Faith, pistis, is a noun. It is a thing not an action. Believing, pisteuo, is a verb, an action not a thing.

Translations unfortunately more often use the term faith when what is meant is the expression of it, in other word believing. If one does not understand the the difference it eventually leads to errors in elementary doctrines of Christ.

Faith, the thing is the substance of what is hoped for. The word substance is hupostasis, and connotes the sense of equality of essence. When we survey other texts we find that our Hope is Christ. So, one way that Hebrews 11.1 can be translated is Faith is Christ.
Faith is not a created thing, but is what we are given, Christ in us. It brings to light a whole new understanding of John 3.16, by constrast to what is the popular sense of it, does it not.

It is Faith that produces believing into Christ and repentence from “dead” works, it is a gift freely imparted us by grace. It is not the tree that produces the fruit but this Tree of Life in us, this Root of David that brings forth the branches through whom he flows with the vitallity that is in His blood, and brings forth fruit in its season giving life to all who eat of it.

Repentance is a gift and it is one and the same with salvation in the free gift of God’s only Son along with all the other things that He freely gives us. Christ is our salvation, our justification and our sanctification. There are three aspects that I would add to what has been said, namely: conviction, contrition and cleansing. But none of these preceeds salvation but are one with it and become expressed in time. Salvation itself does not preceed Faith, but is one with it and will present itself in accordance with what Faith by its nature will produce in the season of God’s choosing.

The Father has given us His son and the Son will in turn give life to all who the Father has given Him. As it is written though, he proceeded forth and came from the Father and was sent by Him, so also he sends us by Faith which is born is us by the Son given to us by the will of the Father.

Why would anyone raise the question, “What must I do?” Well, is it not the nature of Faith to pray. It is an echo of “I have come to do your will. What will you have me do?” Jesus was baptised for repentance, though He did not need it, it was done to fulfill all righteousness. We need it and so it is done to fulfill all righteouness. It does not originate in us, but in God who has given us all the riches of Christ in Heavenly places by grace through the righteous acts of Christ, through whom we cry abba, save me. Of course it is “linked to salvation” but salvation is linked to regeneration, and regeneration is linked to the new man who is being transformed, day by day, glory to glory into the image of the Son of God. While we were yet dead in our sins and trespasses Christ died for us. It cannot be then, that the dead must repent to be saved, but the reverse. They must be raised to newness of life before they can voice the plea for life. If I understand Ezekial correctly, “Can these bones live again?” is anwered with, Lord you know! Then the preacher was commanded to preach and the bones came together, sinue and flesh and stood upon their feet (anastasis). It was only then that they had ears to hear the command. So goes the story of redemption, first salvation then the command for repentance, the reply of “have mercy” and the answer, “you are my child, with whom I am well pleased. Just like the Father in his unbroken relationship to the Son on the cross, he has not, and will not turned his face away or abandoned his holy one to see corruption.

How can we change our mind about Jesus? What mind. Until we have been given the mind of Christ, we are as the brain dead, so corrupted by darkness, so blind, that there is no recognition of even light. John 3 also tells that those who do the truth, come into the light so that it may be seen that their deeds have been done, not by them through repentence, but by God.

Could Judas have turned. Only if the Word of God is a lie. Jesus said that what happened to him was what was written, and what has been written cannot be unwritten. His book of deeds has been finished from the beginning and will continue to be fulfilled as Christ said until every jot and tittle is completed. What blasphemies we entertain in our vainity, that we could thwart the acts of Almighty God by our repentance.

It is not surpising that McArthur would quote Ryrie. As I wrote in my response to John’s blind assertions in his article “Is God Reponsible for Sin” it is because John is neither Reformed nor Calvinistic, but rather a modified Arminian, that he speaks this way. He truly believes with the Catholic semi-pleagians that we work with the grace of God instead of God working in us by grace to accomplish His will and His purpose.

David’s plea for a new heart, where did that motivation come from, do you wonder? His flesh? Hardly, the sinful nature is opposed to God and cannot please Him, it is in fact impossible for it to do so. So, where did the words “Create in me a clean heart,” come from? Repentance cannot come from an unclean heart. It is infact that the heart must be circumcised with a circumcision that is not of the flesh done by the hands (works of man), before it can repent. It can only be done by the Word, sharper than any two edged sword, and proceeding out of the mouth of God. For man does not live by the deeds of the flesh, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Is not that what we meant by radical conversion? Not the turning around, or the changing of mind, but the impution of a whole new nature is what is required for repentance to ever take place. The OT word for repentance contains a more obscure meaning, rest. Jesus said unless you lose you life, you shall not find it. Hebrews says therefore there remains a day of rest for God’s people. It also says that, “Today if you hear His voice,” the problem of coarse is that before we have received that gift of life and its attendant messangers of regeneration, repentance and believing into eternal life, we have no ears.

