Repentance And Faith | The Institute for Creation Research

Repentance And Faith
BY  | 
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 01, 2002

“Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14,15).

There are many passages in the New Testament which indicate that repentance is the key to salvation. For example, Paul said that he had preached everywhere that they “should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Acts 26:20). But he also preached that faith in Christ is the way to be saved. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). One could cite many verses stressing repentance and many that stress faith.

There can obviously be no real conflict here, though there is a danger in what has been called “easy believism,” if repentance is ignored. Mental assent to certain facts about Christ is not true saving faith. Nor would it produce salvation for a person merely to be sorry for his sins and change his behavior if he did not really trust from his heart in the person and work of Christ.

It is not “either/or” but “both/and.” One cannot truly repent (that is “change his mind” about Christ and His work, as well as his own life) without genuinely believing personally that Christ died for his sins and rose again to provide his salvation. Neither can one have genuine faith in Christ as Son of God and as his own personal Savior without having his whole life and attitude changed.

It is like two sides of the same coin—repentance on one side, faith on the other. We can only see one side at a time, but both are real and neither one of them can be there without the other. The real “formula” for salvation is “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). As Christ Himself preached (see our text): “Repent ye, and believe the gospel.” HMM

More Creation Science Update
No Microbes on Mars
Mars is a lifeless world. But those holding to a naturalistic worldview continue to have hope—even faith—that the Red Planet was at...
BY: FRANK SHERWIN, D.SC. (HON.)













Lifting the Curtain on Scientific Elitism



	“The curtain has been lifted” is an idiom that aptly portrays when a hidden truth is revealed. On the public side of a curtain called “biological science,” the perception of...


BY: RANDY J. GULIUZZA, P.E., M.D.

















Flood Explains Mysterious Iceland Plant Fossils



	Recently, a colleague alerted me to some unusual fossil discoveries on Iceland that are best explained by ICR’s Flood model.1,2 The fossils of interest are plants, specifically lignite,3...


BY: TIM CLAREY, PH.D.

















Yellowstone National Park, Part 1: A Flood Supervolcano


by Tim Clarey, Ph.D., and Brian Thomas, Ph.D.*


	Yellowstone became the world’s first national park in 1872. Geologist Ferdinand Hayden led an expedition the year before through much of what...


BY:  VARIOUS AUTHORS

















The Five Rules of Flood Paleontology



	Most people assume that both geological and fossil evidence support the story of evolution. Geology textbooks portray the formation of canyons, mountains, oil deposits, and other features as representing...


BY: JEFFREY P. TOMKINS, PH.D.

















Big Bacterium--a Missing Link?



	Bacteria are tiny single-cell organisms that show a huge range of metabolic and genetic variation, and also exist in a wide array of shapes and sizes. Bacteria, which are classed among the life forms...


BY: FRANK SHERWIN, D.SC. (HON.)

















Speculation, Invention, and the Invisible Hand



	Evolution is broadly and almost unequivocally accepted as fact. Creationists who try to present the evidence contradicting it are often met with “How can you go against proven science?”...


BY: MICHAEL J. STAMP

















ICR’s School of Biblical Apologetics



	The Institute for Creation Research’s School of Biblical Apologetics (SOBA) was launched over 12 years ago. ICR’s SOBA programs provide biblical creation-based apologetics for seeking, finding,...


BY: STAFF WRITER

















Altruistic Birds Embarrass Evolutionists



	Why are evolutionists surprised to learn that birds are intelligent, careful, and very caring? Birds communicate among themselves, use tools, and often demonstrate altruism (unselfishly caring for others)—sometimes...


BY: JAMES J. S. JOHNSON, J.D., TH.D.

















Caring for the People in Your Life



	Many people relate stewardship to managing money. When they consider their resources, money comes to mind, along with vehicles, homes, investments, clothes, and so on. But how often do we include people...


BY: CHRIS KINMAN

















Creation Kids: Grand Canyon



	by Christy Hardy and Susan Windsor*

	You’re never too young to be a creation scientist! Kids, discover fun facts about God’s creation with ICR’s special Creation Kids learning and...


BY:  VARIOUS AUTHORS










	Full versions of current and previous Acts & Facts can be viewed online in PDF format using the free Adobe® Acrobat® Reader.



	Click here to download the Adobe Reader to read PDF documents.



