Is Repentance A Work?

[Paidion]

RiC and Doug, never mind the "meritorious" bit. I've heard that over and over. That is a misunderstanding of those of us who attempt to share the Christolic and apostolic teaching on salvation. We do NOT teach that God rewards our works with salvation from hell. Rather we teach that God wants righteous people; He wanted them from the beginning — from Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, right down to the present. Why did God not accept Cain and his offering? It wasn't that God required an offering and that Cain offered vegetables instead of meat as many teach. Rather God said to Cain, "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it!" (Gen. 4:7) Abel was accepted for doing well and mastering sin. Doing well is work. Cain was not accepted because he didn't do well and didn't master sin.

Throughout the whole Bible, God worked with man in various ways to help him to become righteous. God had ways in which He tried to help the ancient Hebrews to do right. God sent His Son to teach the Jews of His day to work righteousness, and then to die on behalf of all people so that He might impart His enabling grace so that they might work righteousness.

It's not a matter of counting up one's works, and balancing one's good deeds against his bad, and rewarding one by salvation from hell if his good deeds outweigh his bad, and if not, condemning him to hell forever. Rather, it's a matter of God working through His enabling grace with a person who enters the door of salvation by becoming a disciple of Christ, and by encouraging Him to continue on the rough road which leads to life. Even though we "work together with Him," He plays the major part. "He who began a good work in you will continue to perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ." God chooses us "to be conformed to the image of Christ". We are commanded to become "righteous as He is righteous." Does He require the impossible? I don't think so. Through the death of the One who shed His precious blood on our behalf, God has provided the tools we need to live a righteous life. We appropriate this by trusting in Christ. This is the faith of the Son of God, trusting Him to deliver us from wrongdoing day by day, and to live righteously before Him.

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (I John 3:7-10 ESV)

I don't want to let anyone deceive me on this very important matter! John's words above make it clear that we can practise righteousness and refrain from the practice of sin. John makes this the test of whether we are of God or of the devil, whether we are born of God (actually "begotten of God") or not, whether we are children of God or children of the devil.

[jriccitelli]

(I should stick to one thread at a time, I never double checked the post, and I am just getting used to a new (to me) Mac computer and the hair trigger finger pad picks up and moves things around without me noticing. Here is the rest of the post)

'But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance' (Matt.3:8-9)

It seems repentance ‘leads’ to works, in the same way Faith and belief ‘lead’ to works. I think this is what is happening here in Rev 2, and Acts 26;

Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.

Acts 26:20 but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.

I have to ‘decide’ if I am going to get up in the morning and go to work, the decision is not the work because they don’t pay me for just 'deciding to go' to work. This is exactly what Jesus is talking about in the story of the two sons in Matt 21. Although repentance is a different aspect of what we call Belief, it is 'similar' to belief in that I see it as ‘making a decision that God is right and we are sinners’. This may be why Matthew 21 reads as it does;

Matthew 21:32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn't believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn't even repent afterward, that you might believe him.

I think this is similar in nature to a question Jesus was asked by His disciples, and Jesus responded;

‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (John 6:29)

[psimmond]

Wow, I'm actually siding with Paidion on this one

Repentance is not just an idea in one's head. It must involve the "turning away." Godly sorrow will not lead to repentance in the absence of faith.

So faith must come before repentance, and faith must be preceded by God's enabling grace.

[steve7150]

Wow, I'm actually siding with Paidion on this one

Repentance is not just an idea in one's head. It must involve the "turning away." Godly sorrow will not lead to repentance in the absence of faith.

So faith must come before repentance, and faith must be preceded by God's enabling grace.






Yes it seems the message is faith & repentance and then works that come from sincere repentance. They seemed to be joined at the hip because in Paul's later descriptions of faith he speaks of an active faith, a faith that works.

[jriccitelli]

I agree with Paidion also; “we teach that God wants righteous people; He wanted them from the beginning”. I also agree with Mormons, Buddhists, and Allah that people should ‘be good and behave’, but the means, motive, and what that means in Christianity is different than all these other Religions.

When Christ said ‘be ye perfect as God is perfect’ are you assuming this was possible? The emphasis is that ONLY WITH God is this possible, and only by death and resurrection into Christ is this possible. Not by might but by His Spirit.

