Repentance and Faith by A. S. Hutchins

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 19, 1872

Repentance and Faith.

By A. S. Hutchins

“TESTIFYING both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:21.

Faith in the existence of God and in his ability and willingness to save all who sincerely comply with the terms of salvation, lies at the foundation of the Christian religion. Heb. 11:6.

Yet conversion to God and faith requisite to salvation are, and must be, preceded by heart-felt repentance; otherwise, we could be saved without repentance—saved in disobedience and transgression—which is contrary to the teachings of the whole volume of inspiration.

Repentance is said to be legal, or evangelical. The former is simply sorrow for sin, or trouble, for the past, without a change of life. Thus Judas repented. Matt. 27:3–5. The latter, from another Greek word, is a change of action, an amendment of life. It is a conviction of sin, a deep and genuine contrition for it, as an offense and dishonor to God and a violation of his holy law. It is a hatred of sin and a renunciation of it.

Says John, “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance,” or, margin, “answerable to amendment of life.” Matt. 3:8. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” 2 Cor. 7:10.

Sin has attained a very great age. For some six thousand years it has exercised a mighty, withering, and destructive power over its votaries. And the best must constantly watch against its inroads into their heart, through the influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil. All, all have been affected with the virus of sin. Since its introduction into the garden of Eden, its dark tide has increased in power and extent, wasting, leveling, and subverting nations and kingdoms, depopulating cities, and ruining souls by millions in every generation, the poor and the ignoble, as well as the

proud and mighty monarch. Truly, “Sin is a reproach to any people.” “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper.” But thanks be to infinite love and pity inexpressible, for the precious promise, “Whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy.”

Says Daniel (9:5): “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments.” Says John, “All unrighteousness is sin.” “Sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John 5:17; 3:4. Paul writes, “Where no law is, there is no transgression.” Rom. 4:15. And again, “Sin is not imputed when there is no law.” Rom. 5:13.

This law must necessarily set forth principles of righteousness, requiring a life of obedience and holiness. It must be the rule of obedience, that law by which man will be judged at the last day, when mercy and the gospel shall have done their work, and justice shall assume its rights.

Now, unless we think God altogether such an one as ourselves, changeable and inconsistent, how can it be believed, for a moment, that the great rule of moral duty, of rectitude and righteousness, has been changed since the creation of man? Or that the law which shall condemn or acquit every man in the Judgment could be one thing in one dispensation, and another under the other?

The law of ten commandments requires love and obedience to God, and love and rectitude between man and man. It forbids idolatry, profanity, and Sabbath-breaking. It recognizes the true God, requires filial obedience, guards the life, character, property, reputation, and all the rights of man.

Of these commandments it is said, by one in every way qualified to bear a truthful testimony, “And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.” Deut. 6:25. Here we ask, Will obedience to the commandments of God develop the same righteous character as in the days of Moses? And if not, why not?

Some tell us the law has been changed, others, that it has been abolished, and that nine-tenths of it was re-enacted. On this point, there is discord and confusion. There is no possibility for an agreement with those who claim a change, or abolition, of the moral law, from lack of Bible testimony to sustain either position. While the teachings of Christ, Matt. 5:17–19; 19:16–19; of Paul, Rom. 2:12–24; of James, 2:8–12; and of 1 John, 3:4: are clear, consistent, and harmonious, in favor of the perpetuity of the law under this dispensation.

And we maintain, if the law is not binding under this dispensation, that men under this dispensation are not sinners; for “where no law is there is no transgression,” and “sin is not imputed when there is no law;” that Christ did not die for us; for he died only for sinners: that he does not call us to repentance; for he came not to call the righteous, “but sinners to repentance.” Matt. 9:13: and, finally, we cannot repent, as we have no sins to repent of; whereas repentance is taught as equally necessary with conversion, this side of the cross. Acts 3:12. And of the Gentiles, to whom Peter first carried the gospel, it is affirmed, “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” Chap. 11:18. Paul taught repentance to both Jews and Greeks, and declared to the men of Athens, that God “now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” Acts 17:30.

From an examination of the foregoing scriptures, and the arguments deduced therefrom, it is evident that for either Jew or Gentile to enjoy the benefits of saving faith in Christ, he must repent of his sins. He must turn away from them and lead a life in harmony with the divine law. And there is not one word said in the entire New Testament, intimating a change or amendment of this law by abrogation, and re-enactment. Nay, more, the apostle, declares that through faith this law is not made void, but “established” Rom. 3:31.

The gospel of the Son of God, finds all in a state of condemnation, justly under the sentence of death, every mouth is stopped, and all the world stand guilty before God. With a just sense of the enormity of sin, the evil tendencies of the human heart, and the justice of the sentence of death under which we lie, the penitent exclaims, “Oh! wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

Faith points to Calvary, to the cross, where with wonder and admiration we behold the bleeding sacrifice, the Saviour of the world. It lays hold of the promise, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life.” With strong and unwavering confidence it claims the blessed promise, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

With the most implicit trust in the promises of God, and the efficacy of the blood of the adorable Lamb of God, unreservedly we surrender our will to him, enter into his delightful service, and through Jesus look for the destruction of the power, pardon from the guilt, and purification from the pollution, of sin.

Faith is the “ground, or confidence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It has caused the countenances of the people of God to radiate with joy and gladness, under the galling yoke of oppression and servitude in a land of strangers, and in the fiery furnace, the lion’s den, within the loathsome prison, the deep dungeon, at the rack and the gibbet. The language of faith is, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”

Faith credits the evidences which so unmistakably attest the near coming of the King of kings, the Lord of lords. It bids us look forward a brief period, to the resurrection of the sleeping saints, the change of the righteous living, and an entrance of all the redeemed into the city of God. Already the believing soul, by anticipation, stands amidst the “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands” of holy angels, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” Rev. 5:11, 12.

Faith gives credence to the promised destruction of the devil, the originator of sin, with all his angels, and all of the incorrigibly impenitent. It looks forward to “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,” when from the hearts and lips of all, in anthems of joy profuse and undying, will burst forth the song, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Uninterrupted felicity, and life eternal are here enjoyed as the result of repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

A. S. HUTCHINS.