Bible Study Back to Basics

[for_his_glory]

There are times when we receive so much meat from the word of God that we try and feed this meat to those who are barely on milk and all this does is leave those who we are trying to teach become lost and confused as to what we are talking about. Frustration and confusion may cause one to give up and never seek the truth of the word of God because they do not understand and need to be taught simple basics of Salvation.

Salvation means to be whole mind, body and soul as we surrender our will to God and allow his will to work in our lives by applying Gods word to every aspect of our lives. This allows us to know the mind of Christ and all the promises of God for our own well being so we can face anything that tries to come against us while here on this earth so we can triumph and be victorious through the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Grace pardons us and mercy loves us unconditionally.

Jesus was teaching Nicodemus in John 3:1-7 that it was a Spiritual rebirth or renewal of our spirit that through Gods spoken word we can reconcile our past sins through repentance to be made sinless again before God. We are all born with a sin nature because of sin being introduced into the world through Satan’s deceit when he told Eve it was alright to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil even though God forbid them to eat of it.

Our flesh will always sin because that is our nature and God can not see our flesh because of our sins nor can he hear the prayers of a sinner, John 9:31, and this is why we need to renew our Spiritual inner man because sin separates us from God as God is spirit, not flesh and blood, and can only recognize his own children by what spirit is living in their hearts. We have to renew, rebirth - born again, Gods Spirit within us in order to be called a child of God and see the kingdom of heaven. We now put off the old man (flesh) and put on the new man (Spirit). We are renewed by the word of God and through the Holy Spirit teaching us of all things, Romans 8:6, 8.

The basics we need to learn are written in Colossians 3:1-17 and if we follow these guidelines then we will remain in the will of God. The best place to start for learning and understanding Gods Salvation is reading the book of John to learn who Jesus was and is in our own lives and to know anyone can come unto Gods Salvation no matter who you are or what you have done God loves us all unconditionally.

We now have an intercessor (Jesus) who sits at the right hand of the Father and hears our confession that we are sinners and need his salvation as we believe in our heart that he was truly sent from God as the living word that we can indeed become righteous again not of our own righteousness, but that righteousness that is God whom through his Spirit is promised to dwell in us. All we have to do is believe and confess that we are sinners and allow Gods righteousness to cleanse us and renew our spirit man, John 3:5-7. Jesus wants us to come as we are and allow him to make the changes that need made in our hearts. People want to clean the fish before they catch them, but Jesus says come as you are I will clean you from the inside out.

 

[Tenchi]

There are times when we receive so much meat from the word of God that we try and feed this meat to those who are barely on milk and all this does is leave those who we are trying to teach become lost and confused as to what we are talking about.

Yup. This happens, at times. Especially online.

By what means, and when, are spiritual "milk-drinkers," spiritual babies, to go on to spiritual "meat"? I know folk who've been believers for decades who are still "milk drinkers." Ought they to be coddled in their perennial spiritual infancy? The writer of Hebrews certainly didn't think so.

Hebrews 5:11-14
11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,
13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Frustration and confusion may cause one to give up and never seek the truth of the word of God because they do not understand and need to be taught simple basics of Salvation.

Really? If the Holy Spirit truly indwells a person, convicting them, teaching them, strengthening them, and so on, is it a likely thing that they will grow frustrated and confused and give up on growing spiritually? Doesn't God warn that if His children will not grow up, if they remain perennially infantile spiritually, they sin in doing so and will come under His discipline? See Hebrews 12:5-11, 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, 1 Corinthians 14:20. God in His word doesn't seem very tolerant of those who will not mature spiritually.

I wonder, too, about a person who claims to be saved but must be instructed on the Gospel, the "basics of salvation," as you put it. How were they saved when they didn't understand what the Gospel was?

Salvation means to be whole mind, body and soul as we surrender our will to God and allow his will to work in our lives by applying Gods word to every aspect of our lives. This allows us to know the mind of Christ and all the promises of God for our own well being so we can face anything that tries to come against us while here on this earth so we can triumph and be victorious through the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Grace pardons us and mercy loves us unconditionally.

