Table of contents
  1. The Bible
  2. The Biblical Dispensations
  3. The Triune God
  4. His Virgin Birth
  5. His Person
  6. His Blood
  7. His Blood Atonement
  8. His Soul And Spirit’s Dissension, Bodily Resurrection, Bodily Ascension, High Priesthood, And Bodily Return
  9. God The Holy Spirit
  10. The Creation Of The Universe
  11. The Creation And Fall Of Man
  12. The Christian’s Two Natures
  13. The Christian’s Service
  14. Satan And Fallen And Unfallen Angels
  15. The Fall Of Man
  16. The Righteous And The Wicked
  17. Salvation Only Through Christ
  18. Repentance
  19. The New Birth
  20. Justification
  21. Sanctification
  22. Eternal Security Of Believers
  23. Assurance Of Believers
  24. The Church
  25. The Church’s Great Commission
  26. The Church’s Two Ordinances: Baptism And The Lord’s Supper
  27. Biblical Separation
  28. Civil Government
  29. Israel
  30. The Rapture--The Blessed Hope
  31. The Tribulation
  32. The Second Coming Of Christ
  33. The Eternal State

Download our Entire
Article of Faith
What We Believe

REPENTANCE

A. The Frequency of 'Repentance' and 'Repent.' The noun 'repentance' is found in 25 verses in the New Testament of the King James Bible. In 24 of those instances METANOIA is the Greek term underlying it. The verb 'repent' is found 22 verses in the New Testament of the King James Bible. In 20 of those instances METANOEO (which is the verb form of METANOIA) is used.

B. The Meaning of 'Repentance' and 'Repent.' The Greek words for 'repentance' (METANOIA) and 'repent' (METANOEO) come from two Greek words, META (a 'change') and NOIA from NOUS (the 'mind').

The literal meaning of 'repentance' or 'repent' therefore is 'a change of the mind.'

C. 'Repentance' and 'Repent' Applied to Salvation.
Accompanying genuine saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is 'repentance' or a change of mind regarding sin and the Saviour. The sinner changes his mind about his own sin which will condemn him to an eternal hell. His sin which was once loved is now hated.

The sinner changes his mind about the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour. He is now seen as the One Who died for that sin and as the only Deliverer from sin's penalty of hell. Because of this change of mind the sinner turns to the Lord Jesus Christ in genuine saving faith and is born-again for all eternity. Without such change of mind regarding sin and the Saviour, the sinner does not see any reason or need to exercise genuine saving faith in that Saviour."

D. What 'Repentance' and 'Repent' Does NOT Mean.
Repentance in salvation does not mean that a person completely rids themselves of their former sinful actions, words and thoughts.

We do not subscribe to the false doctrine that: ‘An alleged believer who continues to struggle with certain sin(s) after salvation must have had an unreal repentance and therefore is not truly saved’ As we have already stated, repentance is a vital part of believing; that repentance is in no way, in itself, a separate and independent condition of salvation; and that no other acts, such as holy living, confession, "lordship salvation," baptism, prayer, or faithful service, is to be added to believing as a condition of salvation.

Faith and repentance go hand-in-hand; a sinner that is not repentant, will not see any reason or need to exercise genuine saving faith in Jesus Christ. Questioning an individual’s claim of salvation based upon him not achieving a relative, concocted standard of holy living, and blaming such on “an unreal repentance” is very dangerous, because such reasoning causes him to look inside himself and to examine his own experience, rather than to look solely on the Lord Jesus Christ and to trust solely on His shed blood.

If a person claims to be a Christian and is Grace Baptist Church’s ARTICLES OF FAITH 10 not truly saved, we believe that the Holy Spirit will bring about that realization through the balanced, unadulterated preaching of God’s Word, not through the propagation of the said false doctrine via manipulative tactics and the misuse of Scripture.

That being said, genuine salvation will bring about change (as discussed under the following subheading: “The Results of the New Birth” which is under subsection “XIX. The New Birth.”)

The important distinction is that the degree of change in an alleged Christian’s life cannot possibly be selected and/or quantified, in order to determine the authenticity of the alleged Christian’s conversion experience.