Repentance and Faith, Inseparable Truths

Introduction

When Jesus began His public ministry, He issued a single, urgent summons: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). There is no hint of a sequence in which one may turn from sin later and trust Christ now. The summons is simultaneous – repentance and faith together – because the kingdom has drawn near in Him. The apostle Paul described his own preaching in similar terms, testifying to “repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). Repentance has a direction – toward God – and faith has an object – in the Lord Jesus Christ. Two commands form one response.

Throughout the New Testament, conversion is sometimes described mainly as turning: the Thessalonians “turned to God from idols” (1 Thessalonians 1:9); the risen Lord sends Saul to open eyes so that people may turn “from darkness to light” (Acts 26:18). At other times the focus is on believing: John writes that his Gospel is “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31); Paul declares that we are “justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans 3:28). When both elements appear together, the shape becomes unmistakable: those who heard the gospel in Antioch “believed and turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21). The sinner does not negotiate separate phases or weigh alternatives; he is re‑oriented as a whole person, from self to God, from sin to Christ.

Historian John Murray observed: “There is no priority. The faith that is unto salvation is a penitent faith and the repentance that is unto life is a believing repentance.” We can distinguish repentance and faith conceptually, but in lived reality they occur together.

What Repentance Involves

Repentance is not merely feeling bad or resolving to improve. Judas felt remorse and returned the silver, yet he went and hanged himself (Matthew 27:3–5). Paul differentiates “godly sorrow” from “worldly sorrow” (2 Corinthians 7:10): one produces repentance that leads to life; the other leads to death. The difference is not intensity but direction. Godly sorrow agrees with God about sin and turns to Him for mercy.

Biblical repentance engages the whole person:

1. Mind – a new recognition of sin as rebellion against a holy God. The repentant person acknowledges specific transgressions and his desperate need for mercy. He confesses sin rather than excusing it (Psalm 51:3–4; 1 John 1:9).

2. Emotion – genuine grief over the offense itself, not merely its consequences. This is the “godly sorrow” that produces repentance, distinct from self‑pity or wounded pride.

3. Will – an actual turning from sin to God, with a settled intention to forsake evil and pursue righteousness. John the Baptist demanded “fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). Fruit is not payment for forgiveness but evidence that something real has happened. A person who claims to have repented while clinging to what God condemns offers hollow words.

Repentance is deeply personal before it is behavioral. David’s confession, “Against You, You only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4), is an honest reckoning with God. Sin is first and foremost against Him. A person unwilling to face God’s verdict cannot repent in the biblical sense. Yet repentance is not a work by which we earn forgiveness; it is the Spirit‑wrought response to God’s grace (Acts 11:18).

What Saving Faith Involves

Faith is not bare agreement with facts. James underscores that demons believe certain truths about God and shudder (James 2:19). Saving faith has three components:

1. Knowledge – hearing and understanding the gospel. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). You cannot trust someone you do not know.

2. Assent – believing that the gospel is true, not merely interesting or plausible. You affirm that God’s way of saving sinners through the mediation of Jesus Christ is the only way and that His promises and warnings are reliable.

3. Trust – relying personally on Christ alone for salvation. You receive Him, rest on His righteousness, and stake your hope on His promises. This is where many professing believers fall short: they speak the language of faith but never actually come. Trust inevitably yields obedience, for “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).

Faith itself is God’s gift (Ephesians 2:8–9); no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). Yet unbelief is sin, and the call to believe is universal (John 3:16; Acts 17:30). Faith is the instrument by which we receive Christ and His benefits (Galatians 2:16).

Two Sides of One Coin

Repentance and faith are inseparable. Repentance turns from sin; faith turns to Christ. One cannot occur without the other. A man cannot authentically turn to God while clinging to his idols, nor can he truly hate sin without fleeing to the Savior. Saving faith includes a hatred of sin and desire to forsake it; genuine repentance is grounded in faith because we turn from sin in response to God’s promises and warnings. Without faith, repentance would collapse into despair or self‑improvement; without repentance, faith would degenerate into empty assent.