There seems to be an awful lot of us doing for God rather than Him doing for us in your explanation here of salvation: "We surrender our will to God," we "allow His will to work in our lives," we "apply God's word to very aspect of our lives," and thus we achieve a condition wherein we "know the mind of Christ," and are able to "face anything that tries to come against us," and "triumph" and are "victorious."

But God's word tells me that He does in and for me as His child what I can never do for myself.

John 15:4-5
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Romans 7:14-15
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

Romans 7:18
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

Romans 7:22-24
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Romans 8:10-13
10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Philippians 1:6
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 6:10
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Our utterly helpless, needy condition is highlighted in the Gospel, too, right? The story of salvation is the story of God rescuing the weak and wicked from themselves.

Romans 5:6-8
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Ephesians 2:1-5
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Titus 3:3-5
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

In light of all this, I look very askance at the "I do for God" stuff that is so common among Christians today.

Continued below.

 

[Tenchi]

Jesus was teaching Nicodemus in John 3:1-7 that it was a Spiritual rebirth or renewal of our spirit that through Gods spoken word we can reconcile our past sins through repentance to be made sinless again before God.

This doesn't seem particularly "milky" sort of truth you're stating here... In fact, the way you've written things in the quotation above is kind of confusing. Did Jesus say that by the spoken word of God a person is born-again? Did Jesus say to Nicodemus that by this spoken word sinners are able to reconcile their past sins through their repentance and thus be made sinless before God?

John 3:3-8
3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

What I understand from this passage is that Nicodemus could only be born-again - saved - by the work of the Holy Spirit, not by a sinner's repentance, or by the "spoken word of God" by which yo say that sinners reconcile their past sins and thus are made sinless before God. So, I'm confused by your statements in the quotation above from your OP.

Our flesh will always sin because that is our nature and God can not see our flesh because of our sins nor can he hear the prayers of a sinner, John 9:31, and this is why we need to renew our Spiritual inner man because sin separates us from God as God is spirit, not flesh and blood, and can only recognize his own children by what spirit is living in their hearts.

But if what you say here about human beings is true, how can we "renew our spiritual inner man"? Doesn't the Bible state that we can't possibly do so since we are bound under the power of the World, the Flesh and the devil, and are profoundly weak and wicked? (See above.)

We have to renew, rebirth - born again, Gods Spirit within us in order to be called a child of God and see the kingdom of heaven. We now put off the old man (flesh) and put on the new man (Spirit). We are renewed by the word of God and through the Holy Spirit teaching us of all things, Romans 8:6, 8.

Again, it sounds here like you're locating all the doing of salvation, all the work of it, in us rather than God. I'm sure you don't mean to give this impression, however, but it sure seems to be what you're indicating:

"We have to renew, rebirth..."
"We now put off the old man and put on the new man."

We have to be renewed spiritually, yes. But by the life and work of the Holy Spirit, not by means of anything we do. We just receive from God, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, all that we need to be who God wants us to be.

John 1:16
16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
Acts 2:32-33
32 "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.
33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.
Romans 8:15
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Philippians 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Ephesians 3:14-16
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

And so on.

The basics we need to learn are written in Colossians 3:1-17 and if we follow these guidelines then we will remain in the will of God.

Here, also, you're putting the onus for the life and work of God upon the born-again person. But as the many verses above state so plainly, we are utterly weak and in-and-of ourselves can do nothing. We can't save ourselves and we certainly can't change ourselves. We can only work out what God has first worked in. Really, we are just conduits of His life and work, vessels through whom He communicates Himself.

Conduits, not Copyists.

Isaiah 64:8

jonathanhay.substack.com

All we have to do is believe and confess that we are sinners and allow Gods righteousness to cleanse us and renew our spirit man, John 3:5-7. Jesus wants us to come as we are and allow him to make the changes that need made in our hearts. People want to clean the fish before they catch them, but Jesus says come as you are I will clean you from the inside out.

Amen! This could have - and should have, I think - been the primary message of your OP.

