Evangelical Protestant Soterology

American Evangelicalism, and to an extent Protestantism as a whole, has gotten it into their heads that being Saved is synonymous with not being punished for your sins.

That's why they can't accept the multiple Scriptural witnesses about God's Punishments being for Correction, or YHWH promising Israel He will Save them AFTER He Punishes them.

The reason they can't even entertain any alternative theory of Atonement to Penal Substation is because to them Penal Substitution is what the word Atonement itself means.  But the truth is in Ancient Israel the idea behind making a Sin Offering or Trespass Offering was never that you aren't being punished because the Goat is being punished in your place, the idea was losing this Goat, or the money you had to spend to obtain it, was your punishment.  It was essentially a ritualiezed way of paying a Fine.

Salvation is about not being punished for our sins in a sense, in the sense that the original required punishment for eating the fruit was death, and likewise the Torah throwing around the Death Penalty pretty liberally.  Because of Jesus's Death and Resurrection we are all saved from that maximum sentence.

But that's another thing, even though these Evangelicals will quote verses about "the wages of sin is death", they don't' actually believe that, they think the modern concept of "Hell" is what "death" actually means when Paul says that.

Now you can be forgiven for your Sins, as Ezekiel 18 lays out forgiveness is a result of Repentance.

I was accused recently of "denying repentance" because of my current Soterology.  But the truth is it was before I believed in Universal Salvation, or at least while I was still transitioning into it, that I made posts on this blog agaisnt repentance.  Where I argued you did not need to make a serious attempt to change your ways for God to forgive you.

That's why I find it really offensive when Evangelicals accuse advocates of my Soteorlogy of denying that actions have consequences when they are the ones who think the point of believing in Jesus is a Get Out of Hell Free Card.

I believe that unrepentant sinners will be punished.  But I also see more then one passage in The Bible that implies Believers will be punished more then Unbelievers (like Luke 12 and Ezekiel 16), because we're without excuse, we can't claim we didn't know what the rules were.

Now some particularly Eternal Security believing Evangelicals do have some nuance on this issue.  Kent Hovind I believe once said that Sin is a "legal matter" if your an unbeliever but a "Family Matter" if your a believer.  Because they feel God only considers believers His Children.

But Paul said at the Sermon on Mars Hill in Acts 17 that all Human beings are Offspring of God. 

Meanwhile how can Sin ONLY be a Legal Matter for exactly the people who never consented to this Law Code in the first place?  Certain American Christians keep saying "consent of the governed" is a Christian Principal yet they don't actually think God operates that way.

What is Repentance

I had an earlier post on Repentance and Salvation.  I stand by my points there, but what's more important is what Repentance means.

The Greek word translated Repent means a change of mind.  A Change how how you think.  Mark 1:15 says "repent ye, and believe the gospel".  It's all about Belief.

The people who overemphasis Repentance, who puts memes on Facebook saying "If your Gospel doesn't include Repentance your teaching a False Gospel", think Repent means to Turn from Sin.  It doesn't mean that.  Judas Repented of what he had done, and then went and immediately committed Suicide.

One more thing.  John's Baptism is defined as the Baptism of Repentance.  Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:4, Luke 3:3, Acts 13:24 and19:4.  Some view that as part of argument Johns' Baptism was a different Baptism then what the Apostles Baptized.  I don't have an opinion on that yet, but either way the point here is.  Jesus was Baptized by John?  Why?  He was Without Sin?

The reason is Jesus did everything necessary for Salvation for us.  Including Repentance.

You do not need to Repent to be Saved

There are a number of verses you can cite out of context to make it sound like you need to Repent to be Saved, but it's the same with Baptism, in fact their in the same passages often. But no serious Christian today thinks Baptism is necessary for Salvation, after all Paul makes a point out of how he's only ever Baptized two people in 1 Corinthians. But many Evangelicals won't apply the same logic to the references to Repentance that they do to Baptism, which is arguably referenced more often then Repentance is.

How often Salvation is discussed without mentioning it is a more powerful argument. It doesn't occur in Romans 10 when Paul declares "All who call upon the name of The Lord shall be Saved", and plenty of similar places. (Same verses that refute the idea of Baptism being required)

The Gospel of John does not use the word Repent, or Repentance or any other form of the word even once.  Some argue that everything we need to know to be saved in the Gospel according to John, based on how it ends. To me for any of the four to lack reference to Repentance would be odd if it was necessary for Salvation.

It never occurs in James epistle, or Jude's and only once in Peter's two epistles. And it is a rare occurrence in Paul's Epistles. Only showing up Twice in Romans, a few times in 2nd Corinthians and Hebrews. When something doesn't show up until a 2nd epistle to the same recipient, that usually means it was a lower priority.

Romans is called the definitive statement on Christian doctrine. The first 8 Chapters nail down the fact that Salvation if by faith alone. And the word "Repent" appears only once in Chapter 2, where we haven't gotten to Salvation yet, Paul is still laying out how Sinful the state of mankind is. It never appears in Galatians, the other key Gospel on Faith vs Works.

That's the thing, people claim they believe salvation is by faith alone not works, but still Preach that you need to Repent to be saved. Repentance is a work, most of God's commands are commands not to Sin, even not Sinning is a work.

Other verses
"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." - Acts 16:31
"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." - Romans 4:5
"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." - Romans 3:28
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." - Ephesians 2:8,9

It's also never brought up in the account of how the Ethiopian Eunuch is saved in Acts 8.

Repentance is something we should be doing, after we're saved, as part of our walk with Christ. But it's not necessary for salvation, and we won't lose Salvation by failing to do it, but we still ought to do it.