repent

“REPENT”! IS NOT A MESSAGE OF SALVATION

 

This paper is written from the view -point that Israel was put aside as God’s chosen people and the Church which is His Body began at the end of the Acts period. If the reader does not hold to that point of view may I suggest that he/she first read the paper on this web-site When Did the Church Begin?

John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life”. In this passage we read that belief in Christ was the only requirement of salvation. In Acts 2:38 we read, “Peter replied, repent and be baptized everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven”. Is Acts 2:38 a different message of salvation? I believe not, I believe that John 3:16 explains the gospel of individual salvation in every dispensation and the passages about repentance have to do with earthly blessings or punishments in the Old Testament, and with proving the faith required for salvation. We shall consider those passages as we look at each occurrence of where Man is called upon to repent.  

As we begin to study the passages having to do with repentance we must keep in mind that Israel had a conditional covenant relationship with God. We read in Leviticus chapter 26 that if Israel obeyed God’s Law they would be blessed with earthly blessings, but if they disobeyed God’s Law they would be cursed with earthly punishments.

We know that Old Testament believers were saved by grace through faith (See Rom. 3:21-4:25. The paper on this web-site Salvation: A Universal Truth gives the full scriptural evidence that salvation has always been by grace through faith.) The Old Testament however, is more a history of God’s people, Israel, and Her relationship, past and future, with her God, than it is about individual salvation unto eternal life. Even though Old Testament believers were saved by grace through faith, the Old Testament does not concern itself primarily with salvation, it concerns itself rather, with a nation’s walk with God.

Now let us look at the times in the Bible where man is called upon to repent. I believe that as we do that, it will become increasingly obvious that repentance has nothing to do with eternal salvation, it has to do with temporal blessings or punishments.

THE CALL TO REPENTANCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Jer. 18:11-12 reads, “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, this is what the Lord says, ‘Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and am devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you and reform your actions. But they will reply, its no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart”. The punishment for their refusal to repent is given in verse 16; “Their land will be laid waste, an object of lasting scorn”. This passage shows the conditional covenant relationship that God had with Israel, i.e. when they obeyed, He would bless them but when they disobeyed, He would punish them. It also shows that repentance does not have anything to do with eternal life. In this case it is repentance in order to avoid earthly punishment.

Jer. 26:2-6 reads, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house and speak to the people of the towns of Judah’…. . Perhaps they will listen and each will turn (repent) from his evil way. Then I will relent and not bring on them the disaster I was planning…. .” This passage is very much like Jeremiah 18 and, once again, we are told what the call to repent meant to Old Testament Israel. And it has nothing to do with salvation unto eternal life.

Ezek. 14:6 reads, “Therefore say to the house of Israel, This is what the sovereign Lord says, ‘Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices”. In this passage, the consequence of not repenting is explained in verse 8, “I will set My face against that man.. I will make him a byword. I will cut him off from My people”. To be cut off from Israel as a result of disobeying God’s Law is a concept that is often spoken of in the Old Testament. For example Gen. 17:14 reads, “Any uncircumcised male will be cut off from among his people; he has broken My covenant”. Note also Ex. 12:15, “…. Whoever eats anything with yeast in it…must be cut off from Israel“. The phrase “cut off” can mean put to death as in Gen. 9:11, “Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood…”. But in general it means to be separated from Israel, Note for example Numbers 15:31, “…that person must be cut off; his guilt remains on him” When an Old Testament Israelite is cut off from his nation, it means that he will not inherit the earthly blessings promised to God’s people. Ps. 37:9 shows the same idea. It reads, “For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.” It does not mean the loss of eternal salvation for “by grace are you saved, through faith…..not by works so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). It does mean the loss of earthly blessings that will come to Israel during the millennial reign of Christ.

Ezek. 18:27, “…if a wicked man turns away (repents) from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life”. The context of this verse will show that it is not eternal life that is spoken of here, but one’s temporal life. Note for example verse 13, “….Will such a man live? He will not…he will surely be put to death”. Also verse 17-18, “…He will not die for his father’s sins; he will surely live. But his father will die for his own sin”. Verse 20, “For the soul who sins, he will be put to death”.

