Transcript
Announcer (0:00)
The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.
Bob Wilkin (0:04)
What is repentance? Is it merely a change of mind? Is it a necessary condition for gaining eternal salvation? We thank you for joining us today friend. This is Grace in Focus and it is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is faithalone.org go there to find out about our conferences, our national conference and regional conferences. Also find our bookstore where Bob Wilkins latest book the Gospel is Still Under Siege can be acquired. That's faithalone.org and now with today's question and answer discussion, here's Bob Wilkin along with Sam Maher.
Sam Maher (0:47)
Alright Bob, we have a question from Casey. The question is essentially, isn't repentance the same thing as a change of mind? And he mentions some of the Greek metanao, metanoia, some uses of that word. But some things that stuck out to me in the question are he asks if a person hasn't believed it yet and it is referring to the promise of everlasting life. He says if a person hasn't believed it yet, don't they have to change their mind in order to believe it? He says, as a child I had to change my mind about how I was going to please God from being a good boy works to believing in God's way of trusting Jesus to receive the free gift. So that's basically his question. And then he throws in Proverbs 16:25 which says there's a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Bob Wilkin (1:37)
Okay, so he says, doesn't repentance mean a change of mind? And when we believe in Christ for everlasting life, aren't we in some sense changing our mind? Okay, so it just so happens, Casey, that's what I argued in my doctoral dissertation at Dallas Theological seminary for from 1983 to I finished it in 1985. And we published six articles in our journal, Journal of the Grace evangelical society between 19 I believe it was 89 and around 92. So you can look those up at our website in which I defended the change of mind view. It's called the change of mind view. That was the view of Lewis Barry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Seminary. Then in around 1997, I changed my mind about the change of mind view. In other words, I repented of my former view of repentance. And here's the conclusion I came to. There are no verses, not a single one anywhere in the Old or New Testament that says he who repents has eternal life, he who repents will be with me forever in my kingdom. Who Repentance is never a condition of everlasting life. Repentance is a condition of salvation from physical death or ramifications that lead in that direction. In other words, if someone is sinful and they don't turn from their sinful ways, then God's discipline against that person, or if it's an unbeliever, God's judgment against that person is going to get worse and worse and worse, ultimately culminating in premature death unless they turn from their wicked ways. So there are no such verses. When I wrote my dissertation, I thought there were 11 verses like unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Luke 13:3, Luke 13:5. But I had overlooked the word likewise. And if you look in the context, likewise refers to physically dying. Jews were killed by Pilate when he mingled their blood with sacrifices. Jews were killed 18 when a tower fell on them and they physically died. So when he says, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. He means you will all likewise die. He's not talking about eternal condemnation. The same with the other nine passages I once thought dealt with repentance as a condition for eternal life. And you can go to our website. I wrote a journal article in around 98 called why I changed my mind on repentance or do you need to change your mind concerning repentance? Now coming back to Casey's question. The word metanoia is related to meta and nous. Nous in Greek means mind. Meta. One of the meanings is after. Same thing with the verb metanaeo has the same basic root, but it's a rude fallacy to say because the root of the word means after and mind. Therefore it must mean after mind or change of mind. However, I will say that when you study the word in the New Testament, it's always used of changing one's mind about sinful behavior with the result that one turns from it. In other words, Casey, let's say someone said, you know what? I know I've been living in sin with this woman that's not my wife, and I have decided I'm not going to do that anymore. I've changed my mind. I'm not going to do that anymore. But I keep living with her, I keep sleeping with her, I keep sinning, having. Have I repented?