In the Lord’s gospel the purpose for man to be forgiven of his sins is that man may receive His life (Col. 2:13). Therefore, if a man desires to receive the Lord’s life, he must repent (Acts 11:18). Man must see that his life is corrupt and that his living, which is outside of God, is evil. Seeing this, he is convicted and he loathes himself. As he repents and turns toward God, he is forgiven of his sins and thus obtains the life of God.
In the Lord’s gospel the purpose for men to receive forgiveness of sins is also that they may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) and the divine inheritance (Acts 26:18). When men repent and turn toward God so that their sins are forgiven, they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and the divine inheritance. The Holy Spirit, who is the processed Triune God becoming the all-inclusive Spirit, is given to men at the time of their repentance to be the all-inclusive blessing of God’s full gospel (Gal. 3:14) that they may enjoy all the riches of the Triune God. The divine inheritance is the Triune God Himself with all that He has, all that He has done, and all that He will do for His redeemed people. This Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 2:9) to be the portion of the saints (Col. 1:12). The Holy Spirit, who has been given to the saints, is the foretaste, the pledge, and the guarantee of this divine inheritance (Eph. 1:14), which we are sharing and enjoying today as a foretaste in God’s New Testament economy, and will share and enjoy to the uttermost in the coming age and in eternity (1 Pet. 1:4).
Genuine repentance is a gift given to man after Christ was exalted to the right hand of God. After Christ passed through death and resurrection, He was exalted by God to His right hand to be the ruling Leader and Savior, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to man (Acts 5:31). He rules sovereignly, arranging all of man’s environment and the condition of his heart, to lead man to repent and turn to God. Based on His redemption, He gives the grace of forgiveness of sins to the repenting ones that they may obtain salvation.
In God’s New Testament economy, God charges all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). God overlooked the times of men’s ignorance, but now in the New Testament age He charges all men everywhere to repent and turn to Him. For this, God purposely sent John the Baptist to preach repentance (Matt. 3:2), calling people to repent and turn to Him, thus preparing men’s hearts to receive His salvation (Luke 1:77). The Lord Jesus, continuing His forerunner’s teaching, also preached repentance (Matt. 4:17) and brought salvation to the repenting ones (Luke 19:9). On the day of Pentecost, when Peter and the eleven disciples stood up, they also taught and exhorted people to repent and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). When Paul saw the vision of God’s New Testament economy, he also exhorted those in Damascus, Jerusalem, and all the country of Judea, and the Gentiles, to repent and turn to God (Acts 26:20). This indicates that in God’s New Testament economy, we must repent to God and turn to Him that we may believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15), believe in the Lord Jesus, receive Him as our Savior (Acts 20:21), enjoy God’s salvation, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, repentance is a divine requirement of God’s New Testament economy.
Since repentance is a divine requirement of God’s New Testament economy, it is a main item which we must proclaim concerning God’s New Testament economy. After His resurrection from the dead, the Lord Jesus charged His disciples to proclaim the gospel of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:47). Therefore, when we preach the gospel, we should stress this item, telling people to repent that their sins may be forgiven, that they may obtain the eternal life, and that they may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and the divine inheritance. This is a main item that we should proclaim concerning God’s New Testament economy.
In the initial stage of God’s full salvation, immediately after we have been called by God, the Holy Spirit comes to separate us, to sanctify us, that we may repent and turn to God. This sanctification, which takes place before our faith in Christ and before our justification through Christ’s redemption, separates us from the world unto the obedience of faith in Christ’s redemption. The Holy Spirit does His sanctifying work by enlightening and seeking us, convicting us concerning sin, concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment, thus causing us to repent and turn to God. Our repentance, which is a result of the sanctifying work of the Spirit, causes us to have a change of mind, to turn from things other than God to the kingdom of God and to God Himself. We need to have a turn in our mind, and then our outward conduct and behavior will also change accordingly. Eventually our entire being will be turned toward God. The result of our repentance is that we receive forgiveness of sins, the life of God, and the gift of the Holy Spirit and the divine inheritance. This repentance is a gift given by the exalted Christ, for it is He who gives us the heart of repentance. Repentance is also a divine requirement of God’s New Testament economy, for He has charged all man everywhere to repent unto Him. Therefore, repentance must be a main item of the believers’ proclamation of God’s New Testament economy.