Doctrine Of Repentance
The
premise of Biblical repentance
is an exchanging of one's mind for the
mind of Christ... that is, a change of
mind that acknowledges one's sin of
un-belief concerning the revelation of
God's Word and their need of God's mercy
resulting in a willful and direct turn to
the Lord Jesus Christ by faith for
the atonement of their sin (1
John 2:2). Thus, a changed
life is wrought by the power of the
gospel of Jesus Christ (2
Corinthians 5:17).
We
are not talking about turning from
un-belief to belief. Rather, we are
talking about turning from the sin that
unbelief is and turning to Christ Jesus
through faith for the forgiveness of sin.
Unbelief is not saying there is no
God, it is the sin of saying I don't need or
want God. (Genesis
3:1,6). Repentance is turning
from sin while faith is turning to God.
It is possible to repent from sin and
not turn to God in faith and remain
unsaved. It is,
however,
impossible to turn to God by faith
without repentance from sin (2
Corinthians 7:10).
Repentance
Is Not an act of reformation (work
for salvation), nor is it an
attitude of remorse that merely wrestles
with regret (as did Judas).
Repentance has for its strength the
convicting Word of God by the person of
the Holy Spirit who enables the sinner
to realize their sin and its consequence
of eternal separation from God, while
articulating the simplicity of faith in
Christ Jesus who is the only means of
salvation (John
16:7-11;
Acts 4:12).
Sincerely, Dr. Arthur Belanger
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