Joel 2:13-14, “Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate…and He repents from sending calamity. Who knows that He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing, grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God”. Again, this passage speaks not of eternal life but of earthly blessings for those who repent.

THE CALL TO REPENTANCE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

It is clear that the exhortation to repent in the Old Testament had to do with earthly punishments and/or blessings and does not concern salvation unto eternal life. We will now examine the New Testament calls for repentance, bearing in mind that the New Testament did not come out of a vacuum. So when we study repentance in the New Testament, we must understand it as the hearers of the message would have understood it. That requires a consideration of the Old Testament.

Because we have in the Word of God the expressed reason that Israel was called upon to repent in the New Testament I think it best if we allow that inspired reason to speak for itself. That reason is found in Acts 3:19.

Acts 3:19, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord”. The note in the Companion Bible on the word translated “when” in the phrase “when the times of refreshing shall come” reads, “when=in order that. Gr. hopos. Occurs 15 times in Acts and always expresses a purpose“. So this verse should read, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, in order that the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord”. We have in this verse the expressed reason that Israel was called upon to repent. It was “in order that” the times of refreshing (the millennial reign of Christ) shall come.

This is perfectly consistent with the reasons Israel was called upon to repent in the Old Testament. As we have seen in the sections above, Israel had been called to repentance in the Old Testament in order to avoid punishment or to lay hold of a blessing. In the New Testament the message of John the Baptist, of Christ, of Peter and of the apostles, whenever Israel was called upon to repent, was in order that Christ would return and set up His millennial reign.

Matt. 3:1, “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the desert of Judah saying, ‘Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is near’”. The “kingdom of Heaven” is Christ’s rule of Israel in His millennial reign. (For the scriptural evidence of that statement, please see the paper on this web-site The Kingdom of Heaven.) John the Baptist preached repentance so that the kingdom of Heaven would be set up. This is perfectly consistent with the inspired reason for repentance given in Acts 3:19, quoted above. And it is also completely consistent with the calls to repentance in the Old Testament. Just as in the Old Testament when Israel was called upon to repent either to avoid a punishment or to lay hold of a blessing, so too here if Israel had repented they would have enjoyed all the blessings associated with the millennium.

Matt. 4:17, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near’”. See note above on Matt. 3:1.

Matt. 11:20-21, “Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. Woe to you Korazin, Woe to you Bethsaida! If the miracles that had been performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Siddon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes”. Note that it is cities that are called on to repent. Eternal salvation is never offered to cities but to individuals.

Matt. 12:41, “The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah”. Let us look at the message of Jonah to Nineveh and learn what they repented of and what was their reward for their repentance. In Jonah 1:2 God tells Jonah to “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me”. In Jonah 3:4 we read that Jonah was proclaiming to Nineveh, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed“.. In verse 10 of chapter 3 we see that “When God saw what they did and how they turned (repented) from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened”. We see that Nineveh repented to avoid the destruction of their city, this has nothing to do with eternal salvation.

Mark 1:4, “John did baptize …and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins“. See notes on Acts 3:19 and Matt. 3:1 above.

Luke 3:3, He (John the Baptist) went into all the country around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”. See notes on Acts 3:19 and Matt. 3:1 above.

Luke 3:8 “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance”. In verse 9 we read, “The ax is already at the root of the trees and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire”. When they asked what they should do, they were told to share their tunics and their food. It is clear that this is not the gospel of salvation for “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not of yourselves, it is the gift from God, not by works so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). This passage is about the ministry of John the Baptist. His ministry was two fold. 1) John was to announce the coming of Christ, which clearly this passage is not about. 2) John was to call Israel to repent “in order that” Christ would set up His millennial reign. I believe that we may conclude that it was the second reason that John called upon Israelites to repent in this passage.

