Dispensationalism is a hypocrisy that poisons a whole nation (rather, a whole hemisphere) with its fatal deception. During the month of May, we looked at a huge portion of its poisonous deceptions. Today we shall look at another: Repentance.
Lewis Sperry Chafer's Systematic Theology lists repentance as one of "the more common features of human responsibility which are too often erroneously added to the one requirement of faith or belief."1 The Ryrie Study Bible lists repentance as "a false addition to faith" when made a condition for salvation, except "when [repentance is] understood as a synonym for faith."2 Another influential teacher concurs: "The Bible requires repentance for salvation, but repentance does not mean to turn from sin, nor a change in one's conduct.... Biblical repentance is a change of mind or attitude concerning either God, Christ, dead works or sin."3 A seminary professor even writes, "Repentance means to change one's mind; it does not mean to change one's life."4
J. I. Packer wrote, "The repentance that Christ requires of His people consists in a settled refusal to set any limit to the claims which He may make on their lives."5 Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology says that "True repentance never exists except in conjunction with faith, while, on the other hand, wherever there is true faith, there is also real repentance.... The two cannot be separated; they are simply complementary parts of the same process."6 Repentance is not a mental activity; genuine repentance involves the intellect, emotions, and will.7 Geerhardus Vos wrote, "Our Lord's idea of repentance is as profound and comprehensive as his conception of righteousness. Of the three words that are used in the Greek Gospels to describe the process, one emphasizes the emotional element of regret, sorrow over the past evil course of life, metamélomai; Matt. 21:29-32; a second expresses reversal of the entire mental attitude, metanoéō, Matt. 12:41, Luke 11:32; 15:7, 10; the third denotes a change in the direction of life, one goal being substituted for another, epistréphomai; Matt. 13:15 (and parallels); Luke 17:4; 22:32. Repentance is not limited to any single faculty of the mind: it engages the entire man, intellect, will and affections.... Again, in the new life which follows repentance the absolute supremacy of God is the controlling principle. He who repents turns away from the service of mammon and self to the service of God."8
D. L. Moody has often been quoted as saying, "If you are what you were after you got saved, then you've never been saved." This is true because real repentance alters the character of the entire man. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote: "Repentance means that you realize that you are a guilty, vile sinner in the presence of God, that you deserve the wrath and punishment of God, that you are hell-bound. It means that you begin to realize that this thing called sin is in you, that you long to get rid of it, and that you turn your back on it in every shape and form. You renounce the world whatever the cost, the world in its mind and outlook as well as its practice, and you deny yourself, and take up the cross and go after Christ. Your nearest and dearest, and the whole world, may call you a fool, or say you have religious mania. You may have to suffer financially, but it makes no difference. That is repentance."9
The false gospel and phony Christianity of Dispensationalism must do away with repentance in order to make room for their group of second class Christians, the so-called "carnal Christian." There is no such thing, and if these people bothered to read their Bibles they would see this. In order to understand this more fully, go back to the month of March and read the posts dealing with apostasy. Because they preach a false gospel that basically tells people that if they pray a prayer, sign a card, walk an aisle, ask Jesus into their heart, or make a decision for Christ, that they will be part of the club, they need to create a false Christianity in order to house all these people when none of them join a church or ever bear any evidence of Christ having touched their lives, just so they do not have to admit their ardent failure and repent of their wrongdoing. Rather than admit that all these people—who have done what they asked and yet bear no evidence of a changed life—are false converts, they create a separate class of "Christian" in order to deceive themselves and claim that these people are still saved, but they are merely "carnal."
Dallas Theological Seminary does not teach repentance because it does not believe in repentance. The reason why they do not believe in it is because they have blindly followed the erroneous writing of Lewis Sperry Chafer in his Systematic Theology. So they churn out masses of ignorant students spewing forth the same regurgitated poisonous vomit. And you wonder why most churches are dead and bear no evidence that God is with them or that any of them have been genuinely saved? By denying repentance, you are creating self-righteous individuals who think they can live in their sin and inherit eternal life. The Bible says that all sin must go. Romans 8:13 is a grand rebuke in the face of these lies: "If you are living according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Romans 6 and 8, as well as the rest of Scripture, constantly contrast life and death.
Repentance means to stop what you are doing and heading in the wrong direction; confess that you have been going the wrong way and doing the wrong things; apologize for the wrong direction of your life; turn around and start heading in the right direction; and not to stop until you reach your destination—holiness and Christ-likeness. It is not a matter of perfection but a matter of direction. You are ever increasing in holiness and Christ-likeness. That is what repentance looks like, and Scripture demands it as evidence of salvation: "Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matt. 3:8). Without repentance, there is no forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47).
1 Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, 3:372.
2 Charles C. Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible, 1950.
3 G. Michael Corcoris, Lordship Salvation—Is It Biblical?, 12.
4 Thomas L. Constable, "The Gospel Message," Walvoord: A Tribute, 207.
5 J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, 72.
6 Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 487.
