A core belief of Christianity can be stated as:
Each person who responds to God's grace and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ by confession of sin, remorse, repentance, faith and obedience receives the great gift of salvation. Each person who resists God's grace is condemned to everlasting punishment. (U)
- Each person who responds to God's grace and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ by
- confession of sin (Ps 32:3-5; 1 John 1:8-10),
- remorse (Ps 66:18; Luke 18:13),
- repentance (Mat 3:8; Rom 12:2, 13:14; Eph 4:23-24; Rev 2:5, 16, 3:3, 19),
- faith (John 6:29, 3:16-17; Acts 16:31; Eph 2:8-10) and
- obedience (Mat 28:20; Luke 11:28; John 14:15; Rom 1:5, 6:16; Heb 5:9)
- receives the great gift of salvation (Acts 4:12; Rom 1:16; 2 Cor 7:10; 1 Thes 5:9; Heb 5:9; 1 Pet 1:9, 18-19).
- Each person who resists God's grace is condemned to everlasting punishment (Mat 25:46; 2 Thes 1:8-9).
Christian belief must be preceded by repentance and followed by obedience to qualify as faith. Faith is not just an intellectual exercise (Jam 2:19) or an emotional experience (Jer 17:9).
See also Sections 1.4, 3.13, 10.8, 11.4 and 11.8 of Theology Corner.
The 4th bullet item is repentance.
‘Clement of Rome’ was a disciple of Peter and Paul. In 96 A.D., he expressed his opinion on repentance in a letter to the Corinthian Church. Why should we care? Because he was an Apostolic Father. He was 1000 times more likely to understand the teachings of Jesus Christ than Augustine, for example, who lived 300 years later.
Here are some of his comments as translated by Maxwell Staniforth:
“Let us fix our thoughts on the Blood of Christ; and reflect how precious that Blood is in God’s eyes, in as much as its outpouring for our salvation has opened the grace of repentance to all mankind. For we have only to survey the generations of the past to see that in every one of them the Lord has offered the chance of repentance to any who were willing to turn to Him. When Noah preached repentance, those who gave heed to Him were saved. When, after Jonah had proclaimed destruction to the people of Nineveh, they repented of their sins and made atonement to God with prayers and supplications, they obtained their salvation, notwithstanding that they were strangers and aliens to Him.
All those who were ministers of the grace of God have spoken, through the Holy Spirit, of repentance. The very Lord of all Himself has spoken of it, and even with an oath. By my life, the Lord declares, it is not the sinner’s death that I desire, so much as his repentance; and He adds this gracious pronouncement, Repent, O house of Israel, and turn from your wickedness. Say to the children of my people, though your sins may stretch from earth to heaven, and though they may be redder than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, yet if you turn wholeheartedly to me and say ‘Father’, I will listen to you as I would to a people that was holy. And He says somewhere else, wash yourselves, and be clean; put away the evil of your souls from my eyes. Leave off your wickedness and learn to do right. Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, do right by the fatherless, act fairly to the widow. Come, let us reason together, says the Lord; though your sins are crimson red, I will make them as white as snow; though they are like scarlet, I will make them white as wool. If you are willing, and listen to me, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse, and will not listen, a sword shall devour you. These words are from the Lord’s own mouth. Thus, by His own almighty will, He has confirmed His desire that repentance should be open to every one of His beloved.” (Staniforth, p 26-27)
Do you read anything in these paragraphs about ‘limited atonement’ or ‘salvation only for the elect of God’? Conversely, did Clement believe God yearns to save us all? (See also Section 2.21 of Theology Corner)