I agree that we "work together with Him”, and much has been left undone because Christians have ‘not’ been using our freedom to work together with Him, to accomplish the goal of creating righteous people from the redeemed.
None the less God will not go back to a righteousness of works or Law, God holds to His promise to perfect us through grace – grace being the motivation – to good works through a change of heart, that comes from having had our sins forgiven in the Cross.

The difference between our views is that you are turning grace into an ‘enabling power’, a force of it’s own I suspect, rather than the Biblical definition of grace as simply forgiveness. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God is our Power – nothing but. Maybe you do not believe ‘Enabling Grace’ is it’s own entity, but I think you have said so before under;
Re: "Lordship Salvation" on Sat Nov 17, 2012

[Othniel]

The seeming crisis is because 1) the Reformed concept of grace is fatally flawed and 2) their ignorance of the proper use of righteousness and justification makes it impossible for them to see the topic clearly. Both of these points are clearly argued by N.T. Wright in "What Paul Really Said". On the first point, it's been long recognized that Reformed types use their mistaken understanding of the construction of v.8 in Eph. 2 to say that God gives you the faith to believe in him, and that he gives you this faith through grace. Instead, I'd suggest that the whole program of salvation from God is a gift of God to man (or, grace) and that you couldn't accomplish salvation without God making this provision. This is a far cry from saying that God gives you faith.

Thanks for your insightful post dwilkins. I'm curious though if you would be willing to elaborate more on what you mean when you say that "the reformed concept of grace is fatally flawed." Is it their definition of grace that's the problem, or their overemphasis of it, or something else entirely? If repentance and faith is indeed a work, and if God does require that we do good works (which scripture does seem to indicate in numerous places ), then what is the balance between works and grace? It's an age-old question I know, but It's hard for me to reconcile the two.

After all, if salvation must be earned by the work of faith and repentance, then doesn't that make salvation works based and not purely grace based?

Paul also wrote about the importance of our work in the whole salvation process. It is difficult to read this passage and still believe that works has nothing to do with salvation:

For He will render to everyone according to his works. To those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, He will give eternal life, but for those who are self-seeking and are not persuaded by the truth, but are persuaded by unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. Affliction and anguish for every person who does evil, but glory and honour and well-being for
every one who does good... for God shows no partiality. (Romans 2:6-10)

It's interesting that those who gain eternal life are those who by perseverance in good works seek for glory and immortality (in a non-self-seeking way). How is persevering in good works to inherit eternal life not works based?

If repentance is a work, why would faith not be classified as a work? Is not repentance located in the "heart", just as faith is?

Faith and repentance are both rooted in a state of mind. You believe something, so you turn. You believe something, and you trust that something. And yet, both of these are necessary for salvation, and both produce works. It may also be possible that while faith isn't necessarily an action, repentance actually is an action. Saying "my brother repented" is saying that he did an action. The question at hand then naturally follows: "is salvation then earned by the action of repentance and faith towards God?"

[psimmond]

jriccitelli wrote: The difference between our views is that you are turning grace into an ‘enabling power’, a force of it’s own I suspect, rather than the Biblical definition of grace as simply forgiveness.

I know you are referring to the difference between Paidion's view and your view, but I'm wondering where you found this biblical definition of "grace." I've always heard "grace" defined as "unmerited favor." (Of course, forgiveness is grace but grace can't be limited to forgiveness.)

When referring to prevenient grace most are referring to the means by which God draws sinners from darkness to light, not forgiveness.

[jriccitelli]

I cant remember why unmerited favor seemed to have it’s own problems, but for now that’s fine. I prefer forgiveness because that is the word most Bible translators use when translating the meaning, and I think this is the word that English speaking cultures associate with the text, thus this is predominantly where our definition comes from for forgiveness, from the Scriptures that is.

"O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name." (Dan 9:19)

Be careful in his presence, and hearken unto his voice: do not provoke him, for he will not forgive your transgressions; for my name is in him. (Exodus 23:21)

Mercy, pardon, blot out, convey the same meaning also;

Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy lovingkindness, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. (Num.14:19)

Jesus only once mentions Grace a couple times, but Jesus consistiently ‘Forgives’ in the Gospels;

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." (then he said to the paralytic), "Get up, and take up your mat, and go up to your house." Matthew 9:6

The difference between works and grace that I see is that God knows who are truly believing Him, and truly know Him, these are the ones doing His will and works, it is not performance but relationship and devotion, in Spirit and in truth.

