There is a controversy among Christians as to whether it is necessary to repent in order to be saved – to become a born-again Christian. Some say you do not need to repent, you just need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. They claim that repentance is a works-based doctrine.
Here are a few Bible verses that only mention having faith in, or believing in, Jesus Christ to get saved. Repentance is not mentioned at all:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Romans 10:13
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Others say that you must repent; and what they mean by “repent” is that you must be sorry for your sins, confess them to God, ask for His forgiveness AND believe in Jesus Christ in order to get saved. They will cite several scripture that call for repentance. Here are three:
Matthew 4:17
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Luke 13:5
I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Acts 3:19
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Are Christians Saved by Faith Alone or by Faith and Repentance?
First, What is the meaning of repentance? It is absolutely crucial to know the meaning of words if we are going to understand the Bible. Yet many people assume they know the meaning of certain words, when actually they don’t. The word repent or repentance is one of these cases.
We need to use a dictionary that accurately gives us the definitions of words in the King James Bible, because as time goes on many words change in meaning. We’ll use the Webster’s 1828 dictionary for the definitions of Repent and Repentance.
REPENT
1. To feel pain, sorrow or regret for something done or spoken; as, to repent that we have lost much time in idleness or sensual pleasure; to repent that we have injured or wounded the feelings of a friend. A person repents only of what he himself has done or said.
2. To express sorrow for something past.
3. To change the mind in consequence of the inconvenience or injury done by past conduct.
4. Applied to the Supreme Being, to change the course of providential dealings.
5. In theology, to sorrow or be pained for sin, as a violation of God’s holy law, a dishonor to his character and government, and the foulest ingratitude to a Being of infinite benevolence.
REPENT’ANCE
1. Sorrow for any thing done or said; the pain or grief which a person experiences in consequence of the injury or inconvenience produced by his own conduct.
2. In theology, the pain, regret or affliction which a person feels on account of his past conduct, because it exposes him to punishment. This sorrow proceeding merely from the fear of punishment, is called legal repentance as being excited by the terrors of legal penalties, and it may exist without an amendment of life.
3. Real penitence; sorrow or deep contrition for sin, as an offense and dishonor to God, a violation of his holy law, and the basest ingratitude towards a Being of infinite benevolence. This is called evangelical repentance and is accompanied and followed by amendment of life.
Repentance is a change of mind, or a conversion from sin to God.
Repentance is the relinquishment of any practice, from conviction that it has offended God.
We also need to let the Bible define itself. The first time the word repent is used in the Bible is in Exodus 13:17. The use of the word here clearly shows that it means to have a change of mind. This verse says:
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:
The word repent in the Hebrew is Strong’s number H5162 and means:
properly to {sigh} that {is} breathe strongly; by implication to be {sorry} that {is} (in a favorable sense) to {pity} console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself)
The first time the word repent appears in the New Testament is in Matthew 3:2 which says:
And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Repent in the Greek is Strong’s number G3340 and means:
To think differently, or afterwards, that is, reconsider (morally to feel compunction): – repent
Nowhere in these definitions does it state that to repent, or repentance, means for someone to turn from sin, confess them to God in prayer, feel sorry for the sins he has committed and to ask God for forgiveness.
“To repent” basically means to have a change of mind about something, or to feel sorrow for an act. If “to repent” means to be sorry for your sins, to turn from them, and to confess them to God, then God Himself is a sinner as He repented several times in the Old Testament as cited in the following verses:
Deuteronomy 32:36
For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
Jeremiah 15:6
Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.
Jeremiah 18:8
If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
Jonah 3:9
Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
When God “repents” he does not feel sorry for His “sins,” (of course, He cannot sin by definition) and confess them to Himself. He simply changes His mind about a course of action He was going to take.
When we are unsaved sinners we need to have a change of mind. We need to realize that we are sinners who need a Saviour. When we believe in Jesus Christ, when we put our faith in Him as our Lord and Saviour and in Him alone (not in any of our works, nor in asking for forgiveness) then we are saved.
We should feel remorse for our sins, confess them to God and ask Him for forgiveness, but that is NOT a requirement to be saved. Salvation is a free gift – no works involved. To be saved we only need to accept the free gift by believing, having faith in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Once someone gets saved he probably will eventually confess his sins to God and ask Him for forgiveness, because a saved person can then better see the true ugliness of sin. When I got saved I confessed with my mouth my belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. I immediately felt a change – the Holy Spirit had come upon me. Some time later I began to see how bad my sins really are (even the ones I previously thought were no big deal), and that is when I felt remorse and sorrow for those mistakes, confessed them to God and asked for His forgiveness. That was not a requirement to get saved, but came as a direct result of already being saved.