Luke 5:32, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”. Many people take this to be the gospel of salvation, but I believe that a closer look at the context will show otherwise. Verse 32 comes as an answer to the objections of the Pharisees, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” If one takes this passage to be about salvation, we are left to conclude by the question and our Lord’s answer that tax collectors and sinners are more in need of salvation than others are. But tax collectors and sinners are in no worse a position than any other person in terms of salvation “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. If disobedience to God’s Law were the issue (which I believe it was) then they would have been in a worse position, as those two groups were notorious for their disobedience to God’s Law. I believe that the repentance that our Lord preached was for the same purpose as was John the Baptist’s call for repentance. That is to say, if Israel had repented the millennial reign would have come.

Luke 10:13. See notes on Acts 3:19 and Matt. 3:1 above.

Luke 11:32. See notes on Acts 3:19 and Matt. 3:1 above.

Luke 13:3, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” The context will show that “perish” refers to this temporal life, not to eternal life. In verse two Jesus was told about some Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices; and in verse four Christ tells of the 18 who died when a tower fell on them. He was talking about the end of temporal life; eternal salvation was not what was being discussed.

Luke 15:7, “I tell you that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent”. Because we know that all have come short of the glory of God we know that those 99 were not without sin. I believe they were righteous concerning the law as were Zecharius and his wife Elisabeth. We read of them in Luke 1:6, “And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless”. Their righteousness is not what made them just before God, but it did prove their faith, which did make them righteous.

Luke 16:30. The rich man says, “No father Abraham, but if someone goes to them, they will repent”. This verse is found in the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man and Lazarus is a story that is told in irony and therefore cannot be taken as literal truth. (Please see the paper on this web-site The Rich Man And Lazarus for the scriptural evidence of that statement.)

Luke 17:3-4, “If your brother sins rebuke him, and if he repents forgive him. If he sins against you seven times a day and comes back seven times and repents, forgive him”. This has to do with a man forgiving his brother and so can not refer to eternal salvation.

Luke 24:47, “Repentance and forgiveness will be preached in His name”. Please see the notes on Acts 3:19 and Matt. 3:1 above.

Acts 2:38, “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you so that your sins will be forgiven. Please see the notes on Acts 3:19 and Matt. 3:1 above.

Acts 5:31, “Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins”. This repentance and forgiveness of sins is for the purpose of the return of the risen Messiah so that He may establish His millennial reign. Peter’s message is perfectly consistent with the rest of the New Testament calls upon Israel to repent.

Act 8:22, “Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart”. This is not a message of salvation. This man had a wicked thought and he is told that he needs to ask God’s forgiveness for that thought. Salvation is not being saved from what we think or do; it is being saved from death that comes as a result of being children of Adam.

In Acts 11 we read of Peter’s account of his experience with Cornelius in Acts 10. We read in Acts 11:18, “…So then God has even granted the Gentiles repentance unto life“. There are two important aspects to this passage that can not be overlooked if we are to understand it correctly. 1) Peter’s message was to the Gentiles and was given for a different reason than was his call to Israel to repent. The Gentiles’ repentance had no relation to the return of Christ. Note also, Peter expressly states that it was a repentance unto life, i.e. salvation life. 2) Peter’s message given to the Gentiles in chapter 10 was to believe. We read in verse 43 Peter’s statement that, “everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name”. Note also that when Peter is describing this scene to those in Jerusalem, he says in verse 17, “So if God gave them the same gift He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God.” Peter’s message to the Gentiles was that they should believe. When giving an account of his experience, Peter explained that believers received forgiveness of sins. But forgiveness of sins is not the same as salvation from the grave. Therefore, belief (or faith) brings salvation, and repentance brings forgiveness of sins. They are not the same. As in Heb. 11 where those saints were reckoned as righteous because they believed the message that God had for them and acted upon that belief, so too the Gentiles to whom Peter preached also were reckoned as righteous when they believed Peter’s message and acted upon it by being baptized.

