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GraceNotes
GraceNotes is a concise quarterly Bible study on the important issues related to
salvation by grace and living by grace. They are designed for downloading (*pdf available)
and copying so they can be used in ministry. No permission is required if they are
distributed unedited at no charge. You can receive new GraceNotes by subscribing to
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Topic: Repentance
The meaning of repentance must be determined by usage and context, but any study of repentance must begin with a discussion of the word itself.
Because the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only message that can save people, we want to be as clear as possible in explaining how someone can have eternal life.
Some who have trouble accepting that eternal salvation is by faith alone insist that repentance (as turning from sins) is also necessary. That is why they claim repentance is in John's Gospel even though the word is not present in verb or noun form (metaneo, metanoia). They argue that the concept of repentance is present in various passages, but their definition and assumptions of repentance in John cannot be supported.
The meaning of repentance is a contemporary controversy. When we examine a sampling of quotes from historical sources there is general agreement that repentance is essentially an inner change of mind or heart. The information below is selected from an article by Jonathan Perrault. You can find his article with more complete quotes and bibliology in the Grace Research Room at GraceLife.org or at the author's web site FreeGraceFreeSpeech.blogspot.com. The selections and sources below are abbreviated to save space.
In Part 1 (GraceNotes no. 92) we cited historical sources on the meaning of repentance starting in the first century. We will see here that for two thousand years experts have overwhelmingly agreed that repentance is an inner change, a change of heart or mind. As with Part 1, the information below is selected from an article by Jonathan Perrault. You can find his article with more complete quotes and bibliology in the Grace Research Room at GraceLife.org or at the author's web site FreeGraceFreeSpeech.blogspot.com. The selections and sources below are abbreviated to save space.
*GraceNotes are designed for downloading and copying so they can be used in ministry.
No permission is required if they are distributed unedited at no charge.
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