Perhaps I misunderstood Antonio when he said that believeing brings regeneration. Stated in that sequence we have the Word of Faith Movement’s positive confessionalism and a faith that becomes a magic talisman. I think it is more appropriately said that Faith concieves and brings forth regeneration, if by Faith we mean the Spirit of Christ, the Son who gives life through regeneration to whom so ever he chooses. Regeneration though can have a sequential expression as is also captured in David’s plea and also in the reality of the resurrection passage, “Will not He who raised Christ from the dead also give life to your mortal bodies.” So there is a promise, according to grace, that God provides the means of escape with the believing. Believing, though is not the causal agent, it is Faith that is the cause, and that by grace. For all other things that de Rosa said, there is naught to argue with as far as I am concerned in this division of truth.

It all comes back to the fundamental understanding of how we receive Faith in the first place. Who can hear, who has believed the report? It was God that blinded the eyes and the ears of the understanding, Isaiah 6. And, Jesus said that it is only given to His own to understand. So how do we receive? By repentance? It can not be. Sin hears no rebuke, sees not the kingdom of God, does not enter in behind the veil, nor can it. It cannot abide in God’s presence. So, how does a man ever come to repentance, except that he is born again. Unless God says, “Rise up, dry bones, and receive the breath of life. Unless, He takes some clay and fashions a new man, and into him breathes the breath of life, he would never come to Him.

It would hardly do to exchange our sin for his righteousness, seeing as it would mean that it is we who would impute sin to Christ and would by our own act impute his righteousness to us. What usurpation of the right of the Father is this, who alone has imputed to Christ the punishment for our sin, sin that he does not want, that he has come to destroy? It is the Father who has by grace, according to his freedom, given us the righteousness of Christ, an alien righteous earned not by our actions. I see more and more the vileness of self-applied, self-appropriated grace. It is gross, and simply the same kind of blasphemous sin that was offered in the Garden, “…you shall be as God.”

God has not changed His methods. His word will always effect changed lives. Throughout the Bible we frequently see this axiom. John has already referenced several helpful verses in his response to Antonio.

Rom.2:4-11 Scripture is clear that those who are “saved” are repentant and wholly redirected in the focus of their lives/actions.

1)

Repentance is commanded in light of temporal wrath and judgment for sin.

Mark 1:4
John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Mark 1:14-15
14Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,and saying, ” The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

I think its plain here that the forgiveness of sin (NOT the judgment as you say) is coupled with repentance. Notice Jesus called for repentance with the preaching of the gospel. The gospel was a call for salvation NOT for a postpone of temporal wrath and judgment.

5) 2 Corinthians 7:10
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

I don’t know how you are reading this verse, but looking at the context, the sorrow is Paul’s rebuke. Now if you’re saying Paul’s rebuke would’ve caused physical death and that the salvation here is “deliverance from physical death,” would be a far stretch from the text. Rather it is clear that repentance and salvation are once again linked.

7)

The word “perish” is a perfectly good and attested word for “physically die”. Isn’t that what Jesus is talking about here in Lk 13, physical death?

The context here shows that Jesus goes beyond physical death, otherwise those who repent would not… die! Also if they did repent what is the result of that or how was the repentance possible??? Salvation. God never ever asked for repentance from unregenerate sinners b/c they are unable to repent. The Bible never states “Oh you guys just say sorry and God won’t hurt yah.”

You have the burden of showing God accepting repentance from unregenerate people for the sole purpose of restraining temporary wrath.

Finally,

There is not a SINGLE BIBLICAL TEXT that conjoins a command to repent with the resultant of eternal life or justification.

My friend you should revisis Luke 16 -

23″In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 27″And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house–
28for I have five brothers–in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29″But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
30″But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’

I think it is painfully clear here that repentance is overtly linked w/ escape from Hades – NOT physical death. The rich man desperately wants what?? Does he say faith? No he doesn’t explicitly say faith, he more than anything wants repentance!!! That’s b/c faith, repentance, and salvation is bound up together and can’t get clearer than this.

Morris

did I not rightly say that the LS must string together texts and arguments?

Not one of the texts you offer conditions eternal life or justification on an act of repentance.

(1) Repentance was required to become a citizen of the kingdom of God (Mk 1:15).

I just read Mark 1:15. It claims that the Kingdom of God is near and commands Jews to repent and believe the good news.

Where is repentance shown here necessary “to become a citizen of the kingdom”? There is no result clause here! This is your importation into the text.

John the Baptist commanded men to repent, like Jesus, or else temporal judgment would come upon them. (Luke 3:7ff). Repentance is commanded in light of temporal wrath and judgment for sin.

(2) The Holy Spirit is given to those who respond in repentance to the Gospel message (Acts 2:38).

That is bold taken from Acts, where on a number of occasions the Holy Spirit wasn’t given until the laying on of hands.

