Repentance & Faith = Turning from sin to God
Where there is true faith there will, inevitably, be repentance. 
Sometimes it’s asked; which comes first? But this shouldn’t be a big question because they’re interdependent – faith and repentance cannot exist without each other.
Repentance has two sides – it’s a turning from sin, and it’s a turning to God. (Acts 3:19)
A person can turn from sin without turning to God. They may see the value of changing their lifestyle and decide not to continue bad habits, or to begin doing more good things, but, spiritually, it will be useless.
On the other hand, they may turn to God and cry out for mercy, but have no real intention of leaving the sin they’re asking forgiveness for. They may shed tears, but their hearts are still as hard as stone.
True repentance, though, involves seeing the sin for what it really is. It’s not simply a character defect, but a permanent attitude of rebellion against God. If a person truly wants repentance there’ll be a great desire to break with the past and to live only to please God. (Acts 26:20) That is repentance.
Faith is an unwavering trust in Jesus Christ as the only saviour who can deal with sin (Acts 20:21; Romans 3:25). It’s not merely an intellectual acceptance of a set of doctrines, but a coming to Christ in repentance, crying for mercy.
Faith hears the truth of the gospel, believes it and then acts upon it. Saving faith progresses from a belief in certain facts to a real trust in what Jesus did on our behalf to save us
Ongoing Repentance
Repentance doesn’t stop when we’re saved. After regeneration we are still sinners and sadly we still break the law of God. The Christian life is a continual battle with sin. Therefore repentance is to be a daily experience for us.
In fact, it’s often the case, that once someone is saved, they’re even more aware of their need for repentance. David’s prayer in Psalm 51 is an example of this.
We are to repent every day for the sin of that day. Sin that is not confessed and repented of will fester in our hearts and destroy our relationship with God.
“True faith is not passive, but active. It requires that… we allow the teaching of Christ to dominate our total lives from the moment we believe. The man of saving faith must be willing to be different from others.
The effort to enjoy the benefits of redemption while enmeshed in the world is futile. We must choose on or the other; and faith quickly makes its choice – one from which there is no retreat.”
– A.W Tozer
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For more on what Christianity teaches, check out the other topics in our ‘Bitesize Theology’ series:
God; Jesus; The Holy Spirit; The Trinity; Sin; Atonement; Grace; Regeneration
Inspired by Peter Jeffery, ’Bitesize Theology’, Evangelical Press, 2000