7 Ibid., 486.
8 Geerhardus Vos, The Kingdom of God and the Church, 92-93.
9 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 2:248.
Lewis Sperry Chafer's Systematic Theology lists repentance as one of "the more common features of human responsibility which are too often erroneously added to the one requirement of faith or belief."1 The Ryrie Study Bible lists repentance as "a false addition to faith" when made a condition for salvation, except "when [repentance is] understood as a synonym for faith."2 Another influential teacher concurs: "The Bible requires repentance for salvation, but repentance does not mean to turn from sin, nor a change in one's conduct.... Biblical repentance is a change of mind or attitude concerning either God, Christ, dead works or sin."3 A seminary professor even writes, "Repentance means to change one's mind; it does not mean to change one's life."4
J. I. Packer wrote, "The repentance that Christ requires of His people consists in a settled refusal to set any limit to the claims which He may make on their lives."5 Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology says that "True repentance never exists except in conjunction with faith, while, on the other hand, wherever there is true faith, there is also real repentance.... The two cannot be separated; they are simply complementary parts of the same process."6 Repentance is not a mental activity; genuine repentance involves the intellect, emotions, and will.7 Geerhardus Vos wrote, "Our Lord's idea of repentance is as profound and comprehensive as his conception of righteousness. Of the three words that are used in the Greek Gospels to describe the process, one emphasizes the emotional element of regret, sorrow over the past evil course of life, metamélomai; Matt. 21:29-32; a second expresses reversal of the entire mental attitude, metanoéō, Matt. 12:41, Luke 11:32; 15:7, 10; the third denotes a change in the direction of life, one goal being substituted for another, epistréphomai; Matt. 13:15 (and parallels); Luke 17:4; 22:32. Repentance is not limited to any single faculty of the mind: it engages the entire man, intellect, will and affections.... Again, in the new life which follows repentance the absolute supremacy of God is the controlling principle. He who repents turns away from the service of mammon and self to the service of God."8
D. L. Moody has often been quoted as saying, "If you are what you were after you got saved, then you've never been saved." This is true because real repentance alters the character of the entire man. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote: "Repentance means that you realize that you are a guilty, vile sinner in the presence of God, that you deserve the wrath and punishment of God, that you are hell-bound. It means that you begin to realize that this thing called sin is in you, that you long to get rid of it, and that you turn your back on it in every shape and form. You renounce the world whatever the cost, the world in its mind and outlook as well as its practice, and you deny yourself, and take up the cross and go after Christ. Your nearest and dearest, and the whole world, may call you a fool, or say you have religious mania. You may have to suffer financially, but it makes no difference. That is repentance."9
The false gospel and phony Christianity of Dispensationalism must do away with repentance in order to make room for their group of second class Christians, the so-called "carnal Christian." There is no such thing, and if these people bothered to read their Bibles they would see this. In order to understand this more fully, go back to the month of March and read the posts dealing with apostasy. Because they preach a false gospel that basically tells people that if they pray a prayer, sign a card, walk an aisle, ask Jesus into their heart, or make a decision for Christ, that they will be part of the club, they need to create a false Christianity in order to house all these people when none of them join a church or ever bear any evidence of Christ having touched their lives, just so they do not have to admit their ardent failure and repent of their wrongdoing. Rather than admit that all these people—who have done what they asked and yet bear no evidence of a changed life—are false converts, they create a separate class of "Christian" in order to deceive themselves and claim that these people are still saved, but they are merely "carnal."
Dallas Theological Seminary does not teach repentance because it does not believe in repentance. The reason why they do not believe in it is because they have blindly followed the erroneous writing of Lewis Sperry Chafer in his Systematic Theology. So they churn out masses of ignorant students spewing forth the same regurgitated poisonous vomit. And you wonder why most churches are dead and bear no evidence that God is with them or that any of them have been genuinely saved? By denying repentance, you are creating self-righteous individuals who think they can live in their sin and inherit eternal life. The Bible says that all sin must go. Romans 8:13 is a grand rebuke in the face of these lies: "If you are living according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Romans 6 and 8, as well as the rest of Scripture, constantly contrast life and death.
Repentance means to stop what you are doing and heading in the wrong direction; confess that you have been going the wrong way and doing the wrong things; apologize for the wrong direction of your life; turn around and start heading in the right direction; and not to stop until you reach your destination—holiness and Christ-likeness. It is not a matter of perfection but a matter of direction. You are ever increasing in holiness and Christ-likeness. That is what repentance looks like, and Scripture demands it as evidence of salvation: "Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matt. 3:8). Without repentance, there is no forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47).
1 Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, 3:372.
2 Charles C. Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible, 1950.
3 G. Michael Corcoris, Lordship Salvation—Is It Biblical?, 12.
4 Thomas L. Constable, "The Gospel Message," Walvoord: A Tribute, 207.
5 J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, 72.
6 Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 487.
7 Ibid., 486.
8 Geerhardus Vos, The Kingdom of God and the Church, 92-93.
9 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 2:248.