Jack Hyles and Curtis Hutson catechized and indoctrinated many Independent Baptists into believing that repentance merely means a turning from unbelief to belief in Jesus. Piggybacked onto this false notion of repentance is the idea that any attempt to call sinners to turn from their sin is preaching “works salvation.”

At the end of last week, a Tweet came across my feed, and I responded. My response shouldn’t be controversial, yet out of the woodwork came the easy-believism brigade, led by @BeBerean7, @Honest_Mommy_, and @Pastorb_IFB. @BibleLineMin jumped in briefly but without much substance. Here is the “controversial” tweet.

I can see why this would be a popular “gospel.” Telling people they only need to add “belief in Jesus” to their somewhat crowded lists of self-interests must be very attractive. Though I don’t generally hear the promoters of this false gospel say it in so many words, sinners everywhere hear the message loud and clear: “I can hang on to my sin and still go to heaven when I die.” In fact, @weecalvin1509 helpfully provided me with an example of a pastor preaching easy-believism at its ultimate conclusion:

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxZk7VBSpAmtedx94X2LH9lW9NYiKiu4dv?si=XR9iPEX2PtPU-1hY

Easy-Believism 101

It isn’t unusual for the promoters of easy-believism to isolate “faith in Christ” and treat it as if it were a lone act and as if it were possible for that to be the sole obedient response to the gospel call. They talk as if a person can make a one-time profession of faith, forget all about it, live the remainder of their days without regard for God, and still expect to hear “well done, good and faithful servant” at the end of their days. The advocates for easy-believism treat every kind of discipleship, sanctification, “following Christ,” obedience, and so forth as optional add-ons. They will argue that we don’t need to follow Christ to be saved. “Saved” merely means (as @BibleLineMin has pinned on his Twitter page) that you “believe that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and is risen to pay for all your sins. The moment you believe, you receive eternal life that can never be lost.”

This, my friend, is cheap grace. Imagine Christians who don’t follow Christ, saved non-Christians. Imagine preaching that a person can continue in a life of sin, can live like hell, and still go to heaven. Such a deal! If you are really into sin, you can have the best of both worlds. Go ahead and sin all you want; God will reward you at the end of your days, so long as you pray the magic prayer.

Not Just Changing Your Mind

Since I’ve been fighting this fight for a couple of decades, I thought I would break it down and make a Biblical case for repentance as a necessary part of faith in Christ. The anti-repentance brigade builds their case on the meaning of the Greek word for repentance. As @BibleLineMin argues in his tweet, “Metanoia = to change one’s mind. Definitionally, turning from sin is NOT a requirement to be SAVED. Believing in Christ IS.” If you insist that repentance includes turning from sin, you get this response (as I got about a half dozen times this weekend): “So, if person has to turn from all sin to be saved, where is progressive sanctification? Unless your (sic) going to make exceptions for certain sins, you basically must require sinless perfectionism. Or else answer me, how much sin? And who decided how much and which ones?”

In other words, if you believe repentance and faith are “man’s responsibility” in response to the gospel, you must require sinless perfectionism. Either repentance means turning from unbelief to belief, or it means you must permanently abandon all your sins. That sort of argumentation is commonly known as bifurcation – oversimplifying the choices. It struts about like a scarecrow – folks in the logic dodge call it a “strawman.” It ignores the Bible’s clear teaching on this issue. And it strikes me as an obstinate refusal to insist that faith without works is dead.

Argument from Orthodoxy

So, what does the Bible teach on this, and what has the church historically believed? We can track down the historical teaching on repentance in a few better-known confessions. The London Baptist Confession of 1689 says:

Whereas there is none that does good and does not sin,² and the best of men may, through the power and deceitfulness of their corruption dwelling in them, with the prevalency of temptation, fall in to great sins and provocations; God has, in the covenant of grace, mercifully provided that believers so sinning and falling be renewed through repentance unto salvation.

This saving repentance is an evangelical grace,⁴ whereby a person, being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin, does, by faith in Christ, humble himself for it with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self–abhorrancy,⁵ praying for pardon and strength of grace, with a purpose and endeavor, by supplies of the Spirit, to walk before God unto all well–pleasing in all things.