I would make this one last observation: If I've got a cancerous brain tumor, I may believe my doctor who tells me so, and trust the statement of the oncologist who informs me I need brain surgery, and I may lay upon the operating table having full faith in the surgeon to safely and completely remove my tumor, but if the surgeon doesn't do his saving work, will all I've done remove the tumor from my brain? Does my belief in the message of my sickness, and my trust in the remedy for it, and my faith in the surgeon save me? No. Not at all. These things only put me in the right place to be saved by the surgeon; my faith doesn't, itself, have any saving power.

So, too, with regards to God's salvation of me. My belief in the truth of the Gospel and my faith in Jesus to save me does nothing to actually save me. These things merely put me in the place to be saved by the Savior. He alone rescues me from my sin and myself, reconciling me to God.

Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship...
Titus 3:5
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Acts 4:11-12
11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

 

[for_his_glory]

By what means, and when, are spiritual "milk-drinkers," spiritual babies, to go on to spiritual "meat"? I know folk who've been believers for decades who are still "milk drinkers." Ought they to be coddled in their perennial spiritual infancy? The writer of Hebrews certainly didn't think so.

It's a gradual thing depending on their Spiritual growth. It's like a baby still on milk until it is ready for solid food in its development. No one needs to be coddled, but to be continually fed maturing in the Holy Spirit.

 

[for_his_glory]

Really? If the Holy Spirit truly indwells a person, convicting them, teaching them, strengthening them, and so on, is it a likely thing that they will grow frustrated and confused and give up on growing spiritually? Doesn't God warn that if His children will not grow up, if they remain perennially infantile spiritually, they sin in doing so and will come under His discipline? See Hebrews 12:5-11, 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, 1 Corinthians 14:20. God in His word doesn't seem very tolerant of those who will not mature spiritually.

I wonder, too, about a person who claims to be saved but must be instructed on the Gospel, the "basics of salvation," as you put it. How were they saved when they didn't understand what the Gospel was?

When you first became Spiritually born again did you have all the knowledge that you have now, or did you grow into that knowledge by the word of God teaching you?

There seems to be an awful lot of us doing for God rather than Him doing for us in your explanation here of salvation: "We surrender our will to God," we "allow His will to work in our lives," we "apply God's word to very aspect of our lives," and thus we achieve a condition wherein we "know the mind of Christ," and are able to "face anything that tries to come against us," and "triumph" and are "victorious."

But God's word tells me that He does in and for me as His child what I can never do for myself.

Have you ever heard the word "surrender". Is it not up to us to learn what is meant by surrendering all of our self to God and learn to walk in obedience to His commands? I don't know about you, but I have been Spiritually born again for 50 years, but had to learn the basics first as no one can just jump in with full understanding.

 

[for_his_glory]

All I can say is that maybe you have no idea or forgot what teaching the basic of salvation is as even you are making it confusing for those who are reading this. This is why I speak a simple word giving the scriptures to those who are still on milk. You just don't throw out there John 3:5-7 or even John 3:16 without at least trying to explain these verses for as simply as they are written. Forcing meat down someones throat that is not ready will only make them choke.

Jesus had to explain the Spiritual rebirth to Nicodemus who should have know this already being a Master of Israel, but yet Jesus had to explain the Spiritual rebirth to him, John 3:1-15. A child of God may be His own, but yet lack understanding until someone teaches them like all of us at first.

 

[Tenchi]

When you first became Spiritually born again did you have all the knowledge that you have now, or did you grow into that knowledge by the word of God teaching you?

My point wasn't about gaining general knowledge concerning the Christian faith but about the Gospel, in particular. If one doesn't understand the Gospel, how does one properly respond to it?

Have you ever heard the word "surrender".

LOL! Yes.

Is it not up to us to learn what is meant by surrendering all of our self to God and learn to walk in obedience to His commands?

Not at all. Were it not for God initiating the process of our salvation, convicting us (John 16:8), drawing us (John 6:44), illuminating our understanding and enabling us to repent of our rebellion and sin (2 Timothy 2:25), which the Bible states that He must do in order for us to be saved, none of us would ever be saved.

