((BIBLICAL EVIDENCE OF REPENTANCE IN THE BOOK OF JOHN)) The EASY BELIEVISM crowd argue, quote book of John never once mentions repentance. If repentance were so crucial to the gospel message, dont you suppose John would have included a call to repent? End quote!! What an amazing failure to be a student of Gods word. Repentance is woven into the very fabric of the Gospel of John, though the word itself is never employed. In the account of Nicodemus, for example, repentance was clearly suggested in Jesus command to be born again (John 3:3 ,5 ,7). Repentance was the point of the Old Testament illustration our Lord gave Nicodemus (verses 14-15). In John 4 ,the woman at the well did repent, as we see from her actions in verses 28-29. To assume that John called for a faith that excluded repentance is to grossly misconstrue the apostles concept of what it means to be a believer. Now John never uses repent as a verb, the verbs he does employ are EVEN STRONGER I believe. He teaches that all true believers love the light (3:19), come to the light (3:20-21), obey the Son (3:36), practice the truth (3:21), worship in spirit and truth (4:23-24), honor God (5:22-24), do good deeds (5:29), eat Jesus flesh and drink His blood (6:48-66), love God (8:42 ,cf. 1 John 2:15), follow Jesus (10:26-28), and keep Jesus commandments (14:15). Those ideas hardly concur with no-repentance salvation! All of them presuppose repentance, commitment, and a desire to obey. As those terms suggest, the apostle was careful to describe conversion as a complete turnabout. To John, becoming a believer meant resurrection from death to life, a coming out of darkness and into light, abandoning lies for the truth, exchanging hatred for love, and forsaking the world for God. What are those but images of radical conversion? Now Loving God is the expression John uses most frequently to describe the believers demeanor. How can sinners begin to love God apart from genuine repentance? What does love imply, anyway????? Remember that it is the Gospel of John that outlines the Holy Spirits ministry of conviction toward the unbelieving world (John 16:8-11). Of what does the Holy Spirit convict unbelievers? Of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). Wouldnt it seem that the Holy Spirits ministry of convicting people of sin and its consequences has the specific purpose of laying the groundwork for repentance? Repentance underlies all Johns writings, do you see it? It is understood,not necessarily explicit. His readers were so familiar with the apostolic message that he didnt need to dwell on the issue of repentance. John clearly was emphasizing different facets of the gospel message than those highlighted by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But he most assuredly was not writing to contradict them! His aim certainly was not to devise a no-lordship doctrine of salvation. In fact, Johns purpose was exactly the opposite. He was showing that Jesus is God. Johns readers clearly understood the implication of that. If Jesus is God and we must receive Him as God (John 1:12), our first duty in coming to Him is to repent (cf. Luke 5:8).
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 18:15:01 +0000
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