"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:8, 9 – NKJV). With this verse, we are all familiar, and indeed, we embrace it. However, it is often torn from the following verse (Eph. 2:10), which makes a world of a difference, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Emphasis mine). Therein lies the problem of American Christianity today. We have torn grace and faith from their expression in works, both for good and against evil. We forget repentance.
In the American church today, repentance is almost gone. We shudder at the thought of telling people to repent if they wish to be saved. "By grace, through faith! Sola fidelis!" is the cry of many. Popular preaching says to believe in Jesus and you will be saved; you need not change your life. As Biblical as "just believe" may sound at first, it is not at all the reality we take for granted. Our churches are filled to the brim with people who "believe," yet these same churches are filled to the brim with people who live in constant sin. Those who cry, "Jesus is the Way!" are the same who, "I'm sinning, anyway!" Why is this? God promises life-changing to His followers in the Bible. The Gospel is supposed to be powerful, to alter people's lifestyles radically. So why, then, are there so many people who have a change in their Religion fields on Facebook but not in their everyday lives?
Preaching in Half: Be Converted and Baptized!
When is the last time you heard a preacher present the Gospel and mention repentance? It's not as common as you might assume. Think about it. "Just admit you are a sinner, believe in what Christ did on the cross, and confess Him as your Savior and Lord!" "If you pray this prayer, and mean it with all of your heart, you will be saved: Father, I admit that I am a sinner in need of you. I believe in Your Son Jesus, who died on the cross for my sins, and I pray that You will forgive me. Come into my heart and save me! In Jesus' name, amen." Now it starts to add up, right? In so many Gospel presentations today, repentance is not mentioned at all. Part of the reason people don't turn from their sins is that no one tells them to do so.
"But," you may say, "you don't have to repent to be saved! Salvation is by grace, through faith! Adding repentance makes a works salvation." Is that so? If that is the case, then why did the preachers of the New Testament, including Jesus Himself, preach a Gospel of repentance? (Note that all of the bolding in the following passages is mine.)
John the Baptist preached repentance:
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (Matthew 3:1).
"Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance…" (Matthew 3:8).
Jesus preached repentance:
From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:17).
Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent… (Matthew 11:20).
"I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3).
The apostles preached repentance:
So they went out and preached that people should repent. (Mark 6:12).
Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ [in view of] the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38).
"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…" (Acts 3:19)
Every evangelist of the first century preached repentance. All of these verses include repentance in the context of salvation. The problem is that people don't preach repentance today. Instead, they simply tell people to believe, maybe be baptized. Repentance is rarely mentioned.
Faith + Repentance?
What, then? Is Ephesians 2:8, 9 wrong? Is sola fidelis ("faith alone," if you are unfamiliar), the battle cry of the Protestant Reformation, nothing? By no means! The only way to be saved is by grace, through faith. The Bible clearly teaches this, and there is no reason to deny. No works can earn salvation, for it is a free gift. Our sins don't disqualify us to be saved, and our goodness doesn't privilege us to be saved.
How then, can I say that repentance is necessary for salvation? The problem with Christianity in America today is that we don't have any clue what faith is. We assume that faith is belief. We think of it as a kind of feel-good, hope-like belief in the Gospel. That is not faith. Many people have that kind of "faith," but it can do no more to save them than believing in Narnia can take you there. The apostle James was the primary spokesperson for faith—he explained to morally lax Christians what faith really is.
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? (James 2:14).
What is this verse doing in the Bible? Doesn't it say that faith can't save you without works? It does not! On the contrary, it explains faith. See, neither the KJV nor the NKJV includes the translation of the Greek word he in the second sentence. See, he is one form of the article ho, which can mean "the," "that," "this," or many other similar articles. This is used in Greek far beyond the limits of proper English grammar, so it is often omitted. However, in this case, it would be more accurate to translate it for clarity. Thus, a better rendition of James 2:14b would read, "Can that faith save him?" (This is the reading in the New American Standard Bible.) Now it makes sense.
Real, saving faith will produce works. This includes adding good works to your life and removing bad works (repentance). The faith James condemns is dead faith. He continues in 2:17, "Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." Dead faith doesn't save anyone, and faith without works is dead. This is Bible truth. Saving faith produces works. Works are not a prerequisite for saving faith; they are an inevitable result of saving faith. After all, James continues in verse 18, "But someone will say, 'You have faith, and I have works.' Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." Real faith can be proven by real works. If your faith produces no works, then how does anyone (including you) know it's real?
What is Repentance?
Repentance, however, is not a work in and of itself. Repentance is a change of mind that accompanies faith, which leads to works. See, the word for "repent" in the Greek literally means to change one's mind, thinking, opinion, or attitude towards something. When we repent of our sins, as we are specifically called to do in real faith, we decide, "Okay, I've been wrong to sin as I have. My sins are disgusting, abominable to God, and I need to stop them." You can't make that decision without removing sin as your walk with God progresses. When you repent of your sins, you are adding a necessary ingredient to the faith through which grace will come and save you. Note that none of this originates within you yourself, however. God is the One who convicts you of your sins and convinces you to repent through His Holy Spirit. Without Him, you could never decide to repent.
Repentance is the key characteristic of the Christian faith. If we have faith in God, we repent of sins. The two are inseparably linked. This is why people who are truly saved don't continue in open sin. They may stumble, they may fall, and it may even last for an uncomfortable time, but the conviction of the Holy Spirit will at some point always lead to their repentance and return to God. They cannot get saved and just keep living in open sin. What do I mean by "open sin?" I am referring to obvious sin. A repentant heart will work to rid itself of any sin it can see. Some sins, including but not limited to murder, theft, sexual immorality (fornication, adultery, and homosexuality, among others), physical abuse, drugs, and alcoholism are blatantly obvious to the person doing them. In such obvious sin, anyone who has real faith (which alone saves us) will repent. They may not completely annihilate it immediately, but they will at the very least try to remove it from their lives, confess it to God, and never be content with it. As God reveals the less obvious sins to them, they will treat those the same way. In conclusion: anyone who is truly saved will live a life repenting of sin as they become aware of it. People who are aware of their sin but do not try to change for God's sake, are not saved (Hebrews 10:26, 27a says in the NASB, "For if we go on sinning [constantly, continually] willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment.").
Conclusion
Repentance is a part of salvation, because it is a part of faith. Only living faith can save you, and living faith is repentant faith. This is a thoroughly Biblical teaching. God tells us that He wishes for us not to sin, and that He expects to cut sin out of our lives. While He doesn't expects us to be perfect, He wants us to live as if we were. The reason that sin is so rampant in church today is that preachers don't tell people they have to repent. Yet, we have to repent. The A in the ABCs of salvation is really this: "Admit you are a sinner, fallen short of God's glory, deserving of the wages of sin, which is death in Hell. Repent of your sins and ask for forgiveness." There is no such thing as genuine faith without repentance. We need to preach repentance, to tell people boldly what God has said about those who constantly sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth (this is not salvation, by the way, but learning the way of salvation and acknowledging it as true). We need to be willing to make a stand for what salvation really is. If we all proclaim repentance, then the unrepentant "Christians" in our churches will either repent and be saved or leave, thus cleansing American Christianity. Are you willing to step up?