The Truth About Repentance
Bob Wilkin
Executive Director, Grace Evangelical Society
I. My Change of Mind Concerning Repentance (15 Years Later)
I wrote my doctoral dissertation at Dallas Theological Seminary (1985) on the
topic, Repentance as a Condition of Salvation in the New Testament. A few years later
at the 1989 ETS annual meeting in San Diego, California, I presented a parallel session
on repentance in which I expounded the view of my dissertation.
I have since repented of my view of repentance. Whereas I once believed that
repentance was a condition of eternal life, I do so no longer.
So, fifteen years after my last ETS paper on repentance, I`m here to correct what I
erroneously taught.
II. Various Views of Repentance and Eternal Life
Turn from sins and believe in Jesus. I came to faith in Christ for eternal life while
in college through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. Prior to that I had been
influenced by a sinless-perfection holiness group we`ll called SPL.
According to SPL a person had to turn from their sins and grow in holiness before
he would be good enough to be able to be born again. If he repented sufficiently and
gained enough holiness, then he would be able to give his life to Jesus and be born again.
Repentance was viewed as turning from sins and this turning was required to
prepare a person to be good enough to receive eternal life.