What triggered the
question was this passage.
Mark 2:17(NKJV)
When Jesus
heard it, He said to
them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are
sick. I did not come to
call the
righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
So we have Jesus
saying specifically that He called sinners to repentance. On the other hand later in the New Testament
we are told that to be saved we need to believe in our hearts and confess with
our mouths that Jesus is Lord. That
Jesus is the son of God, that Jesus died on the cross and then rose again on
the third day.
Notice what is
missing? Nothing about repentance.
So back to the
initial question. Can there be salvation
without repentance? My initial answer
was no but after thinking it through along with guidance from the Holy Spirit,
I believe the correct answer is yes. Let
me explain.
What changed my mind
is when the Holy Spirit reminded me of the story where Jesus asks a rich guy a
question like what does he think it means to follow Jesus, or something like
that. After the guy answers, Jesus responds
"close enough". That example
tells me that Jesus isn't pedantic about the details. As I have written before, Jesus stresses that
it is a heart issue. As long as the
heart is right, even if you get a detail or two wrong, Jesus is still going to
be accepting.
Interesting how
simply listening to the Holy Spirit can bring clarity so quickly and
easily. Pretty cool!
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