to drive home the necessity of preaching repentance and turning from sin as part of the Faith in Jesus message of the Gospel. The two are included so many times that it becomes obvious that Luke knew what he was doing (the Holy Spirit told Luke) to emphasize this.

I realized this after reading the book of Acts several times in the 80s and I have always included repentance (turning away from sins) as part of the decision one must make when they Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and receive the Grace of God to not only forgive them of their sins but to also give them the power to resist those sins when they get up tomorrow morning and start this New Life of being born again. The majority of the message is about the power to resists sin through the indwelling Holy Spirit that has made them a new creature. At no time should you teach that people can worry about stopping their sinful living later when they feel up to it. That would be crazy talk. We are washed by the blood of the Lamb and He has made us as though we had never sinned. Shall we go wallow in the mud now that we are clean? God Forbid.

 

[Scribe]

So telling an unbeliever they have to turn from their sins and trust Jesus , so that they can be saved , so that He will not only forgive their sins but WILL GIVE THEM THE GRACE AND POWER TO Stop sinning and to be free. So before they are given grace and power they have to turn from sins in their own power in order to recieve the grace and power to stop sinnng ?
///Else what are they being saved from?//// An eternity in hell maybe?

He shall save his people from their sins. We can be saved from the chains of addiction. We can be saved from the corruption of the lusts of the flesh. We can be freed from the prison house of yielding our members as members of unrighteousness in this life and also from the consequences of sin in the next life. That is the Good News. It would not be Good News to tell people they are saved but cannot expect deliverance from their vices in this life. That is bad news.

 

[Scribe]

So telling an unbeliever they have to turn from their sins and trust Jesus , so that they can be saved , so that He will not only forgive their sins but WILL GIVE THEM THE GRACE AND POWER TO Stop sinning and to be free. So before they are given grace and power they have to turn from sins in their own power in order to recieve the grace and power to stop sinnng ?
///Else what are they being saved from?//// An eternity in hell maybe?

I have already made it clear that you dont have to clean yourself up first. But deciding to turn from your known sins is not cleaning oneself up. It is included in the Faith decision.

 

[EleventhHour]

There is no such thing as Having faith in Jesus Christ that does not include a willingness to turn away from your known sinful living.
That might be just one or two things that a poor ignorant sinner is currently aware of, but the Holy Spirit always brings people to a point of contrition and a knowledge that they must make a decision to turn from that life and toward a new life that will be involved in serving God.

Repentance toward God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a connected and constitutes saving faith.

"Have mercy on me a sinner" is enough, but it includes an expectation to stop doing it after receiving forgiveness.
We do not preach that one must clean themselves up first. But we do always include that repentance is part of having Faith in Jesus Christ.

Repentance is never missing from the message. Repentance is not a message for another day After believing in Jesus. Repentance and Faith are always connected and included in our Gospel preaching. Why am I needing to state the obvious? What is the confusion about telling people to turn from their sins by having Faith in Jesus Christ.
And then we should immediately be teaching them to be baptized in water declaring their identification with the death and resurrection of Christ but also as a declaration that they will walk in Newness of Life, not living the way they were before.

Repent and Believe the Gospel, because you CANNOT believe the Gospel without Repentance.

Do a search for the word Repent, Repentance, Forgiveness of sins, sins etc in the book of Acts and you quickly see how often it was repeated in the message of every example of someone that preached the Gospel. It is obvious that Luke wrote with the theological intention to drive home the necessity of preaching repentance and turning from sin as part of the Faith in Jesus message of the Gospel. The two are included so many times that it becomes obvious that Luke knew what he was doing (the Holy Spirit told Luke) to emphasize this.

I realized this after reading the book of Acts several times in the 80s and I have always included repentance (turning away from sins) as part of the decision one must make when they Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and receive the Grace of God to not only forgive them of their sins but to also give them the power to resist those sins when they get up tomorrow morning and start this New Life of being born again. The majority of the message is about the power to resists sin through the indwelling Holy Spirit that has made them a new creature. At no time should you teach that people can worry about stopping their sinful living later when they feel up to it. That would be crazy talk. We are washed by the blood of the Lamb and He has made us as though we had never sinned. Shall we go wallow in the mud now that we are clean? God Forbid.

You did not really answer how turning from sin saves?
So do works save? Ceasing from sin saves?

 

[Scribe]

You did not really answer how turning from sin saves?
So do works save? Ceasing from sin saves?

It is not a work. When one believes what the Bible says about Jesus they realize that as they put their faith in Him they are also turning away from the life they have been living and that God has made known to them is not pleasing to God. This is not a work. It is however a decision to stop doing those things that they know are contrary to God and to live for God instead which means having faith in Jesus.

We don't decide to have faith in Jesus and keep on sinning do we? Of course not. So the two are almost always mentioned together in the book of Acts.

 

[EleventhHour]

It is not a work. When one believes what the Bible says about Jesus they realize that as they put their faith in Him they are also turning away from the life they have been living and that God has made known to them is not pleasing to God. This is not a work. It is however a decision to stop doing those things that they know are contrary to God and to live for God instead which means having faith in Jesus.

We don't decide to have faith in Jesus and keep on sinning do we? Of course not. So the two are almost always mentioned together in the book of Acts.

So God gives the gift of salvation if we promise to stop sinning?

Is it a bilateral transaction then?

 

[Scribe]

So God gives the gift of salvation if we promise to stop sinning?

Is it a bilateral transaction then?

He does not give it if we decide to keep on sinning does he?