Repentance Never Means More Than A Change Of Mind

Acts 20:21, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2nd Timothy 2:25-26, “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

Dear reader, repentance in the Bible concerning salvation NEVER means anything more than a change of mind. Anybody who adds to that meaning is preaching another gospel.

I moved last month from Guam to Pensacola. I feel like a cow looking at a new gate. I have been making many sincere mistakes since I've been here. I am learning many new things. For example: I had never used a mobile phone before to answer phone calls. People were calling me and I couldn't figure out how to answer my Samsung phone, that I bought at Best Buy. I tried to call, but couldn't get through. I tried to press the green circle, but it didn't work.

So I searched Google for “How To Answer Samsung Mobile Phone.” One website said to swipe upward, which I tried but it didn't work either. Another website said to swipe up on the white circle around the green dot, but that didn't work either. I was so frustrated, as my stupid phone rang, and I couldn't answer it. I was calling people back, to see who had called me, but was getting answering machines and voice mail. This went on for 2 weeks, until I finally had a chance to drive 30 minutes back to Best Buy where I purchased the mobile phone. As it turns out, to answer the phone you have to start at the green dot and swipe diagonally for 3 inches to the middle of the phone. Oh brother! Now I know how to answer my phone...lol. What the phone designer made to be simple and self-explanatory was very difficult and a mystery for me, because I was unlearned.

I think this is a perfect illustration of what so many pastors are doing today with the Bible doctrine of repentance. What God intended to be simple they are making complicated because they are unlearned. Repentance is simply “a change of mind.” That is what the Greek word metanoia means, and nothing more. Yet I hear foolish pastors expressing their anger that someone would teach that repentance is just a change of mind. One such unreasonable pastor is Charles Lawson of the Temple Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. I love the man's preaching otherwise, but he really blows it regarding repentance and how to be saved. Respectfully, that means Pastor Lawson is not truly saved. How can he be when he is wrong on the Gospel?

Dear friend, repentance NEVER means anything more than a change of mind. But doesn't the Bible give us some indication of what we must change our mind about? Yes, the Bible does! First let's look at Acts 20:21, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here we read that repentance is “TOWARD GOD.” Amen! Now let's look at 2nd Timothy 2:25-26, “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” So here we learn that repentance is “TO THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE TRUTH.”

A key Scripture passage to understand Bible repentance is John 3:20-21, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” So here see that repentance is when a lost person changes their thinking. Whereas before they refused to come to the light of the truth of the Gospel to be saved, now they have changed their mind TOWARD GOD AND ARE ACKNOWLEDGING THE TRUTH. They have acknowledged THE TRUTH that they are a guilty sinner (Romans 3:19-20) and are believing THE TRUTH of the Gospel to be saved. That is salvation! That is simple, free and easy.

In sharp contrast, many unlearned preachers today (both layman and pastors alike) are corrupting the Word of God and casting stumbling blocks before the people, by teaching that repentance means “turn away from your sinful ways.” False Teachers like Dr. Steve Pettit (president of Bob Jones University) and Dr. Marty Herron (Vice President of Faith Baptist Bible College And Theological Seminary) pervert the Gospel, teaching that repentance means that you must turn away from a lifestyle of sinning to get to Heaven. This is manmade righteousness, and not the imputed righteousness of God through faith alone in Jesus Christ (Romans 4:4-7). These wicked men will deceitfully claim to believe the latter, but by adding the additional requirement to turn away from your willful sinning, they have corrupted the Gospel.

Dear friend, there is an entirely different mindset in the brain of someone who thinks that you cannot continue in sin and go to Heaven. They utterly fail to understand that we are saved solely on the basis of what Jesus Christ did through Calvary's cross, by the shedding of His precious blood for our sins. If YOU must turn away from your sinning to get to Heaven, then in fact you are only placing partial faith in Christ, and adding your own self-righteousness.

NO ONE is saved who thinks that a person can lose God's free gift of salvation, because it proves that YOU are not completely trusting the blessed Savior. I have had people argue with me, who claim that they were formerly confused as a Pentecostal, thinking that salvation could be lost, but still insist that they were saved back then. I am not sorry to disagree fully with them. You were never truly saved (born again) until you completely ceased from trusting in your own works, and you wholly rested in Jesus Christ as your Savior. If turning away from sinful living, or maintaining a life of holy living, is required to know that you are truly saved, then YOU ARE NOT SAVED! If you have to look at your life to prove that you're saved, then you're not saved.

I was gloriously saved at age 13 by faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 16:30-31; Galatians 3:26). I became God's adopted child forever when I got saved. Nothing more was necessary or required. I have NEVER one time in my Christian life thought that I could lose God's free gift of salvation, which He gave to me because of my faith in His only begotten Son (John 3:16). I have never thought that I must persevere in holy living to prove the genuineness of the reality of my faith. This is a very important matter dear reader. The Bible is very clear that there are not two gospels. There is a very dangerous teaching going around in our Bible colleges and churches today, which says that “Lordship” salvation (i.e., Calvinism) and Wrong Repentance (i.e., Calvinism) fall within the realm of orthodox theology. No, they don't! Anything other than a 100% free grace Gospel is a lie of the Devil.

In closing, repentance in the Bible concerning salvation NEVER means anything more than a change of mind. Anybody who adds to that meaning is preaching another gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). You simply need to think differently so that you will admit you are a guilty sinner and believe the Gospel. The only change of mind that you must have is the realization (acknowledging THE TRUTH) that you are a guilty sinner under the condemnation of God's law, deserving of punishment in Hell. In other words, you need to know what you are being saved from. You need to know why you need a Savior. You are a guilty sinner and so am I (Romans 3:23).

Consequently, we all deserve to burn in the Lake of Fire for ever (Romans 5:9, 6:23; Revelation 20:15). But God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, into the world to die on the cross. Christ paid our sin debt (1st John 2:2). Anyone who by faith receives Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for our sins is saved. It is simply a matter friend of trusting the truth as recorded in God's written Word concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. John 20:31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”