Similarly, the New Hampshire Confession of 1833 reads,

We believe that Repentance and Faith are sacred duties, and also inseparable graces, wrought in our souls by the regenerating Spirit of God; whereby being deeply convinced of our guilt, danger, and helplessness, and of the way of salvation by Christ, we turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication for mercy; at the same time heartily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King, and relying on him alone as the only and all-sufficient Saviour.

But I think the Westminster Confession of 1646 states it the most clearly and succinctly.

1. Repentance unto life is an evangelical grace, the doctrine whereof is to be preached by every minister of the gospel, as well as that of faith in Christ.
2. By it a sinner, out of the sight and sense, not only of the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, as contrary to the holy nature and righteous law of God, and upon the apprehension of His mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, so grieves for, and hates his sins, as to turn from them all unto God, purposing and endeavoring to walk with Him in all the ways of His commandments.
3. Although repentance be not to be rested in as any satisfaction for sin, or any cause of the pardon thereof, which is the act of God’s free grace in Christ; yet is it of such necessity to all sinners, that none may expect pardon without it.
4. As there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation; so there is no sin so great that it can bring damnation upon those who truly repent.

Belief without repentance is a novel doctrine with a very brief history – as I said, largely thanks to the teachings of Jack Hyles and Curtis Hutson. This doctrine is contrary to everything Scripture says about our fallen condition, our alienation from God, and our need for saving grace.

Faith and Repentance: Two Sides of the Same Coin

There can be no faith in Christ without repentance of sin. Sin is the reason men don’t come to the light.

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. (John 3:18-20)

Sin keeps men from faith; unless a sinner sees his sin as hateful to God and turns from it, he will not come to faith in Christ. Faith and repentance aren’t separate responses to the gospel; they are one and the same response. A sinner doesn’t receive Christ if he doesn’t see how terrible his sin is and turn from it. A sinner doesn’t turn from sin unless he looks to Christ for pardon and forgiveness. The author of Hebrews refers to unbelief in moral terms – it is a moral, not a rational ignorance.

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:12-13)

Man is condemned for His unbelief. Why? Because man is in rebellion against God. This is why we must preach the gospel.

And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46-47)

Ignorant sinners are called to repent of their ignorance as if ignorance were the product of sin.

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: (Acts 17:30)

It doesn’t make sense to argue otherwise. Our sin provoked God’s wrath against us. How could anyone think that God would give a sinner a pass to continue in their sin, to cling to the very thing that required the cross? God hates sin. He is angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11). Our sins must be laid on Jesus (Isaiah 53:5-6; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

Sin is the Problem

Our sin sets us against God. By nature, men are “alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works” and must be reconciled to God (Colossians 1:21). How can this be if we don’t turn from our sin? The natural man lives according to the lusts of his flesh and of his mind (Ephesians 2:3). Listen to Paul’s description of the unsaved:

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

It is irrational – no, it is impossible – to argue that we need not turn from the cause of our death. How can we think we could continue to walk in disobedience, live by our lusts, and somehow, God will overlook it? God will not enable us to continue in sin. His purpose is to save us from sin.

Through repentance, God changes our mind about our sin and causes us to see the exceeding sinfulness of it (Romans 7:13). He calls us out of darkness to walk in His marvelous light. What exactly do we think this “darkness” consists of? What do we think God is saving us from? And how can a person who isn’t aware of his wretchedness, who doesn’t see his sin as the cause of that wretchedness, who isn’t concerned about the offense of his sin towards God, who is indifferent about his sin, come to Christ for forgiveness? How can he believe he has been saved from sin when he hasn’t turned from sin? It is impossible. Unsustainable.

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24)

Repentance 101

What then are we saying when we insist that repentance is a necessary part of faith in Christ? We aren’t demanding that sinners permanently abandon all their sin. That is a Mormon view of repentance that doesn’t fit with the Bible.

Biblical repentance begins the fight against sin. It doesn’t eradicate all sinful tendencies. Biblical repentance means I see my sin the way God sees it. It means I agree with God about my sin. It means that the sinner grieves for his sin and hates his sin. It means that by God’s grace, he resolves that he will stop living without regard for God, will stop living to himself, and will begin to live in obedience to God. Repentance turns us away from a life lived for sin, for self, for pleasure, without God, without godliness, without goodness. Faith turns us to Christ, trusting Him to free us from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, and (through the process of sanctification) from the presence of sin.