In the same way, we remain entirely dependent upon God for everything we experience as His children, just as Paul wrote to the Philippian believers: "It is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13) Put another way, God's children can only work out what He has first worked into them (by His Spirit). From beginning to end, the Christian life is God's doing, not ours. As Scripture says, we are just the happy recipients of God's mercy, grace, love and life, unable to boast of anything except what He has done for us.

When the utter dependency of every person upon God is not understood, the result is that Christians set about trying to be godly in a self-directed way, marshalling the power of their flesh - willpower, intellect and physical strength - in an effort to produce by themselves and from themselves what only God can produce. This can only ever lead to spiritual failure, frustration and eventual hypocrisy. Read the article at the link I sent you.

I don't know about you, but I have been Spiritually born again for 50 years, but had to learn the basics first as no one can just jump in with full understanding.

I've been saved for five decades also. Like you, I've grown in my knowledge and experience of God and am still doing so. This is normal Christian living. A believer who has remained an infant spiritually after fifty years of being a Christian, however, is tragically so and profoundly fouled in their walk with God, and a great danger, in fact, to other believers (especially new ones).

All I can say is that maybe you have no idea or forgot what teaching the basic of salvation is as even you are making it confusing for those who are reading this.

Not at all. I teach what I've pointed out to you in this thread all the time to fellow believers in sermons, articles, and through one-on-one discipleship. With them, I take a very graduated, step-by-step, systematic approach to doing so and even still the "meaty" stuff of the faith is not easy to grasp, let alone live in. But you aren't a new believer and so I don't speak to you of the deeper things of the faith as though you are.

This is why I speak a simple word giving the scriptures to those who are still on milk.

I'm afraid you've done this in what seems to me to be a confusing and an unwittingly misleading way, as I pointed out. I'm glad to know that you care about the teaching of the spiritually immature, but when you set out to teach them, you adopt a very serious, very heavy responsibility to do so with as great accuracy and clarity as possible.

You just don't throw out there John 3:5-7 or even John 3:16 without at least trying to explain these verses for as simply as they are written. Forcing meat down someones throat that is not ready will only make them choke.

Yes, right. But the only way "milk drinkers" become "meat eaters" is to give to them meat, at some point. Also, though, they must be living in the basic truths of the faith, not merely knowing of them. If they don't, they become the proverbial "puddle" of Christian knowledge that is a mile-wide but an inch deep, inoculated against the transforming power of God's Truth.

 

[for_his_glory]

Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Rom 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

There are five basic requirements to Salvation

1. Confession - Acts 2:21; Romans 10:9, 10
2. Repentance - Mark 1:14, 15
3. Faith - John 3:14-18
4. Regeneration - John 3:3-8
5. Holy Scripture - 2 Timothy 3:15

 

[Tenchi]

Repentance precedes confession, of course, and entails the Truth of Scripture and belief in it. Confession is simply the declaration of one's repentance, or of one's change of mind about oneself and the Gospel of Christ. It's important to get these things in their logical, biblical order.

 

[for_his_glory]

Repentance precedes confession, of course, and entails the Truth of Scripture and belief in it. Confession is simply the declaration of one's repentance, or of one's change of mind about oneself and the Gospel of Christ. It's important to get these things in their logical, biblical order.

Where is this chronological order found in scripture as in step 1, 2, 3, etc. etc.

After hearing the word preached to us we first need to confess we are sinners needing forgiveness as we then repent of our sins. Then by the grace of God we come to faith that is Christ Jesus in whom forgives our sin and are made clean before Him as we are then regenerated through the Holy Spirit given a new life in Christ as we begin to study His word.

 

[Tenchi]

Where is this chronological order found in scripture as in step 1, 2, 3, etc. etc.

Not a chronological order but a logical and biblical order. This order is inferred from a proper understanding of what repentance and confession are.

