My question is: “How many aren’t saved because they’re told to repent to earn salvation?”
The inspiration to tackle the question: “Do I Have to Repent to be Saved?” came from a brief encounter on Twitter (read at left).
You can see Sean was left speechless once confronted with a question using scripture, which short circuited his ingrained narrative of the modern day church views on repentance.
This is a common ending to conversations I have on Twitter. “Going silent” is a great way to avoid the train wreck you see coming against your hard held beliefs and witnessed by your followers. Sadly, going silent also keeps you from being a disciple. A learner of Christ. When your ego wins, your spirit loses.
Here’s the text I challenged Sean to read and reply to:
Romans 10:8-13 “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Do you see any call to repentance in Paul’s instructions?
What did Apostle Paul have to say about repentance? The same thing Sean had to say about my question: NOTHING!
How is this possible considering the many versus in scripture by Jesus himself calling for repentance?
In fact, according to the Apostle Matthew “Repent” was the first word of Jesus’s ministry.
Matthew 4:17 (KJV) “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.“
Luke 5:32 (KJV) “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 13:3 (KJV) “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.“
You see the dilemma here right? Jesus seemingly calls for your repentance over and over in His ministry. The same Jesus who came back from heavens throne to knock the Apostle Paul off his ass (mule), and proceeded to tutor him face-to-face for three years in order to save Christianity, and His message of Faith and Grace, because the disciples were starting to mix in the laws of the Old Testament.
Did Jesus just forget to teach Paul repentance is necessary to gain the free gift salvation? Or did Paul just forget to mention it, causing nearly 2000 years of people falsely being converted by following his instructions?
Who Got It Right, Jesus or Paul?
Obviously the answer is Paul was right and Jesus was wrong. Okay, close your dropped jaw, Jesus wasn’t wrong, he was mistranslated.
The word Jesus used was the Greek word “Metanoia”, it was the translators of the Roman Catholic inspired King James Version Bible that purposely (under diabolical influence IMO), selected the word “Repent” (from the Latin of course), as the translation of “metanoia”. By doing so, they were able to insert the Catholic rite (a sacrament), of penance (a price to pay), into the act of gaining salvation. Making it null and void.
According to Robert N. Wilkin, “The Latin Fathers translated metanoia as paenitentia, which came to mean “penance” or “acts of penance.” Tertullian protested the unsuitable translation of the Greek metanoeo into the Latin paenitentiam by arguing that “in Greek, metanoia is not a confession of sins but a change of mind.”
Jesus NEVER Said the Word “Repent!”
Looking at the Websters Dictionary definition of the word “Metanoia” we see a schizophrenia (dual personality), caused by the pernicious error of translation. First the “noun” using the Latin tradition vs. the Greek ORIGINAL meaning “Change one’s mind”
Imagine your Salvation starting by vomiting up all your sins on Jesus’s feet. The very sins He was tortured and killed to forgive and FORGET THEM.
What is it exactly we’re to “Change our mind” (metanoia), about to receive the free gift of Salvation?
Answer: JESUS!
As I explained on the home page of this website, salvation is granted when you recognize Jesus as your Lord and Savior. When you come to that A HAH! moment after hearing the gospel, and changing your mind from unbelief to BELIEF in Jesus.
From now on, WHENEVER you read the word “repent” in your Bible, scratch it out and write in “Change your mind”
HOLD ON THERE MISTER! Don’t I Have to Change My Sinning Ways?
No, YOU don’t have to change them. YOU have to let JESUS change them.
Simply put, when Jesus takes up His place in your body, you are reborn as a new man or woman in Christ, you have His new nature immediately going up against your old sinful nature. A truly born again Christian will begin a life long journey towards perfection, as Jesus carves out the cancer of sin bit by ugly bit. Don’t get in the way of this operation by trying to direct the scalpel yourself.
What Am I to do if I’m Not Supposed to Try to Stop Sinning?
Your job is to Faithe. Your new belief was just the starting pistol in the race Paul spoke about so often. The race of faith. The Good Fight of Faith.
Hebrews 12:1 “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us”
Running the race, in other terms, means to “Practice one’s faith”. You see how Faithing is an action. It’s something you must do, you must learn to trust in Jesus. Start your every day acknowledging Him in your life. Ask that He will go before you in your daily walk, and be sure to thank Him for it at the end of your day.
Learn to follow the new commandments Jesus gave us in Mark 12:30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
The second commandment is your employment of the “Great Commission” Jesus gave us, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” by spreading the gospel so others might obtain the riches and glory that you’ve so fortunately received. That’s how we love our neighbors as ourselves.
I’ll close by way of answering the question I started with:
“How many aren’t saved because they’re told to repent to earn salvation?”
The false doctrine of repentance spiritually cuts and kills in two directions.
First, by laying a stumbling stone down at the feet of the nonbeliever by way of the phycological damage they must inflict on themselves before they can receive the love and salvation of Jesus Christ. How many reject Jesus because of that reason?
Second, and far worse, it makes false conversions that has led unknown millions into thinking they’re saved. Don’t believe me? Then tell me who Jesus is speaking to in this passage:
Matthew 7:21-23 (KJV) “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.“
I suggest there are several ways to end up finding out you’re not saved, that Jesus never knew you. Coming to him through your sins is one of them. Don’t begin your journey in rejection, begin it with a change of mind.
God Bless Us All,
Begin your “Change of Mind” by learning from this series taught by Pastor Joseph Cortes of “Faith Cometh By Hearing” ministries. Find this series and many other topics by visiting TeachingFaith.com
To access all the videos in the “Change of Mind” series, switch to YouTube to see the playlist.
