Is Repentance Needed for Salvation?

It should be stressed that there is NO such thing as a repentless salvation.  Why?  Well, repentance as defined in Greek in the New Testament is metanoneia or simply as "changing of the mind for the better which results to a change in purpose".  When God repents, He simply changes His mind for the better.  However the problem is, like the word sacrament, justification, surrender, commit and save- it belongs to the same boat of multi-meaning words! So far, Chick Publications has shown many definitions of repent and they all make sense, sadly it can become confusing.


First the definitions of the word "repent":

1
: to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life
2
a : to feel regret or contrition
b : to change one's mind (derived from the word metanoneia)

In the Bible we do have repentance towards salvation in these verses in which metanoneia is used:

• Mark 1:15- "And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel."
• Luke 13:3- "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
• Acts 17:30- "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:"
• 2 Corinthians 7:10- "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death."

On the other hand, there's repentance after salvation which results to good works which should never be confused with repentance towards God:

• Acts 26:20- "But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance."

Here, it's not repentance towards salvation but repentance AFTER salvation which is to dedicate one's self to the amendment of life.

So far here are points that the people in this ministry definitely stresses out about repentance being a word of more than one meaning:

• Although it is not necessary for a person to be willing to turn from sin to be accepted by Jesus Christ but unless a person is really willing to turn from sin, they at their own freedom of choice will continue to reject the Lord Jesus Christ and it's their OWN free will and not God who did the rejecting while they were still alive.  This is where repentance of sin comes in- unless a person changes their mind about sin and that it offends God, they will never see their need of the Lord Jesus Christ to be their Savior, in effect they reject His Lordship in the process.  2 Corinthians 7:10 would be a good ground that unless a person has real sorrow for sin, they will not receive Jesus.  Rejection happens on the part of man!
• On the other hand anybody who receives the Lord Jesus as their Savior receives Him as their Lord even at the very first day of their never-ending Christian life, in which the Lord will always be with them to the point He will spank them whenever they screw up.  People who call upon Him the Lord Jesus for salvation will normally say Lord recognizing who He is.  This again has it that eternal security is NOT a license to sin.
• From Harry Ironside, "The arrangement of the four Gospels is in perfect harmony. In the Synoptics [Matthew, Mark, and Luke] the call is to repent. In John the emphasis is laid upon believing. Some have thought that there is inconsistency or contradiction here. But we need to remember that John wrote years after the older Evangelists, and with the definite object in view of showing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, believing, we might have life through His Name. He does not simply travel over ground already well trodden. Rather, he adds to and thus supplements the earlier records, inciting to confidence in the testimony God as given concerning His Son. He does not ignore the ministry of repentance because he stresses the importance of faith. On the contrary, he shows to repentant souls the simplicity of salvation, of receiving eternal life, through a trusting in Him who, as the true light, casts light on every man, thus making manifest humanity's fallen condition and the need of an entire change of attitude toward self and toward God." (Except Ye Repent, 37-38).  That is, even if repent is not found in John as a word, it's still emphasized.
• Repentance from sin like starting to serve God, stop living a life of sin and being sorry is a process from getting saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ to the Christian life in Jesus Christ in which because salvation cannot be lost even by a sinning Christian, which in return means that the Lord will never fail to chastise the Christian that screws up because they're saved.  To start serving God and stop living a life of sin is part of Christian repentance FOR GROWTH, which happens AFTER repenting of unbelief and is NOT part of repentance towards salvation but it takes place anyway!  It's part of sanctification, not salvation.