Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
Acts 17:30

Some evangelicals minimize, or even reject, the necessity of repentance as an element of Christian conversion. I understand. I went through a brief stint of that thinking in the early 1980s. The thinking behind this unbiblical position is that repentance is a “work,” and since salvation is “not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9), therefore, repentance, though good, is not necessary. In an effort to champion salvation by faith alone, apart from human effort, repentance gets scuttled.

Besides the fact that God “commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30), consider the following people who preached repentance”

John the Baptist called people to repentance. Matthew 3:1-2
Jesus called people to repentance. Matthew 4:17
The twelve disciples sent by Jesus called people to repentance. Mark 6:7-12
The Apostle Peter called people to repentance. Acts 2:37-38
The Apostle Paul called people to repentance. Acts 26:19-20

I am sure that all believers would agree that each of these persons are important and authoritative. Since they emphasized repentance, we would certainly be remiss if we did not.

Tomorrow, we will consider what repentance is and why it is not a “meritorious work” performed by people to earn salvation.