What comes first: repentance or faith? This is an unnecessary question; and useless, the insistence that one is before the other. There’s no priority. Faith for salvation is the faith of repentance; And is repentance for salvation the repentance of faith?The interdependence between faith and repentance can be seen when we remember that faith is faith in Christ for the salvation of sin. But if faith is directed toward the salvation of sin, there must be hatred of sin and the desire to be saved from sin. This hatred of sin implies repentance, which is essentially the passage from sin to God. Now, if we remember that repentance is to move from sin to God, becoming God implies faith in His revealed mercy in Christ. It is impossible to separate faith from repentance. The saving faith is imbued with repentance and repentance is imbued with faith. Regeneration becomes expressive in our minds through the exercise of faith and repentance.
Repentance is essentially a change of heart, mind, and will. This change of heart, mind and will concerns four things in particular: it is a change that concerns God, ourselves, sin, and justice. Without regeneration, our thoughts about God, ourselves, sin, and justice are radically perverted. Regeneration changes the mind and the heart. It completely renews them. There is a drastic change in the way we think and feel. Old things have passed away and all are new. It is important to note that faith for salvation is faith accompanied by a change of mind and attitude. Very often in evangelical circles and, in particular, in popular evangelization, the relevance of the change that faith signals is not understood or appreciated. There are two errors. One is to exclude faith from the context that gives it meaning. The other is to think faithfully in terms of a decision and thus make the decision cheaper. These errors are linked and conditioned. Emphasizing repentance and the profound change in feelings and thoughts that repentance implies is the necessary element to correct this distorted concept of faith, which destroys the soul. The nature of repentance serves to heighten the urgency of the issues at stake in the requirements of the gospel, to emphasize the separation from sin included in the acceptance of the gospel, and to emphasize the entirely new perspective that faith in the vehicle of the gospel.
- We should not think that repentance is simply a change of general mindset.
- Repentance is very specific and concrete.
- And because it is a change of mindset in reference to sin.
- It is a change of mindset in reference to specific sins.
- Sins at all.
- The specific peculiarities and individualities of our sins.
- It is very easy to talk about sin.
- Denounce the specific sins and sins of others.
- And not mourn our own sins.
- The test of repentance is the authenticity and resolution of our repentance.
- In reference to our own sins.
- Sins characterized by aggravation of our own.
- Repentance.
- In the case of the Thessalonians.
- Manifested themselves that they converted idols to serve the living God.
- Alienation of God; and it is the repentance of this idolatry that has proved the authenticity of his faith and hope (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).
The gospel is not only the message that by grace we are saved, but also the message of repentance. When Jesus, after the resurrection, opened the disciples’ understanding to understand the scriptures, He told them, “Therefore, it is written that Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance was preached in his name. The remission of sins to all nations from Jerusalem?(Lk 24:46-47). When Peter preached to the multitudes on the day of Pentecost, the listeners were forced to ask, “What shall we do, brethren??” Peter said, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of your sins?”(Acts 2:37-38). Did Peter later interpret Christ’s exaltation as an exaltation of the role of “Prince and Savior, ” in order to grant Israel repentance and the remission of sins?(In 5. 31). Could anything else assure you more clearly that the gospel is the gospel of repentance that Jesus’ heavenly ministry as Savior is a ministry of repentance for forgiveness of sins?
When Paul presented the elders of Ephesus with an account of his own ministry, did he say that he had testified to both the Jews and the Greeks of God’s repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ [Christ]?(TO 20. 21). The author of the epistle to the Hebrews said that “repentance of dead works” is one of the basic principles of the doctrine of Christ (He 6:1). It couldn’t have been any different. The new life in Christ Jesus implies that the bonds that kept us under the influence of sin were destroyed; the believer died to sin by the blood of Christ; the old man was crucified so that the body of sin would be undone and the believer no longer serves sin (Romans 6. 2, 6). This break with the past is inscribed in consciousness by converting sin to God, “with full purpose and commitment to new obedience”.
Repentance is what describes the response to the passage from sin to God. This is the specific character of repentance, just as the specific character of faith is to receive Christ and trust Him alone for salvation. Repentance reminds us that if the faith we profess is a faith that enables us to walk the paths of this evil world, in the desires of the flesh, in the desires of the eyes, in the pride of life and in communion of God. the works of darkness, our faith is only mockery and deception. True faith is steeped in repentance. Just as faith is a momentary act and a continual attitude of trust and rest in the Savior, repentance brings with it constant contrition. Are the contrite spirit and the broken heart permanent marks of the believing soul? The blood of Christ is the instrument of initial purification, but it is also the source to which the believer can continually turn. It is in the cross of Christ that repentance begins; it is there that he must continue to shed his heart, with tears of confession and contrition.
By John Murray
Translation: Prof. Wellington Ferreira © Editor FIEL 2009.
Redemption: Fulfilled and applied, published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
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