Repent And/Or Believe?

I often struggle to find the balance between certain aspects of my theology. One such area of difficulty is in the balance between teaching repentance and faith for salvation. There are many today who presume that repentance is not necessary for salvation. For me, this is not an option for repentance is too engrained into the message of the Bible. Others would say that mentioning faith without preaching repentance produces false converts.

As I was studying for my midweek message from the prophecy of Joel, I was consulting the Baptist Study Edition study Bible. In the notes, edited by W. A. Criswell, appears this explanation of the balance between repentance and faith:

The only condition throughout Joel’s prophecies is true repentance to the Lord, which involves turning from sin on the one hand and trusting by faith (with all one’s heart) on the other. The Old Testament emphasizes repentance (turning) and the New Testament emphasizes faith (trusting). They are two sides of the same coin. Repentance and faith are not synonymous but they are inseparable. One cannot be turning without trusting, nor trusting without turning. That is why repentance resulted in turning to the Lord with all one’s heart. True repentance is not just superficial emotionalism.

This short annotation gave me a wealth of confidence about presenting the plan of salvation. If a person truly trusts Christ, they repent. If they truly repent, they trust Christ. I fear that by emphasizing the word “repentance” too much, we may convey to people that the plan of salvation is to drop all of our bad habits. The New Testament message continually repeats itself… “Believe (or call) on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!”