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Featured Can man repent on His own, Without the Aid Of The Holy Spirit?

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by DaChaser1, Feb 13, 2012.

  1. DaChaser1

    DaChaser1 New Member

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    God has called all to repent and believe in his Son in order to receive eternal life, so can man do that apart from the work of the HS to provide that?
     
  2. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
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    What do you think?
     
  3. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

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    Sigh..............
     
  4. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
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    Im not asking this question to be snide, rather to get the brother to reveal his own beliefs so that he can try to perfect them. Make a stand brother & then I will be able to elaborate.
     
  5. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

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    JF knows enough bible to know the answer to that question. He has an agenda for asking it. And I wasn't being snide. I was being weary.
     
  6. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
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    1st let me clarify....I wasnt saying you were snide....I was asking you to perhaps not view my own question back to brother JF as snide.

    Also, though that question, from my prospective anyway, I would like to see JF really qualify it down to a fine point for an intellectual discussion. I wont go further with this publicly as not to insult him. none the less, I'd personally like to see JF embellish on it further than he has.
     
  7. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

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    Ok. I'm sorry. I misunderstood you. :wavey:
     
  8. webdog

    webdog Active Member
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    What does Acts 17:26-27 say? Is that a work of the Spirit?
     
  9. preacher4truth

    preacher4truth Active Member

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    One on here teaches that it is within mans ability. I think there are probably several more who believe the same.

    I believe it is a gift of God and due to His leading, that He leads us to repentance, and grants us repentance.
     
  10. Skandelon

    Skandelon <b>Moderator</b>

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    I'll answer your question if you answer mine.

    Is the Gospel a gracious, powerful work of the Holy Spirit? Yes or No and why?
     
  11. webdog

    webdog Active Member
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    Tell us who believes man can repent on HIS OWN ability. Without names it is nothing more than verbal flatulence.
     
  12. padredurand

    padredurand Well-Known Member
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    Of my own accord I can be: sorry, remorseful, contrite, apologetic, regretful, sad, miserable, down, woeful, glum or dejected but I cannot be repentant.

    For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
    2 Corinthians 7:10 NAS77
     
  13. preacher4truth

    preacher4truth Active Member

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    :thumbsup:
     
  14. quantumfaith

    quantumfaith Active Member

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    New International Version (©1984)
    Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

    New Living Translation (©2007)
    For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

    English Standard Version (©2001)
    For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

    New American Standard Bible (©1995)
    For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

    Barnes' Notes on the Bible
    For godly sorrow - "Sorrow according to God" (Ἡ γὰρ κατὰ Θεὸν λύπη Hē gar kata Theon lupē). That is, such sorrow as has respect to God, or is according to his will, or as leads the soul to him. This is a very important expression in regard to true repentance, and shows the exact nature of that sorrow which is connected with a return to God. The phrase may be regarded as implying the following things:

    (1) Such sorrow as God approves, or such as is suitable to. or conformable to his will and desires. It cannot mean that it is such sorrow or grief as God has, for he has none; but such as shall be in accordance with what God demands in a return to him. It is a sorrow which his truth is suited to produce on the heart; such a sorrow as shall appropriately arise from viewing sin as God views it; such sorrow as exists in the mind when our views accord with his in regard to the existence, the extent, the nature, and the ill-desert of sin. Such views will lead to sorrow that it has ever been committed; and such views will be "according to God."

    (2) such sorrow as shall be exercised toward God in view of sin; which shall arise from a view of the evil of sin as committed against a holy God. It is not mainly that it will lead to pain; that it will overwhelm the soul in disgrace; that it will forfeit the favor or lead to the contempt of man; or that it will lead to an eternal hell; but it is such as arises from a view of the evil of sin as committed against a holy and just God, deriving its main evil from the fact that it is an offence against his infinite Majesty. Such sorrow David had Psalm 2:4, when he said, "against thee, thee only have I sinned;" when the offence regarded as committed against, man, enormous as it was, was lost and absorbed in its greater evil when regarded as committed against God. So all true and genuine repentance is that which regards sin as deriving its main evil from the fact that it is committed against God.

    (3) that which leads to God. It leads to God to obtain forgiveness; to seek for consolation. A heart truly contrite and penitent seeks God, and implores pardon from him. Other sorrow in view of sin than that which is genuine repentance, leads the person away from God. He seeks consolation in the world; he endeavors to drive away his serious impressions or to drown them in the pleasures and the cares of life. But genuine sorrow for sin leads the soul to God, and conducts the sinner, through the Redeemer, to him to obtain the pardon and peace which he only can give to a wounded spirit. In God alone can pardon and true peace be found; and godly sorrow for sin will seek them there.

