IS REPENTANCE A SEPARATE WORK FOR SALVATION?

One denomination that is heretical believes that there are five steps in order to be saved. (1) Believe in Christ, (2) Confess your sins, (3) Repent of your sins, (4) Be water baptized in their denomination, and, (5) Join their church. Without these independent steps, you are not saved.    While this is clearly false teaching, this group is definitely serious about this process of salvation. But others also think that repentance is a separate step in order to be saved. Believing in Christ is not enough. If this is so then the Gospel of John misleads us about how to have eternal life. The word "believe" is used some 120 times in John's Gospel and he does not mention repentance even one time!    Definition: The word repentance is a combination of two Greek words: Meta=with, and Noeo=mind. "With the mind," thus "to change the mind."    The Balz  & Schneider Lexicon say this is a "change of the mind from ignorance, or from sin, and a turning toward Christ and salvation." It can also be translated "to convert" or to "turn around." When one believes in Christ he is turning away from his past sins and receiving Christ. This is a component of believing, but it is not a separate work for salvation.    Repentance does not stand along as an independent work; it almost always has an object that follows the verb. I. Repentance and the kingdom. The Jews were told by John the Baptist "to repent for the kingdom of God was at hand" (Matt. 3:3; 4:17). This was because the King was in their midst.   II. Repentance seems to be used especially with the Jews because they had to "change their minds" in relation to their acceptance and/or rejection of their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 2:38 is better translated: "All of you change your minds, ... for the forgiveness of all of your sins, and all of you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, THEN let each one of you individually be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." To the Jews, and in this context, repentance is equal to salvation. Though the normal way of speaking of salvation is by the use of the concept "to believe." Ger correctly comments "Peter ... associates repentance or belief with the forgiveness of sin." In this context, the two (repentance and belief) are the same. III. Repentance and belief work together, or they are tied together, and are often seen as the same. Mark 1:15 reads: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel."  The disciples "went out and preached that men should repent" (6:12). "God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation ..." (2 Cor. 7:10). "God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent" (Acts 17:30). "... testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ" (20:21). "... declaring to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance" (26:20). IV. Repentance can specifically have to do with rejecting sin. "There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance" (Luke 15:7), and "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:10). V. Repentance often seems to be aimed at Israel even more than to the Gentiles. Christ "is the one whom God exalted to His right hand (Psa. 110:1-2) as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31). "John (the Baptist) had proclaimed before [Christ's] coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel" (13:24). VI. An example of belief and repentance working together: "God gave to them [the Gentiles] the same gift [of the Holy Spirit] as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, ... And when they heard this, they quieted down, and glorified God saying, 'Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life'" (Acts 11:17-18). Note that belief and repentance seem to be the same thing. Or, they are in tandem together. The word belief (and faith) is used in the New Testament hundreds and hundreds of times. The word repentance is used only 64 times. As mentioned, John the apostle does not use the word repentance at all in his Gospel. The word belief is used 120 times in that writing. – Dr. Mal Couch  (9/10)