What is a true Christian? Someone who observes religious practices, or someone who has Christ living inside of them? And if Christ lives inside of you, your spirit will surrender to His Spirit and your life will exemplify this reality. Jesus warned that false prophets and by extension counterfeit Christians could be identified by the fruit they bear (Matthew 7:16; Luke:43-45), meaning the way they live would make obvious what their core beliefs are. Our lives reflect our values.
It is vital for those who truly believe and put their hope in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ to seek to know Him on an intimate level and to make Him the focal point of their daily lives. John 3:16 is one of the most quoted verses of scripture that is often used to explain salvation. John wrote, “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.” These words offer hope to many and illustrate the immeasurable mercy and love of God for humanity, but they are just the beginning of faith.
The apostle Paul instructs that when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we become sons of God (Galatians 3:26), and, “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out ‘Abba Father’” (Galatians 4:6). The Holy Spirit dwells within true believers and guides us to walk in harmony with God (John 16:13) and strengthens us to overcome our weaknesses (Matthew 26:41).
Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:16-17, to follow and submit to the Holy Spirit, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”
Repentance is Requisite
The popular gospel today is the one that preaches that God sees us as perfect beings, made in His image, and that there is absolutely nothing He requires of us in order to save us from condemnation; that Christ died for everyone, therefore everyone will be welcomed into heaven with open arms. While there is a certain element of truth to these statements, they are convoluted enough to imply that no one is destined for hell. When John 3:16 is used out of context, it fits the narrative and sounds as if the doors of heaven have been kicked wide open for a “come as you are” festival welcoming sinners from all walks of life, sin and all.
Ephesians 2:8-9 is used to justify the assertion that since there is nothing one can do to earn salvation, there is also nothing one can do to retain salvation therefore, repentance of sin is unnecessary. This is flawed theology and only an elementary understanding of the heart and mind of God. By cherry-picking scripture to emphasize only the warm and fuzzy messages of love and forgiveness, while ignoring the sections that discuss punishment and wrath, God is not portrayed as He has revealed Himself to be, and the portrait we are provided with is incomplete. The resulting disconnect between the attributes of God as they are revealed in scripture and the message from some pulpits causes the gospel to lose credibility with observers who question the validity of Christianity.
One must not teach John 3:16 without the context provided by John 3:18, which qualifies it by adding, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Jesus died for all, but belief is necessary to gain from His sacrifice. In order to believe, we must trust that His testimony is true, and that requires faith. Repentance is requisite to belief – they are components of faith and of each other.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” In other words, we are saved through faith, and not through works. Our faith authenticates our belief. Our faith activates grace. Faith is a verb; it is an action. We believe, and then grace is extended to us as a gift.
To have faith in Christ means to unreservedly concede that there is no other name by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). This means forsaking everything else and putting all of our eggs in the one basket; that is, Christ. John 14:6 records Christ declaring, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” To be called a Christian one must follow Christ.
Furthermore, Jesus said, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:23-26).
Additionally, in the fifth chapter of Romans, Paul teaches that through faith in Jesus, we have gained access to the grace in which we now stand (Romans 5:2), and that God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us (Romans 5:5). We are saved by grace – through faith. It is our faith that compels us to repent and follow Jesus. Faith is an action therefore, it involves repentance. When we have committed ourselves completely to Christ, we are given the gift of grace.
Renouncing Worldly Values
The apostle Paul advises, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:3) and Jesus taught that we should store up treasures in heaven because where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also (Matthew 6:19-21). James 4:4 warns, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” James goes on to say that we ought to submit to God, draw near to God and purify our hearts. Otherwise, we remain double-minded.
James also tells us that a double-minded man is unstable, and when we have doubts about God and aren’t fully submitted to Him, we run the risk of being polluted by the world. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24). We can’t have it both ways, with one foot in the world and the other in God’s kingdom.
Grace theologians attempt to bridge the impossible chasm that exists between worldly values and godly values by insisting that grace trumps sin, therefore repentance is redundant. They claim that we cannot accomplish what Christ already succeeded in accomplishing on the cross. These half-truths neglect to acknowledge Luke’s gospel and the book of Acts, where nearly one half (25/58) of the primary uses of the term “repentance” in the New Testament are found.
Belief = Faith = Repentance
Scripture does not contradict itself, therefore, being saved by grace through faith and the necessity of repentance for salvation must be indistinguishable from God’s point of view. Mark 1:15 informs us of the words of Jesus, “’The time has come,’ he said, ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’” Similarly, John 3:18 teaches that while belief alone is what saves us, unbelief alone condemns us, therefore, we must deduce that repentance is a component of belief.
It is conceivable then, that since repentance can be defined as the changing of one’s mind, that affirming belief in Christ, as opposed to unbelief, is synonymous with repentance. Those who recognize that they are sinners in need of saving and come to Jesus through faith will then spontaneously turn from their sins and believe in Christ. Since all sin begins in the mind, that is where the decision to turn from our wickedness and embrace Jesus also originates.
Belief must be wholeheartedly sincere in order to be authentic. Jesus used the phrase “being born again” as an analogy to more concisely convey the essence of repentance when He was speaking to Nicodemus in the third chapter of John’s gospel. He was imparting that a transformation must take place in us that can only come when we surrender to the Holy Spirit and begin to live in obedience to Him.
Authentic faith is therefore synchronized with repentance and living, according to the Spirit who indwells us when we truly believe. This is what Paul is emphasizing in Ephesians 5:8, when he says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light,” and again in Galatians 5:16-17.
We are saved by grace, which is the free gift of God, through faith. However, our faith cannot be counterfeit, or we believe in vain. Paul puts it this way, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7-8).
We only fool ourselves if we think we can continue to live in sinful indulgence and be saved. In 1 John 3:6, we are told, “No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.” The gospel of Jesus Christ is truth therefore we cannot live a lie and rationalize we have been rescued from condemnation. Our faith must be authentic.
The writer of Hebrews warns, “We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.” (Hebrews 4:14). Apostates are an example of insincere belief that withers away with time. Jesus illustrated this phenomenon in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:6) and again in John 15:5-6, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”
Bona fide Christianity dictates that we humble ourselves and repent of our sinful desires and deeds, and become obedient to Jesus as demonstrated through faith. Romans 5:1-2 provides encouragement: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”