Scripture teaches that both repentance and faith are gifts of God (Acts 5:31; Ephesians 2:8). The gospel calls sinners to do what they cannot do apart from grace, and the grace that commands also enables. Because God grants repentance and faith, He gets the glory for every conversion; yet because He commands repentance and faith, sinners are responsible and must not delay.

Errors to Avoid

We need to be careful here. It is easy to drift into opposite mistakes about repentance and faith. Some people suggest you can simply pray a prayer or “accept Jesus” while never confronting your sin. The New Testament leaves no room for that. At Pentecost, those who were cut to the heart were told to repent and be baptized (Acts 2:37–38). You cannot cling to your idols and still embrace Christ. A gospel with no repentance breeds religious consumers rather than disciples.

Others turn repentance into a hurdle, as if God will accept you only once you have cried enough or cleaned yourself up. That is not the gospel either. Jesus calls sinners, not the righteous (Matthew 9:13). He justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5). The tax collector in Jesus’ story beat his breast and cried, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13) and went home justified. Repentance is part of the miracle of grace, not a price we pay to earn it.

The gospel summons us to turn from sin and trust in Christ at the same time. It neither offers Christ’s mercy without His lordship nor demands perfect reform before you come. It invites you, broken, to cast yourself on Jesus and trust Him to forgive and transform you.

The Gospel Call

What do we summon people to when we proclaim the gospel? We call them to turn from sin and trust in Christ – not sequentially, as if one could repent fully without faith or believe without abandoning idols, but together as the unified response to God’s gracious offer. The apostolic pattern is clear: Paul testified about “repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are not offering people escape from hell while leaving them enslaved to sin. We announce that the kingdom of God has come, that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and Satan, and that those who forsake their way and trust Him will be delivered.

The gospel is good news precisely because it is comprehensive. God does not merely declare sinners righteous while leaving them unchanged. He pardons and He transforms. The faith that justifies is never alone; it is accompanied by repentance that forsakes sin and by love that obeys. At the same time, sinners do not need to produce perfect repentance or strong faith before they may come. They need only come honestly – confessing their sin and casting themselves on Christ’s mercy.

Pastoral Counsel

1. To the Unconverted: Do not imagine you can have Christ without turning from sin. You cannot claim His benefits while refusing His lordship. Come to Christ as He is offered in the gospel, as both Savior and Lord. Come for rescue from sin’s guilt and power, not only from its penalty. Come now, come as you are, but come to be changed. Your repentance does not need to be perfect; your faith does not need to be strong. Both must be real. Come confessing your sin, trusting in Christ’s finished work, and willing to follow wherever He leads.

2. To Believers: Continue in repentance and faith. These are not one‑time acts but ongoing realities of the Christian life. When the Holy Spirit exposes sin, confess it. Do not minimize, excuse, or hide it. Agree with God about it and turn from it. Your assurance does not rest on your performance but on Christ’s finished work. Evidence of genuine conversion includes a life marked by ongoing repentance and trust in God’s promises. Keep short accounts with God and keep coming to Christ for fresh mercy and cleansing.

3. To Preachers and Teachers: Do not truncate the gospel. Do not offer people cheap salvation that costs them nothing and changes nothing. Call sinners to repent and believe. Make clear what Christ demands – everything – and what He offers – Himself and in Him, all the riches of God’s grace. The gospel is free but not cheap. It cost God His Son; it will cost sinners their sins. Preach so that hearers understand both the seriousness of sin and the sufficiency of grace.

Conclusion

Repentance and faith are not two different roads to salvation nor sequential steps whereby one may fulfill one requirement before addressing the other. They are the two inseparable aspects of conversion – the twofold response of the soul that God has made alive. Where true faith is, there is true repentance; where true repentance is, there is true faith. This is the demand of the kingdom: repent and believe. Turn from sin and trust in Christ. Come to Jesus for deliverance from sin’s guilt and power. Come with empty hands and a broken heart. Come now.

Sources Consulted

Primary

• The Holy Bible (ESV, LSB, KJV)

Commentaries

• Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
• Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (only if you personally consulted it for this post)

Suggested Further Reading (not cited as authorities)

• John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied
• John Flavel, works on repentance and faith
• William Perkins, selected writings on gospel preaching
• The Canons of Dort (on the gospel call)