Acts 17:30-31, In this passage Paul is addressing “Men of Athens” (vs. 22). In verse 29 Paul speaks to them about the idol worship of which they have been guilty in the past. And in verses 30 and 31 he says, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent”. From what does Paul want these people to repent? From idol worship. Why at that time particularly, “but now“. Because “He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed”. We must note that the Greek word translated “world” is “oikoumenee” and means “the inhabited world“. The only other time that we read of judging the “oikoumenee” is in Rev. 3:10, “Since you have kept My command patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world (oikoumenee) to test those who live on the earth”. (The Greek word translated “earth” is “ge” and, in my opinion should be translated “land” i.e. Land of Israel. The reader is invited to read my paper The Tribulation is Not Worldwide for the scriptural evidence of this translation).

Let us put Paul’s address to the men of Athens in perspective. Israel had not yet been put aside as God’s chosen people at the time of this address. Had they accepted their Messiah during the Acts period, the world could have expected the fulfillment of Daniel’s 70^th week and the coming of the great tribulation. The focal point of the tribulation was whether one would worship the image of the antichrist placed on a wing of the Temple (see Dan. 9:27), or remain true to the one true God, the God of Israel. In my opinion, Paul’s comments to the men of Athens centers on the idol worship of the tribulation when the ultimate choice of worshipping God or Satan must be made. The call to repentance therefore, was to repent from worshipping idols so that they will not be led into the worshipping of the antichrist. By believing and accepting Paul’s message of the risen Christ, and repenting of their idol worship they will, of course, inherit eternal life, but that is not the gist of Paul’s message.

Acts 19:4, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the One coming after him”. I believe that Paul is saying here that John’s baptism unto repentance included belief in Christ.

Acts 20:21, “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus”. As noted in Acts 19:4 Paul is saying that baptism unto repentance included belief in Christ.

Acts 26:20. “…..I preached that they should repent and turn to God and that they should prove their repentance by their deeds”.

Rom. 2:4, “God’s kindness leads you towards repentance”. Rom. 1:7 tells us that Romans was written to believers, “To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints”. The context will show that the repentance of 2:4 refers to repenting from judging others. Obviously judging others has nothing to do with the gospel of salvation.

II Cor. 7:9-10, “yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance…. Godly sorrow brings repentance”. Again, this is not a repentance unto salvation, but a repentance from doing what it was that Paul had written to them earlier about.

II Cor. 12:21, “I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity”. Again, this is the repentance from a sin of a believer, not a repentance unto salvation.

II Tim. 2:25, “…God will grant him repentance leading him to the knowledge of the truth”. This repentance is from one who is a believer and will not accept instruction. This is the only time in an epistle written to the Church which is His Body where repentance is preached. This repentance again has nothing to do with salvation.

Heb. 6:6, Verse 4 reads, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened …..if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance”. This passage is often quoted by those who believe that a saved person can lose his salvation. I do not agree with that position and I believe that the context will show that eternal salvation is not the subject of this passage. E.W. Bullinger writes in his note on this verse in the Companion Bible, “The warning is that after accepting Jesus…if they go back to Judaism they cut themselves off (see Gal. 5:4) as there is no other Messiah to be looked for, and by rejecting Him they put Him to open shame”.

There are eleven occurrences of “repent” in Revelation. In my opinion, each of them is an exhortation to Israel to repent of their sins or they will suffer the consequences of the tribulation. At no time in Revelation are these verses in regard to eternal salvation. To go through each verse would take us beyond the scope of this paper, which I fear is long enough already. Also because there are so many interpretations of Revelation, I fear that a study of these verses would lead us far from our topic. So I will list the verses in which “repent” occurs in Revelation and allow the reader to examine those passages. They are: Rev. 2:5 (2) 2:16, 2:21, 2:22, 3;3. 3:19, 9:20; 9:21, 16:9, 16:11.
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This paper was written by Joyce Pollard. I would love to hear your thoughts. Please E-mail me at:

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.janjoyceHOME@aol.com