After hearing the word preached to us we first need to confess we are sinners needing forgiveness as we then repent of our sins. Then by the grace of God we come to faith that is Christ Jesus in whom forgives our sin and are made clean before Him as we are then regenerated through the Holy Spirit given a new life in Christ as we begin to study His word.

"Repentance" simply means "a change of mind." Not from sin necessarily; for God, in the Old Testament, "repents" more than anyone.

"Confess" means to "agree with" and "admit to," which would only happen as a reflection of what one has accepted in one's thinking, in one's mind. I can't confess something about which I'm ignorant, or about which I'm not in agreement, right? More particularly, I can't confess my condition as a sinner, and my belief that Christ is my Savior until I've changed my mind - repented of - my beliefs held prior to encountering the Gospel. I have to forsake these old, godless beliefs for new ones presented to me in the Good News of salvation. Doing so is the essence of repentance, which is then expressed in confession of my new beliefs, my new mind about the Gospel.

And so it is that 1 John 1:9 commands us to confess our sins - admit to them being what God says they are - in order to be forgiven of them. But we will not make such a confession sincerely without first having changed our mind about - repented of - our sin.

In response to our change of mind about the Gospel, expressed in our confession, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the new convert, and in so doing makes them a "new creature in Christ." See Romans 10:9-10. 2 Timothy 1:12b.

 

[for_his_glory]

Not a chronological order but a logical and biblical order. This order is inferred from a proper understanding of what repentance and confession are.



"Repentance" simply means "a change of mind." Not from sin necessarily; for God, in the Old Testament, "repents" more than anyone.

"Confess" means to "agree with" and "admit to," which would only happen as a reflection of what one has accepted in one's thinking, in one's mind. I can't confess something about which I'm ignorant, or about which I'm not in agreement, right? More particularly, I can't confess my condition as a sinner, and my belief that Christ is my Savior until I've changed my mind - repented of - my beliefs held prior to encountering the Gospel. I have to forsake these old, godless beliefs for new ones presented to me in the Good News of salvation. Doing so is the essence of repentance, which is then expressed in confession of my new beliefs, my new mind about the Gospel.

And so it is that 1 John 1:9 commands us to confess our sins - admit to them being what God says they are - in order to be forgiven of them. But we will not make such a confession sincerely without first having changed our mind about - repented of - our sin.

In response to our change of mind about the Gospel, expressed in our confession, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the new convert, and in so doing makes them a "new creature in Christ." See Romans 10:9-10. 2 Timothy 1:12b.

Let me ask you a question. How did you first come to Christ and confess you needed a Savior?

 

[Tenchi]

Let me ask you a question. How did you first come to Christ and confess you needed a Savior?

In the very way I described in my last post. It's the way Paul, too, described how he came to faith in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 1:12b).

I had to know what the Gospel was. (Hear - Romans 10:14)

I had to believe the Gospel was true. (Repent - Acts 3:19, James 4:7-10.)

I had to act in expression of what I believed about the Gospel. (Confess - Romans 10:9-10, 1 John 1:9.)

In response, God saved me.

 

[for_his_glory]

This is how I came to Christ after a friend of mine invited me to come to his church back in the early 70's. After hearing the word preached then I confessed I needed a Savior as I repented of my sins coming into the faith of Christ Jesus and was at that time became Spiritually born again from above and started reading the scriptures.

It's basic instruction in the beginning as we begin our growth in the Lord. K.I.S.S.

 

[Tenchi]

This is how I came to Christ after a friend of mine invited me to come to his church back in the early 70's. After hearing the word preached then I confessed I needed a Savior as I repented of my sins coming into the faith of Christ Jesus and was at that time became Spiritually born again from above and started reading the scriptures.

It's basic instruction in the beginning as we begin our growth in the Lord. K.I.S.S.

Well, I think Christians are, concerning evangelism, way too eager to "K.I.S.S.," truncating the Gospel so much that they actually present a false Gospel to the lost.

Also, you seem to have repentance and confession confused. As I pointed out, repentance is what you did in order to confess your sin (1 John 1:9) and that Christ was your Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9-10). Repentance always comes before confession, giving rise to it. Christians, though, often mistake confession of sin for repentance from sin and end up doing neither thing.

