The Bible makes it very clear that nobody can earn salvation, it is a gift of God. Otherwise, we would have to constantly strive to meet an unknown standard, never knowing when we have attained it — or how to keep it.
Faith plus add-ons like baptism, praying to saints, following man-made rules of conduct, being a member of the "right" church — these are usually stumbling blocks. However, baptism is not a requirement for salvation, but an outward expression of obedience to Christ. But salvation and repentance are often used together in Scripture, which can be confusing.
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| Young Man at Prayer, Hans Memling (1475) |
The Bible uses repentance and salvation together quite often. To repent means to change one's mind and turn away from sin. Repentance is a manifestation of the work of the Holy Spirit in someone's life. Indeed, those who said that if I am not a Calvinist, I am not saved need to repent of their cultic, sanctimonious, superior attitudes — not just them, but people like them!
R.S. asks,
Your site under the Gospel section - states repent a believe the gospel. My son in law has taken issue with that opening wording. Then you then state—Whoever truly believes this message and turns from their sin (repents) is able to be forgiven....... his issue is with your wording as he is stating ONLY by Christ blood can we be saved. In other words the repenting doesn't save us—Christ blood saves us and moves us to repent and move toward sanctification as we grow to be more like Christ. So guess I am asking clarification here on what your organization believes. Christ blood saves or our repenting of our sins saves?? Told him I think he is splitting hairs here so to speak I think you believe Christ blood saves us .... not our repenting. Could you clarify please. Thanks for all your organization does!
The answer is found at "Feedback: Salvation and Repentance."