One of the most frequently repeated statements during the last fifteen years of ministry is JI’s insightful comment: Packer that half-truths disguised as complete truths are complete lies Packer’s observation is a good reminder that half-truths are just that: Half-truths. When presented as if there is nothing more to say, the result is that the truth is compromised. To say that Jesus is one hundred percent human is true. However, that’s only half the story. Jesus is also one hundred percent divine. If we focus only on the humanity of Jesus and never say anything about his divinity, we are guilty of presenting a half-truth as if it were the whole truth, and then we tell a total lie.
My fear is that many of us in today’s Church are dangerously close to violating this precept in our preaching of the gospel. There is no doubt that the gospel call is to believe in Jesus Christ, which is why our preaching should call regularly, but if our preaching ends there, without ever calling people to repentance, it is dangerously close to presenting a half-truth as if it were all the truth. Repentance and faith are inseparable. They are the two sides of the same coin: faith is the positive side of turning to Christ, and repentance is the negative side of turning away from sin. It is impossible to turn to Christ and turn to sin, just as it is impossible to travel. in two different directions at the same time. By definition, traveling east means not traveling west, and becoming Christ, therefore, means not going back to sin. Faith and repentance necessarily go hand in hand.
- We can see this inseparable union between faith and repentance in various passages of Scripture.
- In Acts 2.
- 38.
- For example.
- Peter responds to those who have been and asked.
- “What shall we do.
- Brethren?” telling them.
- “Repent.
- And that each of you may be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins.
- “Peter did not say to them.
- “Believe and baptize.
- ” as Paul does in circumstances almost identical to the jailer of Philippi in Acts.
- 16: 30-34.
- But “Repent.
- And each of you will be baptized”.
- The reason seems clear.
- Especially when compared to Peter and Paul: faith and repentance are inseparable.
- It is impossible to repent and not believe.
- And it is impossible to believe and not repent.
We see him again in Luke 24. 47, when Jesus tells his disciples that they must proclaim a gospel of “repentance for the remission of sins,” and in Acts 3:19, when one of these disciples obeys his words and in fact commands his listeners: “Repent, you have undone your sins. “In both cases, we are again informed that the gospel call is not simply “believe and you will be forgiven,” but “repent and you will be forgiven. “The reason is that faith and repentance go hand in hand.
Mark makes this connection even more explicit in his account of Christ’s life. In 1:14-15, Mark reports that Jesus proclaims a gospel that openly calls people to “repent and believe. “For Jesus, faith and repentance obviously go hand in hand The gospel calls us both.
It is not a question of denying the doctrine of justification only by faith. Jesus adds nothing to faith, but defines how faith becomes truly evident. The faith it justifies is not an empty or vague faith, so to speak, but a faith. faith that repents, that is, a faith always accompanied by repentance. Certainly, authentic faith may not repent for some time. David’s example remained unrepentant for some time after his sin with Bathbaba demonstrated it (2 Samuel 11-12). But an unrepentant spirit cannot last forever. Christians will not repent immediately, but in the end they will be. God will take care of this, just as He did with David, because faith and repentance necessarily go hand in hand. , there will also be the other.
The same gospel that calls us to faith also calls us to repentance. If we focus solely on the call to faith, we focus on one side of the coin and ignore the fact that there is another side. The best-known teachings of Jesus, which proclaim faith, but not repentance, is like teaching people to “give Caesar what is Caesar’s” without ever mentioning that they should also give God what is for God (Matthew 22. 21). We are dangerously close to presenting a half-truth as if it were the whole truth and, therefore, of telling a total lie.