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Repentance and Faith
Vs
"Easy Believism,"
"Now after that
John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And
saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of
God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the
gospel." (Mark
1:14,
15)
There are many
passages in the New Testament which indicate that
repentance is the key to salvation. For example,
Paul said that he had preached everywhere that
they "should repent and turn to God, and do works
meet for repentance" (Acts
26:20). But he
also preached that faith in Christ is the way to
be saved. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved" (Acts
16:31).
One could cite many verses stressing repentance
and many that stress faith.
There can obviously
be no real conflict here, though there is a danger
in what has been called "easy believism," if
repentance is ignored. Mental assent to certain
facts about Christ is not true saving faith. Nor
will it produce salvation for a person merely to
be sorry for his sins and change his behavior if
he did not really trust from his heart in the
person and work of Christ.
It is not
"either/or" but "both/and." One cannot truly
repent (that is "change his mind" about Christ and
His work, as well as his own life) without
genuinely believing personally that Christ died
for his sins and rose again to provide his
salvation. Neither can one have genuine faith in
Christ as Son of God and as his own personal
Savior without having his whole life and attitude
changed.
It is like two
sides of the same coin--repentance on one side,
faith on the other. We can only see one side at a
time, but both are real and neither can be there
without the other. The real "formula" for
salvation is "repentance toward God, and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts
20:21).
As Christ Himself preached (see our text): "Repent
ye, and believe the gospel."
HMM
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