Posted by: Bill Hornbeck | March 27, 2011

“a Savior, to grant repentance”

Today’s devotion comes from Acts 5:27-32.
 
“27  When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council.  The high priest questioned them,
                                              

 28  saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”

 29  But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

 30  “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.

 31  “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

 32  “And we are witnesses of these things;  and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”  Acts 5:27-32. 

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If we were only affected by sin and still had free will, then it would seem most peculiar and inconsistent that we would need “a Savior, to grant repentance“.  However, if we were dead in sin and only had a will that was bound to Satan and hostile to God, then it would seem most necessary and consistent that we would need “a Savior, to grant repentance“.   

And, this verse, that talks about God granting repentance, does not stand alone.

Acts 11:18
“When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
 
2 Timothy 2:25
“with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,”
 
Because of “total depravity”, the “T” in “TULIP” which maintains that Scripture teaches that we are dead in sin, bound to sin and Satan, hostile to God, and that no one seeks after God, we need to be made alive.  We need to be regenerated.  We need to be granted repentance.
 
Here is what The Belgic Confession states in part in Article 24.  “We believe that this true faith being wrought in man by the hearing of the Word of God, and the operation of the Holy Ghost, doth regenerate and make him a new man, causing him to live a new life, and freeing him from the bondage of sin.” 
 
Here is what The Canons of Dordt state in Article 3 under The Third and Fourth Heads of Doctrine.  “Therefore all men are conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin, and in bondage thereto, and without the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit, they are neither able nor willing to return to God, to reform the depravity of their nature, nor to dispose themselves to reformation.”
                  
Here is what The Heidelberg Catechism states in Question and Answer 8.  “Question 8.  Are we then so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all wickedness?  Answer.  Indeed we are;  except that we are regenerated by the Spirit of God.”
                                        

Here is what The Westminister Larger Catechism states in “Question 67: What is effectual calling?  Answer: Effectual calling is the work of God’s almighty power and grace, whereby (out of his free and special love to his elect, and from nothing in them moving him thereunto) he does, in his accepted time, invite and draw them to Jesus Christ, by his Word and Spirit;  savingly enlightening their minds, renewing and powerfully determining their wills, so as they (although in themselves dead in sin) are hereby made willing and able freely to answer his call, and to accept and embrace the grace offered and conveyed therein.”

Here is what The Westminister Larger Catechism states in “Question 76: What is repentance unto life?  Answer:  Repentance unto life is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby, out of the sight and sense, not only of the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, and upon the apprehension of God’s mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, he so grieves for and hates his sins, as that he turns from them all to God, purposing and endeavoring constantly to walk with him in all the ways of new obedience.”

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