It is entirely possible for a person to confess their sin without any real repentance having happened concerning it. I've met many believers (myself among them at one time) who shed tears and moaned about their sinfulness but who did so over and over again because they never actually truly repented of - changed their mind/heart about - their sin. They felt guilty and ashamed about their wickedness and so made confession of it, but their mind and heart were still set upon their sin, still caught in the self-deception of their sin, and so they soon returned to their sin, confession of it having to be made again (and again, and again, and again).

Only when genuine repentance occurs before confession does the confession have any real spiritual value. God is, after all, not deceived by emotional histrionics - guilty tears and ashamed moaning about sin - but is looking upon a person's heart and dealing with them according to what is there. If He doesn't see genuine repentance at the heart-level, He pays no attention to the confession, however emotional it may be.

And so, when the Gospel is shared with lost folks and they feel guilty about their sin, admitting to it and even shedding a few tears about it, the evangelist can think the lost person has actually repented of their sin and that they've been saved. But without repentance - a genuine forsaking of lies for God's Truth, a true change of mind about sin and the need for salvation - no amount of tearful confession of sin can result in spiritual regeneration. Again, as God has said, He looks not on the outward appearance but upon the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

 

[for_his_glory]

I confess I am a sinner that needs to repent of my sin. Are we not to first confess we sinned and then repent of it. Why make it so hard for the beginner.

Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Confession - an honest acknowledgement that your thoughts or actions are not in line with what God considers right or good. It's a way to take accountability for your sins and seek forgiveness

Repentance - the process of turning away from sin toward holiness. It involves accepting the truth about your actions understanding how they've hurt others and making changes to avoid sinning again.

Confession is the beginning of the process of repentance, but it doesn't change behavior on its own. Repentance requires a commitment to change and a willingness to surrender to God's truth.

 

[Hopeful 2]

There are times when we receive so much meat from the word of God that we try and feed this meat to those who are barely on milk and all this does is leave those who we are trying to teach become lost and confused as to what we are talking about. Frustration and confusion may cause one to give up and never seek the truth of the word of God because they do not understand and need to be taught simple basics of Salvation.

Salvation means to be whole mind, body and soul as we surrender our will to God and allow his will to work in our lives by applying Gods word to every aspect of our lives. This allows us to know the mind of Christ and all the promises of God for our own well being so we can face anything that tries to come against us while here on this earth so we can triumph and be victorious through the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Grace pardons us and mercy loves us unconditionally.

Jesus was teaching Nicodemus in John 3:1-7 that it was a Spiritual rebirth or renewal of our spirit that through Gods spoken word we can reconcile our past sins through repentance to be made sinless again before God. We are all born with a sin nature because of sin being introduced into the world through Satan’s deceit when he told Eve it was alright to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil even though God forbid them to eat of it.

Our flesh will always sin because that is our nature and God can not see our flesh because of our sins nor can he hear the prayers of a sinner, John 9:31, and this is why we need to renew our Spiritual inner man because sin separates us from God as God is spirit, not flesh and blood, and can only recognize his own children by what spirit is living in their hearts. We have to renew, rebirth - born again, Gods Spirit within us in order to be called a child of God and see the kingdom of heaven. We now put off the old man (flesh) and put on the new man (Spirit). We are renewed by the word of God and through the Holy Spirit teaching us of all things, Romans 8:6, 8.

The basics we need to learn are written in Colossians 3:1-17 and if we follow these guidelines then we will remain in the will of God. The best place to start for learning and understanding Gods Salvation is reading the book of John to learn who Jesus was and is in our own lives and to know anyone can come unto Gods Salvation no matter who you are or what you have done God loves us all unconditionally.

We now have an intercessor (Jesus) who sits at the right hand of the Father and hears our confession that we are sinners and need his salvation as we believe in our heart that he was truly sent from God as the living word that we can indeed become righteous again not of our own righteousness, but that righteousness that is God whom through his Spirit is promised to dwell in us. All we have to do is believe and confess that we are sinners and allow Gods righteousness to cleanse us and renew our spirit man, John 3:5-7. Jesus wants us to come as we are and allow him to make the changes that need made in our hearts. People want to clean the fish before they catch them, but Jesus says come as you are I will clean you from the inside out.

