Repentance: Change of the Mind or Change of Action?

The word of God states in Ezekiel 18:30:
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.
In Matthew 4:17 Jesus says “ … Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” These are just a few of the many verses God speaks directly about repentance. God is very concerned about His people repenting of their evil actions, thoughts, and ways. This is a truth that, I believe, has fallen by the wayside in today’s Christian culture. I seldom hear Christians speak about repentance. I only hear, “believe and that’s all you need.” Is this a true statement? I would say yes and no.

I agree with Martin Luther and the reformers that your are saved by grace alone, through faith alone. Amen, hallelujah! However, we must remember the caveat that they place on this statement that is so often excluded: “I believe in faith alone, but not a faith that is alone,” – Martin Luther.

What did he mean by a faith that is not alone? At first glance, it appears that Martin Luther is merely contradicting himself. However, after careful examination, one sees that Martin Luther was speaking about a great paradox in the bible.

James says that faith without works is dead. Faith needs works to be alive or existent. You, however, don’t need faith plus works. They are invariably interwoven. If you have faith without works, then the reality is that you don’t have faith at all. See James illustrates this in 3:15-17:
¹⁵ If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good^[b] is that? ¹⁷So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Take note to what James is saying: that faith without works is like a man saying go in peace and be warmed and filled without actually doing anything for him. This is ridiculous. This is not true concern or charity. This “concern” or “charity” lacks consistency. There is no substance found within.

This is how faith without works is. It lacks validity. How can you say Jesus is Lord, and not do his will (works). How can you say Lord not my will but your will be done (works) and do only your own? You my friend have a dead faith, which will produce nothing.

Notice what Jesus says in Matthew 7:21:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven

What is Jesus saying here? He clearly states that not everyone who professes faith (Lord, Lord) is truly saved. It’s not the one who professes to have faith and has no works, but the one who does the Father’s will.

Can you do the Father’s will and not believe in him? Of course not. As Martin Luther said, “Faith alone, but not a faith that is alone.” How much works do you have to have? There is no such requirement given in scripture. If you truly have faith in Jesus Christ, you will be born again, and your new redeemed person will have works.

One of these works that will result from your new redeemed life is repentance. God will give you not only the desire, but also the power to repent of your former ways. Philippians 2:12 :
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

So who then is doing the work? Is it you or is it God? The Word of the Lord says it is God. So whether it is faith (Ephesian 2:8 …it is a gift from God…) or your work (Philippians 2:12 …it is God who works…) it all comes from the Lord. Therefore, if you are in Christ, you will have no problem doing Jesus’ command, “to believe and repent,” for both of these things will be given to you.

This is all, however, God’s perspective. Man’s perspective is that you need to believe and repent — work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). Don’t let any tradition of man rob you from the truth. It is not enough to simply believe. You must believe and repent, for this is true faith — the former will only get you to Matthew 7:21 “…Lord, Lord…” The latter will bring you to Revelation 21:1 “…a new earth and the new Heaven… “

The Reverse Argument Technique

I got into a debate or argument with a Christian “missionary” yesterday. I put missionary in quotations  because while he is technically a missionary in title, he is not a missionary in the classical sense. He only lives in a house that serves bible studies, drives a van and picks up Christians to and from the ministry, and host video bible studies a few times a week. Does that make him deserve the title of missionary? I don’t know. Maybe?

Let me not digress any further. While he was driving me to the hospitality house for a night of fellowship, we got into a discussion about the blessing of Children, and God’s plan for the family. Which I will discuss in further detail in a separate article. I think I insulted him with this discussion because as I spoke about how God’s plan – especially concerning children he completely agreed. I, however knew that he only had four children and that he practice contraception to limit his family. So, I simply asked him, ” if you believe children are blessings, why would you limit them?” There seems to be a disconnect. True belief produces actions; it’s as simply as that.

This sparked strong emotional dissent and a weak justification from his part; as well as, him sharing a story of a friend who had twelve children, who refused to condemn Christians who kill abortion doctors. I had to interject at this point and say I don’t believe that is murder either. It is sin because God says mine is vengeance says the Lord. We should leave justice to God and the State and executing  justice are selves is a lack of trust, a violation of psalms 40:4.

Is this, however, murder? I think not. God system of justice is quite clear. If you murder a man in cold blood (we see in the scripture there are certain circumstances when if a man does kill another man it is not murder because of the mitigating circumstances) that the righteous punishment is death.  Therefore, a man who make his living killing innocent children deserves death. That would be justice.

Once again I am digressing. The point here is not to get into the details of the argument but to speak about the reverse argument technique. So many times when you engage into an argument with someone it is in vain. This is because they are completely closed-minded to the reality that you could be speaking truth or have something worthy to say. They only want to prove that they are right and you are wrong, without ever truly considering the other side or position. This is absolute folly. If you going to take the time and effort to discuss a topic with a fellow believer you should at least try to get a full perspective of their side of the argument.

You should not assume that you know their side, and most importantly the ramification of their beliefs (second and third order effects). This is where so many people go, so, wrong. They ignorantly state that they know your beliefs and counter them on their faulty perception of the consequences of believing such. This makes you, on the defensive, have to dumbfoundedly try to defend your self from multiple strawman. They walk away thinking they have destroyed your solid philosophical or theological beliefs, and you walk away irritated that you views where totally misrepresented.

You have two options at this point: continue to argue your point, even through this could result in the loss of fellowship with that brother or sister in Christ, or simply accept a faulty defeat. Most of the time we choose the latter. There is, however, a neat technique that you can avoid this situation from happening: the reverse argument technique.

It is quite simply: all you have to do is say ‘to make sure that you understand my perspective fully, I want you to argue my point, and I will argue your’s.  If they are not willing to argue your point, this simply means they are ignorant and/or close minded to your view-point, and there is no point of continuing. If they can argue you point accurately yet still disagree. Well then, there is a possibility that you could be wrong, and you should reconsider your views, with considerations to their possibly accurate assessment. Thus, the reverse argument technique.

God bless you; abide in the fear and admiration  of the Lord all the days of your life. Love God with your…mind…