Monday, January 13, 2025

Abundance of Grace: True Repentance

 


For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Romans 5:17 NKJV

For if, through the transgression of the one individual, Death made use of the one individual to seize the sovereignty, all the more shall those who receive God's overflowing grace and gift of righteousness reign as kings in Life through the one individual, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17 WEY

 The Gospel is the Grace of God revealed in Christ. It is the Grace pledged in and through Jesus' once for all redemptive work. Paul tells us in order to reign in life we must receive His abundant Grace. 

 Grace is the Gospel, and we are admonished to receive an abundance of this Grace. Therefore, continually hearing and feeding on the Word of Christ is an essential element of victorious Christian living. We joyfully receive His abundance of Grace in our lives. We can never do enough to earn or achieve any favor from God.

 Since Grace is the Gospel, it is essential that we understand it and contend for its truth to be preserved. Paul warns us about polluting or corrupting the Gospel message with works and mixtures. Today, I want to expose and examine one such perversion of the Gospel: the man-made definition and concept of repentance.

 Repentance has been a source of controversy and debate for many years. Religious tradition defines it as turning away from sin, changing directions, ceasing from sin, and some go so far as to say that if you sin the same sin, you never really repented, and thus, your sin has not actually been forgiven.

 Religious tradition defines God as an impatient, harsh, and demanding despot who is daily displeased with us. He isn't long-suffering but rather easily provoked. He makes a list and checks it continually to see how often we sin and whether or not we repeat the same sin so He can ascertain whether we should be forgiven of our sins. 

 Let's define repentance and begin to dismantle this religious tradition. Repentance is from the Greek word metanoia. It simply means to change one's mind. Now, tradition has engrained and indoctrinated the masses to believe that repentance is all about sin, claiming that the object of repentance is sin. They claim we are commanded to repent of our sins throughout Scripture. 

Brace yourself for this truth bomb: the phrase “repent of your sins” is nowhere to be found in the Bible. That’s right—religious tradition has been preaching a concept that Scripture itself never explicitly teaches. Repentance is not about sin. It’s about changing your mind—specifically about who God is and what He has done for you.

    Now, many religious, traditional-minded ones will scream heresy! Let's rip the mask off religious tradition: the Bible never says, “Repent of your sins.” That phrase so often hurled from pulpits to heap guilt on believers, doesn’t exist in God’s Word. Repentance is not about groveling over your sins or proving your worth through changed behavior. It’s about changing your mind—specifically about God—and turning to Him in faith.

 Acts 3:19 makes it clear: “Repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out.” It’s not “fix yourself,” but “fix your eyes on Him.  When Peter preached, he didn’t say, “Repent of your sins.” He said, “Repent and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.

 Let’s be clear: the object of repentance is not your behavior or your failures—it’s God. Repentance is about seeing God as He truly is—loving, good, and full of grace—and placing your trust in Him. Sin is dealt with not through your efforts, but through the finished work of Jesus Christ. If we keep teaching repentance as behavior modification, we’re reducing the Gospel to a self-help program. 

This false idea that repentance focuses on sin has warped the Gospel into a man-made effort instead of God’s divine gift. The religious message of “clean up your life to be accepted by God” is not the Gospel—it’s bondage. The real Gospel proclaims that Jesus has already dealt with sin, once and for all. Repentance isn’t about your works; it’s about receiving His. It’s about abandoning the lie that God’s acceptance is tied to your performance and embracing the unshakable truth that His love and grace are more than enough.

If you’re clinging to the idea that repentance means fixing your sins before you come to God, it’s time to let that lie die. It’s not just wrong—it’s a perversion of the Good News. True repentance is turning from unbelief to belief, from trusting in yourself to trusting in Jesus. Anything less is religion; anything more is Grace.

 Religious tradition have created so many confusing doctrines and concepts in the Church by not actually reading the texts in their context. They also read into certain texts their preconceived notions and ideas about God and then go around proclaiming them as the Gospel message. If it's "the gospel," and you don't concur and accept what they say, well, then you're just some heretic preaching a false gospel. No, we are just staying with what God actually said, we stay with truth not tradition. 

In summation, remember The phrase “repent of your sins” is NOT in the Bible. Search the Scriptures from cover to cover, and you won’t find it. What you will find is a religious system that has hijacked repentance, twisting it into a works-based effort to grovel, weep, and self-punish over sins, as if that could ever earn forgiveness. The religious notion that repentance requires groveling over every failure or performing penance is nothing more than human tradition, and it’s a slap in the face of God’s grace. Jesus bore the full penalty for sin. He said, “It is finished.”

 Let’s stop preaching repentance as an obsession with sin and start preaching it as an invitation to life, freedom, and intimacy with God. Repentance isn’t about you cleaning yourself up—it’s about seeing the One who already made you clean. It’s not about guilt—it’s about grace. It’s not about your works—it’s about His.




Image by patricia nahat from Pixabay

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