[dwilkins]

The seeming crisis is because 1) the Reformed concept of grace is fatally flawed and 2) their ignorance of the proper use of righteousness and justification makes it impossible for them to see the topic clearly. Both of these points are clearly argued by N.T. Wright in "What Paul Really Said". On the first point, it's been long recognized that Reformed types use their mistaken understanding of the construction of v.8 in Eph. 2 to say that God gives you the faith to believe in him, and that he gives you this faith through grace. Instead, I'd suggest that the whole program of salvation from God is a gift of God to man (or, grace) and that you couldn't accomplish salvation without God making this provision. This is a far cry from saying that God gives you faith.

Thanks for your insightful post dwilkins. I'm curious though if you would be willing to elaborate more on what you mean when you say that "the reformed concept of grace is fatally flawed." Is it their definition of grace that's the problem, or their overemphasis of it, or something else entirely? If repentance and faith is indeed a work, and if God does require that we do good works (which scripture does seem to indicate in numerous places ), then what is the balance between works and grace? It's an age-old question I know, but It's hard for me to reconcile the two.

After all, if salvation must be earned by the work of faith and repentance, then doesn't that make salvation works based and not purely grace based?

Paul also wrote about the importance of our work in the whole salvation process. It is difficult to read this passage and still believe that works has nothing to do with salvation:

For He will render to everyone according to his works. To those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, He will give eternal life, but for those who are self-seeking and are not persuaded by the truth, but are persuaded by unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. Affliction and anguish for every person who does evil, but glory and honour and well-being for
every one who does good... for God shows no partiality. (Romans 2:6-10)

It's interesting that those who gain eternal life are those who by perseverance in good works seek for glory and immortality (in a non-self-seeking way). How is persevering in good works to inherit eternal life not works based?

If repentance is a work, why would faith not be classified as a work? Is not repentance located in the "heart", just as faith is?

Faith and repentance are both rooted in a state of mind. You believe something, so you turn. You believe something, and you trust that something. And yet, both of these are necessary for salvation, and both produce works. It may also be possible that while faith isn't necessarily an action, repentance actually is an action. Saying "my brother repented" is saying that he did an action. The question at hand then naturally follows: "is salvation then earned by the action of repentance and faith towards God?"

The primary problem I have with the Reformed concept of grace is that it became a code word that means much more than that God did us a favor by providing the option for eternal life. God did us a favor by putting together a program by which we are saved by faith in Christ just like Abraham was (really, he followed through on a promise he'd made to Adam and Eve to provide a way out of their mess). That's not the same thing as saying that God makes you have faith in him. If you analyze the issue using Reformed vocabulary (which is not defined as such anywhere in scripture) you'll never navigate yourself out of the mess.

The really all goes back to Luther's completely screwed up understanding of Galatians. The issue isn't "works" vs. "faith", it's "works of the Law" vs. "faith like Abraham". In Luther's mind, there was nothing inherently redeemable about Judaism. It was a completely legalistic and corrupt paradigm from the start (which has caused all sorts of problems such as the Dispensational habit of inevitably proposing that there were really two plans of salvation) and he saw any work of any kind done by anyone being condemned by Paul. By defining "works of the Law" as any work you can do in any context Luther doomed his definition works. In reality, a completely different point was being made by Paul. What Paul was really trying to say was that you can't do works of the Law that simply show membership in Israel (IOW, do non moral things such as circumcision, the result of which was membership in the nation of Israel regardless of your actual belief in God) to be saved. You had to actually believe in God just like Abraham did. Those are two completely different arguments and as long as someone is stuck thinking that Paul is even talking about "good works" as such they will never get it. Galatians is not a long book. I suggest everyone read it again and keep in mind that "works of the Law" means "join Israel". If you do so, I think the book with flow very smoothly and late portions such as the conflict between the two Jerusalems will not seem so out of place or awkward.

Doug

[jeremiah]

hello Doug,

...The issue isn't "works" vs. "faith", it's "works of the Law" vs. "faith like Abraham"...

Thank you, I couldn't agree more. When you asked about where "definitions of works" were coming from earlier, I had a feeling this is what you had in mind.

grace and peace