	You can subscribe to receive a free subscription to Acts & Facts by clicking here.



    [body_edit] => 

	How can Christians stand up to scientific elitism? What does the plant fossil record in Iceland tell us about the global Flood? Does a new bacterium prove evolution? What is our responsibility to those Jesus has placed in our lives? Discover the answers to these questions and more in the May-June 2022 issue of Acts & Facts! [MACRO aaf_article, 13441] [MACRO aaf_article, 13442] [MACRO aaf_article, 13443] [MACRO aaf_article, 13444] [MACRO aaf_article, 13445] [MACRO aaf_article, 13446] [MACRO aaf_article, 13447] [MACRO aaf_article, 13448] [MACRO aaf_article, 13449] [MACRO aaf_article, 13450]



	Full versions of current and previous Acts & Facts can be viewed online in PDF format using the free Adobe® Acrobat® Reader.



	Click here to download the Adobe Reader to read PDF documents.



	You can subscribe to receive a free subscription to Acts & Facts by clicking here.



    [typeID] => 9
    [visible] => t
    [pdf] => 
    [publishURL] => inside-may-jun-2022-acts-facts/
    [publishDate] => 0000-00-00
    [authorAsterisk] => f
    [domainID] => 1
    [publication] => 
    [volume] => 
    [issue] => 
    [page] => 
    [author] => Staff Writer
    [rand] => 1649093981.1815946
)
-->
Inside May-June 2022 Acts & Facts
How can Christians stand up to scientific elitism? What does the plant fossil record in Iceland tell us about the global Flood? Does a new bacterium...
BY: STAFF WRITER
Webb Telescope Continues to Challenge Big Bang
Data obtained by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) continue to challenge expectations of Big Bang proponents.1,2 The JWST is designed...
BY: JAKE HEBERT, PH.D.
The Latest
NEWS   ACTS & FACTS   PODCASTS
NEWS
February 2026 ICR Wallpaper
"Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD you God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you...
BY: STAFF WRITER

NEWS
Microgravity's Effect on Bacteriophages Is Not Evolution
The word evolution is often used imprecisely, leading the public to believe that any biological change is evolution, and, therefore, it’s a fact.1...
BY: FRANK SHERWIN, D.SC. (HON.)

NEWS
Engineered for Extremes: The Hidden Precision of a Salt Lake...
Water that is nearly five times saltier than the ocean is deadly to most animals. But in Utah’s Great Salt Lake, scientists have found a tiny...
BY: JONATHAN K. CORRADO, PH.D., P. E.

CREATION PODCAST
Giant Sequoias: Too Complex to Be Accidental | The Creation Podcast:...
What living thing grows taller than a 25-story building, survives raging wildfires, and actually depends on those fires to reproduce? Giant sequoias...
BY: STAFF WRITER

NEWS
Bound by Design: How a Universal Temperature Law Reveals Life’s...
What if every living creature—from coral reefs and cold-water fish to mountain flowers and desert reptiles—followed the same hidden temperature...
BY: JONATHAN K. CORRADO, PH.D., P. E.

NEWS
The Flood Explains 18,000 Dinosaur Tracks in Bolivia
A new discovery of 18,000 individual dinosaur tracks in the Bolivian El Molino Formation contains the highest number of theropod dinosaur tracks in...
BY: TIM CLAREY, PH.D.

NEWS
Prolonged 40-Year Growth in T. Rex: Evidence for Pre-Flood Longevity?
An open access 2026 PeerJ research paper claims that T. rex took 40 years to reach its full adult body size, in contrast to a much shorter previous...
BY: JAKE HEBERT, PH.D.

NEWS
Recent Discovery of a Strange Microbe Gives No Clues to Evolution
Research into God’s living creation is dynamic and always surprising. This is true whether one peers into the deepest reaches of space or dives...
BY: FRANK SHERWIN, D.SC. (HON.)

NEWS
Built to Adapt: What Microbial Flexibility Reveals about Biological...
Imagine a machine that keeps working even when its parts change slightly or its surroundings shift. Most human-made machines would fail under that kind...
BY: JONATHAN K. CORRADO, PH.D., P. E.

CREATION PODCAST
Scientists Ignored This DNA Pattern for DECADES! | The Creation...
Almost every living organism has tiny stretches of DNA that repeat over and over again. Scientists call these tandem repeats, and for a long time they...
BY: STAFF WRITER