The BIG Picture (Q&A)

Someone's comment given from this post   The scriptures do not say accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior and ye shall be saved but it does say in Acts 2:38,39 and other places in Acts to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Notice you have to first repent. The requirements for salvation you refer to in Acts 2 are the requirements of the Kingdom gospel which is relevant for the Jews during that dispensation. Today, in the grace dispensation, the requirement for salvation is to hear and chose to believe in the grace gospel of the cross work of Jesus Christ. In the grace gospel, salvation is not tied up in confessing Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Son of God. It is also not in the requirement of water baptism which is an ordinance necessary in the Jewish program. It is believing that the death of Jesus Christ is for the forgiveness of sins and that His resurrection is...

Below is a comment made in response to an article about " How can you be saved ".  Comment: There is one thing you HAVE to do. You need to REPENT of your SINS and ask God’s forgiveness. Then you can accept the free gift of God, SALVATION.  Is this true?  It is my conviction that it is not! Salvation is not dependent on a person having to repent and ask for forgiveness. Let me clarify below, Repentance is a sticky topic and one that is very skewed due to the influence of confessionals in a certain sect of Christianity. To repent is not to verbally state, “I am sorry”, which many believe is the case. Rather, to repent is defined as “a change of heart”. This is brought about by hearing the gospel, and through it the power of the Holy Spirit will bring conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgement. Acts 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart ...

The word 'repentance' , in the biblical context, translates simply to, 'a change of mind' . We cannot read any more than that into the word. The change of mind is motivated by God's good news that a person can be reconciled to God. So, if a person believes the good news of God, they ultimately have changed their mind from unbelief, and repented . Originally, it was Israel that was called to repent. Throughout the Old Testament and the Gospels, the prophets would bring the message of God to the Jews and provide the conditions of repentance. In the Gospels it was John the Baptist, Jesus and later, the 12 apostles, which called Israel to repent, for the King had arrived and the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Today, repentance is used widely in Christian circles. The problem however is that it is not understood correctly! The word has lost much of its original meaning and most people think it means penance. What is penance? Penance is defined as any act or a set of acti...

Colossians 2:10 …and you [saved by the grace gospel] are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. 11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in [waterless, 1Cor.12:13] baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven [past tense] you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. One must understand that when you respond in faith to the grace gospel, you are utterly forgiven of ALL your sins, past, present and future. Thinking any less means that you diminish the power of the cross, the sacrifice of Ch...