In calling men to faith in Christ, the evangelist calls men to turn from their idols, from their sin, from their will and from their way, and from their own life, and to embrace Christ as their Savior and Lord. Consider how the Bible describes a sinner’s conversion to the Christian faith.

For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; (I Thessalonians 1:9)

And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: (Acts 14:15)

Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (Acts 26:17-18)

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. (John 12:25)

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. (Luke 17:33)

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels. (Luke 9:24-26)

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7)

Repentance is the Gift of God

Easy-believism teaches that this view of repentance essentially teaches works salvation. But if repentance is a work, then so is faith. I’m not saved for my repenting any more than I am saved for my believing. The same can be said for both: no man is saved for repenting or believing, nor will any man be saved who will not repent and believe the gospel. Faith is the spiritual part of us that receives the free gift of salvation. Faith is never detached from repentance, for the hand cannot receive the gift while clinging to sin. Thus, the Bible says,

When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. (Acts 11:18)

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. (2 Timothy 2:25-26)

Since the Greek word metanoia is often used as an argument against the Biblical view of faith, we would be negligent to ignore the meaning of that word. First, it has been asserted that metanoia means “to change one’s mind.” Never mind that this is impossible for the natural man, who does not receive the things of the Spirit of God: “for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Man’s unbelief is immoral and thus requires repentance of the root cause of that unbelief, which is sin. But that definition is a half-truth. The Louw-Nida dictionary defines metanoia this way: to change one’s way of life as the result of a complete change of thought and attitude with regard to sin and righteousness. ^[1] The Dictionary of Bible Languages defines it as “a change of mind which results in a change of life.” ^[2] In the Bible, repentance is always associated with sin.

Paul describes repentance as the fruit of godly sorrow over sin. (2 Corinthians 7:10). John the Baptist preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4), calling for the people to “bring forth fruits meet for repentance.” The margin tells us that this can also mean “fruits answerable to amendment of life” (Matthew 3:8). Jesus associated repentance with sin.

But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Matthew 9:12-13)

It is the repentant sinner that causes rejoicing in heaven.

I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. (Luke 15:7)

Repentance in Action

Many years ago, a family came to faith in Christ through the preaching of the gospel. As I was discipling the parents, the children began to inquire about the way of salvation. Their oldest son met with me twice to study the Bible regarding his own lost condition. We took time to see God’s created purpose and the devastation of the Fall. When we came to the third Bible study, we began to examine this young man’s life in light of the Ten Commandments. We had not gotten far into the study before this young man stopped me with these words: “I don’t want to study this anymore. My life is just fine. If I continue in this Bible study, I will have to change my ways, and I don’t want to do that.” I dare say he understood the gospel’s demands far better than those who preach the cheap grace of easy-believism.

A Mormon girl in her early twenties attended our church for two years. During that time, many of our people witnessed to her. My wife and I had her into our home and diligently taught her the truth of Scripture concerning God and the Biblical plan of salvation. We showed her from the Bible the error in what the LDS church teaches about God and man and salvation. As we went through the study, she agreed that the Bible is the true authority, that the God of the Bible is the true God, and that the gospel is God’s plan of salvation. She told me that she did not believe in Joseph Smith.

But then she asked me if she would need to leave the Mormon church. I told her she would. She objected. “It just seems like the Mormon church does so much good for so many people.” I pointed out that the Mormon church was leading many people to eternal damnation, and that isn’t good, no matter how many nice things the church might do for people.

That young lady left our home disappointed, and not long after, she stopped attending our church altogether. Today, she is fervently studying Hinduism. She tells one of her friends (a faithful member of our church) that the reason she likes the Mormon church is because “you can believe anything. The church doesn’t care. You are free to find truth wherever you like.” Like so many sinners, this young lady was happy to add Jesus to the list of things she held on to. But Jesus won’t be part of a collection of religious beliefs. He is the only Savior. He does not acknowledge any other (Isaiah 45:21). Unless you forsake all to follow Him, you will not be saved. “No faith without repentance.”

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^[1] Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 509). New York: United Bible Societies.

^[2] Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.