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Axe1338
Member



Joined: 2005/10/31
Posts: 120
Miami, Fl

 Acts 11:18 need some help

18 When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”

Saints,
I could use some help understanding the "repentance to life" portion of this verse. I have read several commentaries on it and I understand the context of the scripture, but I really can't put my finger on exactly what that portion is saying. Another question I have is where can we find proof for life then repentance in the Word, are we regenerated then repent or do we repent and then are regenerated? Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.

 2009/9/16 12:20Profile
Axe1338
Member



Joined: 2005/10/31
Posts: 120
Miami, Fl

 Re: Acts 11:18 need some help

Anyone??

 2009/9/17 9:39Profile
Leo_Grace
Member



Joined: 2009/6/14
Posts: 703


 Re:

Repentance is turning away from something (not necessarily sin). In this particular verse, I would interpret it to mean (from its context) turning away from spiritual death towards spiritual life in Christ. Turning away from spiritual death would of course entail faith in God and repentance to sin.

To summarize: God has also granted the gentiles the same grace of redemption and salvation, through faith, that he had given the Jews.

 2009/9/17 11:30Profile









 Re: Repent & Believe



As a Christian I am called to "Repent and Believe" to be saved, as well as to repent from the sin I commit (by thought and deed), and believe throughout my whole life, after being saved. This is what the sanctification process is all about. We are told to repent, to name the sin or sins that we are repenting from, and ask God to forgive us. This is the Christian walk.

This is excellent:

And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.. (Luke 24:46-47)

Notice that following repentance is the remission of sins, which baptism signifies, being a symbolic dying to sin and resurrection to a new life (Romans 6:1-12). This is why on Pentecost, AD 31, Peter instructs the assembled crowd, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38)
.
Likewise, Paul teaches the men of Athens:
"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
(Acts 17:30-31)

Repentance is a prerequisite to belief. What is repentance? Its basic meaning is "to change" or "to turn." Once a person hears the gospel and is convicted that his way of life is wrong, he must change his present behavior and "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:" (Matthew 3:8). Repentance is not merely feeling sorry or remorseful, but being so stricken in one's heart that one seeks the cleansing of baptism and begins to live according to God's standards—according to God's law. Remorse without a corresponding change in conduct is not repentance!

The fruits of repentance are visible actions—often called "works"—that show that a person has indeed changed. When John the Baptist preached repentance to prepare the way for Jesus' ministry, his audience asked him what they should do to repent. He answers: And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?

"He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.
Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.(Luke 3:10-14).

In general, these actions are either obeying God's laws or showing love for one's neighbor.

Jesus says, "If you want to enter into [eternal] life, keep the commandments" (Matthew 19:17).

Later, when requested to name the greatest commandments, Jesus answers, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart. . . .' And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matthew 22:36-40).

When we put all these things together, bearing fruits worthy of repentance is simply living as God does!

Believing the gospel is closely related to having faith. When one believes something, he has faith, trust, and confidence that it is true. This confidence leads him to begin to act in accordance with what he believes, and the result is obedience to it or following it.

Notice how the apostle Paul shows this in Romans 10:8-10:
But what does [Scripture] say? "The word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.

Verse 10 provides the balance to verse 9. It is not enough just to confess Jesus verbally and believe in the resurrection as an intellectual exercise. Paul explains that heartfelt belief leads to righteousness, which is simply right doing or godly behavior (Psalm 119:172). Faith, then—living faith (II Corinthians 5:7)—is trusting God's Word and practicing it, whether in the face of hardship, sacrifice, the contrary opinions of friends and family, or even death.

The author of Hebrews commends the "Heroes of Faith" to us for just these reasons (Hebrews 11).
Thus, Jesus' urgent command for us to repent and believe the gospel provides us with the negative and positive sides of a single, godly action. He tells us to rid ourselves of the evil we have been doing ("repent and . . . be baptized") and to begin doing what God expects of those to whom He has revealed His way of life ("believe"). This will lead to righteousness and salvation and—God promises!—entrance into His Kingdom (II Peter 1:2-11).

Sincerely,

Walter


Quote:

Leo_Grace wrote:
Repentance is turning away from something (not necessarily sin). In this particular verse, I would interpret it to mean (from its context) turning away from spiritual death towards spiritual life in Christ. Turning away from spiritual death would of course entail faith in God and repentance to sin.

To summarize: God has also granted the gentiles the same grace of redemption and salvation, through faith, that he had given the Jews.

 2009/9/17 13:49
Axe1338
Member



Joined: 2005/10/31
Posts: 120
Miami, Fl

 Re:

I appreciate your thoughts brothers. God bless.

 2009/9/17 16:30Profile
Lysa
Member



Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 3699
East TN for now!

 Re: Acts 11:18 need some help

Axe1338,

I love history (I don't know if I'm a 100% right or not but hopefully on the right track!); in the day this was written, there was serious arguments & doubts as to the genuine conversion of the Gentiles. A few schools of thought, Jews had to lose their Jewishness and become Christians to be genuine OR Christian's had to become Jews (& be circumcised! Didn't Paul upbraid Peter for this one?)

