In this series of posts on Lordship salvation and repentance, I have sought to make clear that the Bible teaches that sinners must both repent and believe in order to be saved. However, an essential objection to the lordship position on repentance remains to be addressed. Non-lordship proponents almost unanimously object to the lordship position on repentance by claiming that the Gospel of John nowhere teaches that repentance is necessary for salvation.[1] Hodges cites John 1:26-27, where John the Baptist compares his baptism with that of Jesus, noting that there is “not a word–not a syllable about repentance.”[2] Hodges proclaims the absence of repentance in John’s Gospel “the death knell for lordship theology,” claiming that “John did not regard repentance as a condition for eternal life . . . if he had he would have said so.”[3]
It has already been adequately shown that the New Testament clearly presents repentance and faith inseparably together as the human responses to the gospel call unto salvation. Hodges fails to address some of the New Testament’s clearest teaching on repentance and faith such as Mark 1:14-15 and Luke 24:46-47. Thus, Hodges leaves open the possibility that John’s Gospel teaches a different soteriology than that of the Synoptics. However, the word repentance “itself does not have to appear for us to see the principle of repentance as part of the message of God-centered evangelism.”[4] Jesus commanded the adulterous woman in John 8 to repent when he told her to “go, and from now on sin no more.”[5] It is difficult to make sense of such a command if the call to repentance is absent from John’s soteriology. In addition, the idea of repentance is present in the Johannine epistles (1 John 3:4-10). Furthermore, repentance is boldly commanded in John’s letters to the churches in Revelation as “the Lord found it necessary to rebuke five out of the seven churches in Asia Minor and to call them to repentance.”[6] John need not be pitted against the Synoptics as repentance plays an essential role in Johannine soteriology.
[1]Chafer, Systematic Theology, 376. Hodges, Absolutely Free!, 147-148. Ryrie, So Great Salvation, 97-98.
[2]Hodges, Absolutely Free, 148.
[3]Ibid. 150.
[4]Reisinger, Lord and Christ, 67.
[5]Reisinger, Lord and Christ, 67. Reisinger notes that there are several places in the Synoptics where the word is absent but the idea of repentance is clearly present (c.f. Jesus and the young ruler in Mark 10:17-22 and the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32).
[6]Roberts, Repentance, 37-38. Roberts cites Revelation 2:1-5, 2:12-16, 2:18-22, 3:1-3, 3:14-19, and 3:22.
Drew, I’ll admit that I haven’t kept up with your amazing onslaught of posts on repentance, but I appreciate you hammering its truth home. I’ve been reading in Isaiah lately, and the necessity of repentance is all over the place. Just this morning I was struck by Isaiah 27:9 – God talks about the “price” of his pardoning (strong language), which the verse explains as destroying their idols… i.e. repentance. The truth of this doctrine runs from cover to cover.
I guess this post will also give you a link to my little corner of the blogosphere – thanks for writing here and inspiring me to give it a try.
Andy! Good word on Isa. 27:9. I think repentance is all over the OT. I would like to do some more in depth study on repentance in the OT–I basically just footnoted the issue in this paper (earlier in the paper I think). Anyway I totally agree.
Thanks for the link, though it was a link to your church website–is there a link on there to your blog? Also if you are reading this, you should know that I just graduated from Southern!
Thank you for this soul-searching post. If you’re interested, I’ve also been talking about repentance today, but from a slightly different perspective. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Grace and Peace,
Raffi Shahinian
Parables of a Prodigal Son
Congratulations on graduating. You should email me soon to tell me some of your preliminary thoughts and plans. I am praying for you and Jennifer and your plans after SBTS, MDiv.
Kevin
liking the repentance paper, man . . .
Hey guys thanks for the feedback.
Kevin–I’ll email you soon and give you the heads up on what is going on with Jennifer and I!
Somehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation :) Anyway … nice blog to visit.
cheers, Characterisation!!!
First off, thank you for the forum to discuss and debate these very important issues. I will not defend everything that Hodges teaches, but after studying the New Testament and speaking to some Lordship proponents I have yet to hear a sound response to the “Gospel of John Argument”. Your response is from the other Gospels … and the Book of Revelation. In which, I would have to go back and read them in context but I believe Jesus is addressing his disciples and his churches. Also, the only example you brought up from the Gospel of John was the woman caught in adultry, in which you failed to mention that Jesus told her to “go and sin no more” only after he freely and graciously chose not to condemn her,not the other way around. Also, the “purpose” of the other Gospels were not give a clear cut teaching on the doctrine of salvation, but the very reason why John wrote the his gospel is so people will know that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing (which is trusting or relying upon his person and work) in his name they would have everlasting life. Thats pretty clear cut to me.
Now, in regards to repentance as a requirement for justification … it is absolutely required … “if” what you mean by repentance is … just another description of someone placing their faith in Christ as having a “change of mind and heart towards God”. The bible, in the Gospel of John also uses other terms other than believe. I believe in John 6, the term “whoever comes to me” is used … which we all interpret that to mean trusting in Jesus for salvation or in John 1 , “all who received Him, He gave them the right to be called the children of God” and we know receiving and believing are used interchangeably. As well, in the book of Acts and the Epistles, the term “turn to” is used as well, emphasizing that we are lost and going in the wrong direction so when we believe in Christ, we are actually “turning to Him”. So, I find it interesting how Jesus and the Apostles could use either “Repent” or “Believe” or “Turn to” or “Come to Me” and they were ok with it, but the Lordship proponents feel the need to continually add to and make the Gospel more complicated and blurring the real issue … which is man is lost and there is “nothing” he can do to make himself right with God, but God, in His love, chose to graciously and freely save sinners through “trusting or believing or relying upon” the person and work of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
may the Lord bless you guys to use the Word and the Word alone as the measuring stick to test all things.