    Worketh repentance - Produces a change that shall be permanent; a reformation. It is not mere regret; it does not soon pass away in its effects, but it produces permanent and abiding changes. A man who mourns over sin as committed against God, and who seek to God for pardon, will reform his life and truly repent. He who has grief for sin only because it will lead to disgrace or shame, or because it will lead to poverty or pain, will not necessarily break off from it and reform. It is only when it is seen that sin is committed against God and is evil in his sight, that it leads to a change of life.

    Not to be repented of - (ἀμεταμέλητον ametamelēton); see the note on 2 Corinthians 7:8. Not to be regretted. It is permanent and abiding. There is no occasion to mourn over such repentance and change of life. It is that which the mind approves, and which it will always approve. There will be no reason for regretting it, and it will never be regretted. And it is so. Who ever yet repented of having truly repented of sin? Who is there, who has there ever been, who became a true penitent, and a true Christian, who ever regretted it? Not an individual has ever been known who regretted his having become a Christian. Not one who regretted that he had become one too soon in life, or that he had served the Lord Jesus too faithfully or too long.

    But the sorrow of the world - All sorrow which is not toward God, and which does not arise from just views of sin as committed against God, or lead to God. Probably Paul refers here to the sorrow which arises from worldly causes and which does not lead to God for consolation. Such may be the sorrow which arises from the loss of friends or property; from disappointment, or from shame and disgrace, Perhaps it may include the following things:

    (1) Sorrow arising from losses of property and friends, and from disappointment.

    (2) sorrow for sin or vice when it overwhelms the mind with the consciousness of guilt, and when it does not lead to God, and when there is no contrition of soul from viewing it as an offence against God. Thus, a female who has wandered from the paths of virtue, and involved her family and herself in disgrace; or a man who has been guilty of forgery, or perjury, or any other disgraceful crime, and who is detected; a man who has violated the laws of the land, and who has involved himself and family in disgrace, will often feel regret, and sorrow, and also remorse, but it arises wholly from worldly considerations, and does not lead to God.

    (3) when the sorrow arises from a view of worldly consequences merely, and when there is no looking to God for pardon and consolation. Thus, people, when they lose their property or friends, often pine in grief without looking to God. Thus, when they have wandered from the path of virtue and have fallen into sin, they often look merely to the disgrace among people, and see their names blasted, and their comforts gone, and pine away in grief. There is no looking to God for pardon or for consolation. The sorrow arises from this world, and it terminates there. It is the loss of what they valued pertaining to this world, and it is all which they had, and it produces death. It is sorrow such as the people of this world have, begins with this world, and terminates with this world.

    Worketh death - Tends to death, spiritual, temporal, and eternal. It does not tend to life.

    (1) it produces distress only. It is attended with no consolation.

    (2) it tends to break the spirit, to destroy the peace, and to mar the happiness.

    (3) it often leads to death itself. The spirit is broken, and the heart pines away under the influence of the unalleviated sorrow; or under its influence people often lay violent hands on themselves and take their lives. Life is often closed under the influence of such sorrow.
     
  15. quantumfaith

    quantumfaith Active Member

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    Acts 17:30-31

    30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness [v]through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men [w]by raising Him from the dead.”

    God has commanded all men to repent, now I take it as it says "all mankind everywhere", thus either

    1. mankind has the innate ability to repent
    2. or God enables each and every man to repent.
     
  16. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
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    or,
    1.God has commanded all men everywhere to repent...but they have no desire to being dead in Adam,and rebels against God

    2. God while not being obligated to, but solely of His own grace and mercy ,enables a multitude of sinners to repent[but not everyman ever born] according to His eternal design.
    3' These sinners being given a new heart are made willing to repent and believe savingly are drawn savingly to Jesus,not one is lost.
    4. The others left to themselves...never desire to repent and suffer the just consequence of their sins
     
  17. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
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    I know...I know
    Anyone who claims that Adam did not die spiritually thinks man has full ability they think they can do it on their own:thumbs:
     
  18. quantumfaith

    quantumfaith Active Member

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    While I agree that your additions are "possibilities", I simply do not share them. But thank you for sharing your thoughts.
     
  19. webdog

    webdog Active Member
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    Based on this non sequitur...you don't know much.
     
  20. Skandelon

    Skandelon <b>Moderator</b>

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    If non-Calvinists really believe that men could repent on their own, as we are so often accused of believing, then why aren't we also accused of being anti-evangelistic? After all, apparently we believe they can repent and believe in Christ all by themselves so what is the use in spreading the gospel? :rolleyes:

    By the way, I'm still waiting on an answer to my question: Is the gospel considered a gracious work of the Holy Spirit? Yes or No?
     
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