Proof to this was in Peter being called by the Spirit to Cornelius's home in Acts 10.34-35 & 10.45 [i]Then Peter began to speak. "I clearly see," he said, "that God makes no distinctions between one man and another; (35) but that in every nation those who fear Him and live good lives are acceptable to Him. (45)[b] And all the Jewish believers who had come with Peter were astonished that on the Gentiles also the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out.[/b][/i] (WEY)

Acts 11

[i]From the HCSB version:[/i]
18 When they heard this they became silent. Then they glorified God, saying, [b]“So God has granted repentance resulting in life to even the Gentiles!”[/b]

[i]From WEY:[/i]
18 This statement of Peter’s silenced his opponents. They extolled the goodness of God, and said, [b]"So, then, to the Gentiles also God has given the repentance which leads to Life."[/b]

I like this commentary explanation best of all...

[i]Gills' Expositor Commentary[/i]
it is not in the power of man’s free will, who though he may have time and means, yet [b]if he has not grace given him to repent, he never will[/b];

We know this to be so true that except for grace, we would not have been grafted in. 1 Tim 2.3-4;

Thanks be to God for His UNSPEAKABLE Gift!!

God bless you, I hope this helps further your understanding.


_________________
Lisa

 2009/9/17 18:03Profile
elharris
Member



Joined: 2009/8/10
Posts: 59


 Re:

Walter,

I was thoroughly impressed with what you wrote and the manner in which you rightly divided the scriptures, regarding repentance, faith and works. It sure is nice to hear the truth.

Regards,
El Harris

 2009/9/17 22:53Profile









 Re: Acts 11:18 need some help


Hello Axe1338,

Before Pentecost, if a Gentile wanted to become a Jew (that is, to become a follower and particpant in Judaism), he had to do three things: be circumcised, bring a sacrifice, and be baptised.

Until John the Baptist, there is no record of a natural born Jew having to be 'baptised' for the remission of sins. However, Paul makes a very clear distinction between the baptism of John, and baptism into the name of Jesus. (Acts 19:4, 5, 6) I believe there is a quite a lot to think about in these three verses!

Regarding 'repentance to life', this is different (in the light of distinctions between baptisms) from the repentance called for by God under the Old Covenant, when what He was asking Jews to do was keep the law from their [u]hearts[/u]. Usually, this was also a call to forsake the idolatry they'd fallen into, (Exo 20:3, 4, 5), which was the main competitor for true worship of God (John 4:21, 22, 23, 24).

In the light of the above considerations, [i]knowing[/i] that from the days of the Pentateuch there was no barrier in God's heart, towards 'Gentiles' coming under His rule, ask yourself what had been happening in synagogues by the time Jesus was preaching, using the events of Acts 13:15 - 46. Why did the Gentiles have to request a special hearing of the gospel the next Sabbath? Why were [i]they[/i] still Gentiles? Why had they not [i]already[/i] been welcomed into the brotherhood of Judaism?

(I think this speaks volumes for the mindset of the average Jew. They had forgotten God did not bar Gentiles from being formally admitted to Judaism. This is an aspect of why they were surprised when the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius' household. Even the disciples had not understood Jesus when He said John 10:16.)

'Repentance to life' is also something about being circumcised in heart - Deu 10:16 and Rom 2:28, 29.


It may take you a while to think through the shadows of the Old Testament which come to life in the New, but you will find a tremendous symmetry, which waited for all those years until the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which became possible through Christ's obedience to death and victory on the cross.

 2009/9/18 10:51
Lysa
Member



Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 3699
East TN for now!

 Re: El, hate to break it ya....

Quote:
El Harris wrote:
Walter,

I was thoroughly impressed with what you wrote and the manner in which you rightly divided the scriptures, regarding repentance, faith and works. It sure is nice to hear the truth.

Regards,
El Harris


El,

Well, I hate to be the one to break this to you but Waltern plagiarized every bit that post you were so impressed with. You need to be impressed with the web site, "The True Gospel" and their article, "[url=http://truegospel.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Basics.tour/ID/7/Repentance-Belief-and-Gospel.htm]Repentance, Belief, and the Gospel[/url]" instead of Walter.

He copied and pasted 2/3's of it almost word for word. He changed all the Bible verses to KJV but go to the website and read theirs and you will know whose it is, not Waltern's.


_________________
Lisa

 2009/9/18 17:12Profile
Lysa
Member



Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 3699
East TN for now!

 Re: Repent and Believe

Walter,

I knew you copied and pasted stuff but it finally hit me today and I cannot believe that as much crap as you have given me and others on here for deviating one iota from what you deem the "truth" that you have plagiarized someone else's work.

AND you haven't corrected El for paying you such a comment! Shame on you.


[b]All the copying and pasting that you do[/b], you need to check out [url=http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_citation.html]What is citation?[/url]

And also [url=http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_plagiarism.html]What is Plagiarism?[/url]

(edit: I don't want any PM's from anyone about cussing... unless of course, it's a moderator! lol) Thank you, thank you very much!


_________________
Lisa

 2009/9/18 17:15Profile





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