In the past two messages, we have seen that the way of salvation on man's side is through faith, rather than the law or works. We have seen that salvation is by faith alone. It is not by faith with the law, nor is it by faith with works (Eph. 2:8-9). However, besides the law and works, man still tries to use other ways to obtain God's salvation. Although we cannot cover these ways in detail, we hope that we can enumerate all of them in the coming two messages. Besides the law and works, repentance also is often considered by man as a very important condition. Man thinks that if he does not repent, he will not be saved. Those who are acquainted with the Bible dare not say that repentance is the only condition for salvation, but they would say that a man is saved by faith with repentance, or through repenting and believing. I admit that the subject of repentance is not easy to understand in the New Testament. But if one would consider the Word of God itself, he would understand the real meaning of repentance and would find out quickly if repentance is a condition for salvation.
Before we talk about the meaning of repentance in the Bible and its relationship with faith and salvation, we should first clarify a few things concerning repentance. After that, we will consider what the Bible says about repentance. In the entire Bible, there is only one book that tells us how we receive eternal life. This book is the Gospel of John. From the very beginning to the very end of the Gospel of John, we cannot find a single occurrence of the word repentance. The word repentance never occurs in this book at all. This book tells us how we can have eternal life (3:15, 16b, 36), but nothing is mentioned about repentance. It mentions repeatedly that man receives eternal life through faith. When a man believes, he has eternal life. It never mentions repentance. Not only does it not mention repentance directly, it does not mention repentance even indirectly or metaphorically. This is a fact that we have to remember.
Second, there are two books which tell us how man is justified before God. They are Romans and Galatians. The book of Romans does mention repentance, but it never makes repentance a condition for salvation. Neither of these books has ever made repentance a condition for salvation and promise. Hence, we have to remember that of the three books in the Bible that deal specifically with salvation, eternal life, and justification, not once is repentance mentioned as a condition for salvation. In all three books, faith is mentioned every time as the only condition. This shows us clearly that man is saved by faith and not by works.