In Acts 2:36, Peter preaches that Jesus is both Lord and Christ and that his audience crucified Him! In 2:37 these men were cut to the heart, IOW, they believed Peter’s message, namely, that Jesus was the Christ and that they crucified Him! John 20:31 and 1 John 5:1 state that believing that Jesus is the Christ brings eternal life and regeneration. They were born again! They next wanted to know what they should do now that they believed that Jesus was the Christ and that they crucified the Christ. They rightfully understood that temporal judgment and wrath could be waiting for them in light of their putting the Lord of Glory to death. Peter’s response? Repent and be baptized.

(3) Repentance is required for the forgiveness of sins (Mk 1:4; Acts 3:19; 8:22).

The Jews were God’s covenant people. Forgiveness is a familial, relationional issue. Forgiveness repairs estrangement caused by offense. In Mark 1:4 John the Baptist was calling on national Israel to return their God, not institute a relationship with Him! In Acts 3:19, Peter is basically doing the same thing, because the kingdom was for National Israel. Peter re-offered the kingdom to the Jews here, based upon their return to their God. Acts 8:22 is talking about the forgiveness of a Christian who had already believed and was baptized (Acts 8:13).

(4) Eternal life necessitates one to repent (Acts 11:18).

Did you see the word “eternal” life in Acts 11:18? I didn’t catch that in my version! If it meant eternal life, then we would be left with the ridiculous proposition that the Christian Jews just now realized that Gentiles could be eternally saved! But this is so unlikely as to be almost fantastic. Didn’t Jesus command the Gentile mission in His Great Commission to the apostles? In fact, even the OT taught that Gentiles could be saved (see quotations in Rom 15:8-11). In the Jerusalem church of all places this truth must have surely been known. (See Hodges, Harmony with God 117-118.

(5) Repentance is required for one to possess salvation (2 Cor 7:10).

What is the context there? What is the “deliverance” (soteria) Paul is talking about? Context is KING, and Paul is not talking about eternal salvation here!

(6) Repentance is necessary for one to escape the eternal judgment of God (Acts 17:30-31).

Are you sure that this is the eternal judgment of God? The text says judgment on the “world”. This is the temporal calamities of the great and terrible “Day of the Lord” and NOT eternal punishment!

(7) If one does not repent, he will perish (Lk 13:3).

The word “perish” is a perfectly good and attested word for “physically die”. Isn’t that what Jesus is talking about here in Lk 13, physical death? Those of whom the tower of Siloam fell and the Jews whose blood Pilate mingled with the sacrifices — what happened to them? They physically died. Jesus says to the Jews, unless you repent, you shall “likewise” perish. Likewise is the operative word (see also the following parable!). What happened? The Jews did NOT repent and Jerusalem was destroyed in ad 70 with the loss of hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives

(8) The wrath of God comes on those who are unrepentant (Rom 2:4-8).

Yes it does! The wrath of God is currently being revealed (Rom 1:18) and is also being stored up unto the “Day of the Lord” in which it will be meted out in full measure during the Great Tribulation (great and terrible temporal calamities).

Unrepentance of both unsaved and saved results in God’s displeasure and men are liable to temporal judgment!

There is not a SINGLE BIBLICAL TEXT that conjoins a command to repent with the resultant of eternal life or justification.

The LS must STRING together texts and arguments.

On the contrary, bare faith alone is shown over 100 times to be the ONLY condition through which eternal life and justification are received.

Antonio

Glad to hear you have a 9-5. I have a 15 hour work day here.

Anyway, I note how VanGelderen references the three aspects. I prefer to keep them in the context of repentance. Agreed, not a major point.

I’ll watch for your review of my book.

LM

Citing Kittel, which I am sure Dr. MacArthur endorses by its inclusion, puts us right back to what I have been saying all along.

Lordship Salvation conditions the reception of salvation on promises to live out the “good works” (Eph. 2:10) expected of a believer.

This is adding a promise of works in “exchange” for salvation. This is not biblical repentance! I deal with this serious problem in my chapter on repentance. For example,

“To be saved, must a man depend on a commitment to and promise of righteous living, or must he depend on the finished work of Christ? To be born again, a man cannot trust both a personal commitment and the finished work of Christ. Salvation comes by the total unconditional transfer of a man’s dependence to God alone through Christ’s atoning sacrifice and resurrection, and occurs apart from any personal commitment or submission to His lordship.”

LM

Thanks for your response. I have not forgotten about your four questions. But I wanted to get your book first, so that I would have a better context for knowing exactly what you were asking. I was able to finish your book today, and plan to offer a full response/review in the next few days (perhaps on Friday, or by early next week.)

Regarding your second point, I would note that in Appendix A of your book, VanGelderen also notes that faith has an intellectual, emotional, and volitional element. He writes: “A study of biblical saving faith reveals that faith involves three angles (not steps): understanding (intellectual), agreement (emotional), and dependence (volitional). So faith is the positive side of repentance” (p. 243). This (in my opinion) is not a major point, but I mention it only because I just read that appendix this afternoon.

Anyway, I have to run… it’s 5PM here (time to go home). But I look forward to discussing your book in greater detail soon.

Thanks,
NB