Repent of your sins

2025.04.27

Many people have heard and believe that to be saved unto eternal salvation one must be willing to repent of their sins and then believe unto Jesus Christ. My aim here to expose this false gospel and direct people on how to actually be saved.

But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
— Matthew 23:13

Repent

In the King James Version, the word repent and its variants are found 112 times. None of these times does it read, repent of your sins, repented of their sins, repenting of sins, or other combinations.

Repentance does not automatically mean to repent from evil or turning to God. When Moses was leading the people out, God said "Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt" [Exodus 13:17]. So in this case, after being delivered from pharoah, God's people were ready to repent to sin.

The first person to repent in the bible is God, and he continues to repent, and more than anybody else in the whole bible. The first time used is the time of Noah

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth
— Genesis 6:5-6

During Samuel's time, the Israelites wanted a king, God made Saul king over Israel and later God repented by making David king.

It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king
— 1 Kings 15:10

And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.
— 1 Kings 15:35

Judas repenting, not to Christ, not to God, and not to evil.

Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders
— Matthew 27:3

With all of this in mind, a reevaluation of the definition of repent is needed. Repent is a secular word that means to do a complete turnaround on an issue. Rereading the verses above and knowing their context will make sense of it.

The book of John is the only book in the bible that is written for the unsaved to be saved,

these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name
— John 20:31

In the entirety of the book of John, repent is not found once. If repenting of your sins was necessary for salvation, you would imagine that it would be mentioned once. Or some deed is linked with salvation. But salvation is only linked to one word in the book of John

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life
— 3:15

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
— 3:16

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
— 3:18

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
— 3:36

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
— 5:24

And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
— 6:40

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life
— 6:47

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
— 7:38

I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
— 8:24

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
— 11:25-6

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 16:9 Of sin, because they believe not on me
— 16:8

blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed
— 20:29

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
— 20:31

And many are still confused or not sure how to be saved. One more example to solidify this. In Acts, Paul and Silas were imprisoned and when God opened the doors of the prison, the prison keeper was about to kill himself thinking the prisoners have fled. Paul stopped him and when the trembling keeper came, he asked the most important question a christian will face: Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Paul and Silas answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Paul and Silas later came to his house preaching and baptized the household.

Circling back, Mark 1:14-5 records John preaching

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel

John was telling them to repent, to have a complete turnaround from not believing him and Jesus, to believing. In Matthew 21:32 Jesus was telling the elders and priests that

For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not-

belief is the context of the verse

but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

Why did they not repent? Because they did not believe. Paul, in Acts chapter 17, spoke with the people of Athens after finding them worshipping idols and false gods. He told that that God is commanding everything to repent. Paul was not telling them to stop lying, commiting adultery, or other sins, except one: worshipping false gods and idols. It was then recorded that some men believed [17:34]

When you believe in Christ Jesus, you have repented from not believing.

The most similar command we are shown to "repent of your sins" is in Acts 8:22. Simon was a saved person [8:13] that bribed Peter to attain the miracles from the Holy Ghost. Peter tells Simon to "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness". Simon completely repented and humbled himself, it had nothing to do with salvation.

continue with examples from Revelation, and repentance of many cities/churches

The best example of showing you which brings you righteousness is the story of Abraham.

And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness
— Genesis 15:6

For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
— Romans 4:2

All salvation is by Christ only, no works. You can be saved even if you do not do works at all.

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
— Romans 4:5

False Gospel

In terms of salvation, there is only one work that we can do, and that's to believe on him whom he has sent [John 6:28]. Repenting of sins is a works based gospel

And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way
— Jonah 3:10

showing that when you turn from evil, change your mind about sin, you are doing works and relying on yourself. If you are relying on yourself for your salvation, you are already condemned. If you trust in your works for salvation or trust in your works and in the grace of God, you should be reading the book of John until you understand.

Take a reading on these verses on the judgement day many will face

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
— Matthew 7:22-3

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
— Revelation 20:12

If you trust in works, reading these will scare you seeing that you are judged by your works. Do not think that you have to do these works to avoid judgement, or that you can avoid damnation by intensily obeying God like this. Every instance of judgement in the bible is based on our deeds, yes, not even one mention of our faith for the basis of judgement. This is because the living are not judged to our deeds or works. In that Revelation verse, only the dead are judged out of the books according to their works, anyone not in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire [Rev 20:15]. In the Matthew verse, the only ones mentioned that are departed from Jesus are whose who trusted in those works and who thought that their works made them righteous.

Faith without works is dead

With the multitude of verses I have shown beforehand, anyone wishing to see what I have taken out of context is welcome to, it would seem like a contradiction.

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
— James 2:20

Final words

My entire focus today was salvation. Do good works, notice the good in that part of works. Stop sinning, repent of any wickedness you may have, don't sin just because grace will abound. And at the same time, do not confuse that with your salvation. If your salvation is by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise that grace is no more. And if you think you can be saved by your works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more. [Romans 11:6] Best of luck to you if you choose the latter option or both.

Do not worry if you have small faith, keep seeking the kingdom of God. Confess the name of our Christ, follow His will, even if you didn't have a chance to be baptized, believe that he died for all of our sins, and that he rose on the third day, and you will be saved.

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
— Romans 15:13