Your post implies that your skin and bones has the power to make you commit sin.
I find that untrue.
Man's flesh cannot do anything man's mind doesn't instigate. (Apart from autonomous things...heart beat, yawning, blinking, etc.)

 

[Tenchi]

I confess I am a sinner that needs to repent of my sin. Are we not to first confess we sinned and then repent of it. Why make it so hard for the beginner.

To "repent" is to "change one's mind" about something. That's it. If I'm to confess that I'm a sinner in need of a Savior, I have to first know and then believe that I am. But if I'm a lost person, having had no idea that I'm a sinner and being entirely ignorant of Christ, I'm going to have to change my mind about myself, reality and Jesus in order to confess that I am a sinner and Jesus is my Savior (and Lord). This isn't "making it hard" for the "beginner"; it is making it sensible and clear.

Confession - an honest acknowledgement that your thoughts or actions are not in line with what God considers right or good. It's a way to take accountability for your sins and seek forgiveness

Repentance - the process of turning away from sin toward holiness. It involves accepting the truth about your actions understanding how they've hurt others and making changes to avoid sinning again.

Confession is the beginning of the process of repentance, but it doesn't change behavior on its own. Repentance requires a commitment to change and a willingness to surrender to God's truth.

Literally, in the Greek, "confess" is homologeo, the root words (homou - the same + logos - word/say, or saying) forming homologeo meaning "give assent" (homou) and/or "acknowledgement." As I've explained now a few times, such assent, such agreement, can only be the result of repentance, not a precursor to repentance.

As I already also pointed out, God is said to "repent" many times in the OT. He could never have repented of sin, however. And so, we understand that repentance is not, in essence, a turning from sin but a change of mind that, in the case of a lost person hearing the Gospel, leads to a turning from sin.

You're lumping into repentance its effects, the things that result from repentance: turning from sin, avoiding sin, a commitment to change, etc. These effects can seem to be occurring, though, without a proper, sincere change of mind - repentance - having occurred. So many are the new believers told to "clean up their act," to stop doing this and that and begin doing other things, to live like a Christian, who do so without ever having sorted out why they sin and by what means God has provided a "way of escape" from their former godless living.

And so, they embark on a frustrating, sin-fraught, God-displeasing process of self-remediation, marshalling their willpower, intellect and physical power to the business of being a Christian, never understanding how to "walk in the Spirit" and what their new identity is in Jesus Christ. As a result, there is a great deal of confession that must go on, the same sins plaguing a believer for decades because their thinking has not been properly ordered by God's Truth, the lies of fleshly "spirituality" understood and forsaken for true "life in the Spirit.

 

[Hopeful 2]

To "repent" is to "change one's mind" about something. That's it. If I'm to confess that I'm a sinner in need of a Savior, I have to first know and then believe that I am. But if I'm a lost person, having had no idea that I'm a sinner and being entirely ignorant of Christ, I'm going to have to change my mind about myself, reality and Jesus in order to confess that I am a sinner and Jesus is my Savior (and Lord). This isn't "making it hard" for the "beginner"; it is making it sensible and clear.

You avoided the most important part of repentance...in the case of new believers...from sin.
Men can't acknowledge they are sinners without an intent to "turn" from that sin.
Repentance is 'from sin'.

 

[for_his_glory]

Your post implies that your skin and bones has the power to make you commit sin.
I find that untrue.
Man's flesh cannot do anything man's mind doesn't instigate. (Apart from autonomous things...heart beat, yawning, blinking, etc.)

Not doing this with you and you know why. I'm trying to show how we need to get back to the basics of God's salvation to those who are seeking Christ, but yet have not made that commitment yet. like I posted in post # 8 which explains five requirements of salvation. It has nothing to do with skin and bones, nor did I even imply that in this thread.