READING TIME: 2-3 MINUTES
March 5, 2020
REVISION OF REPENTANCE IN ACTS 5:31 & 11:18
Acts 5:31: “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (NASB).
Acts 11:18: When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life” (NASB).
Many Calvinists misuse these verses to unsuccessfully prove that repentance must be given to a man before he can be saved. Calvinists use these three passages (Acts 5:31; 11:18; and 2 Tim 2:25) as proof texts since they mention God giving or granting repentance. Rather the expression about giving repentance means that God allows a class of people to repent and be forgiven. Repentance is a “change of mind or attitude” about Jesus Christ and it is conceptually equivalent to placing faith in Him. In Acts 5, Peter preached Christ’s resurrection and accused the Jewish leaders of being guilty of murdering Jesus, the Savior (Acts 5:28, 30-31). So, when Peter told his captors that God had granted repentance, he was indirectly calling for the leaders themselves to repent. He was offering salvation to the same people who crucified Jesus.
MORE DETAIL ABOUT ACTS 5:31
Peter used the word “repentance” in Acts 5:31 in the same way as he did in his sermon of Acts 2 and 3. He was rewording his gospel message, the very same message he preached on Pentecost and Solomon’s portico. In the same way that he previously accused the Jewish people with rejecting and murdering Christ (Acts 2:23, 36; 3:13-15), so now he was charging the Jewish leaders on the same charge (Acts 5:30-32). In the same way that he had asked the Jewish people to change their opinions/minds concerning (i.e., come to faith in) Jesus (cf. Acts 2:38, 41; 3:19, 22-23; 4:4, 12), so now he was asking the leaders to do the same thing (Acts 5:31-33). Unfortunately, these leaders refused to obey God by placing their faith in Jesus. Instead. they hardened their hearts by continuing rejection of Christ and even contemplated killing the Apostles to get the apostles to stop preaching (Acts 5:33).
These verses don’t mean God gives faith directly on an individual basis. Acts 5:31 can’t refer to an irresistible gift of repentance to individuals since only a small number within Israel believed.
Acts 10-11
In Acts 10, Peter preached the death and resurrection of Jesus to Cornelius and his household and they believed in Jesus and received forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:34-43). Before he finished his message, the Holy Spirit fell on them, which proved that those Gentiles had believed in Christ and became members of the church, so Peter had them baptized (Acts 10:44-48). The evangelistic sermon Peter preached before conditioned salvation for Jewish people only on changing one’s attitude about Christ (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31). This implies that Peter thought that asking Jewish people to change their minds about Jesus was the same as calling Gentiles to faith in Him. In Acts 11:1-18, Peter defended his actions before the Jerusalem church. The response of the Jerusalem believers implies that they thought “repentance to life” in Acts 11:18 was practically parallel with “receiving the Spirit as a result of believing in Jesus Christ” (Acts 11:17). In Acts 11:18, the gospel was being offered to the Gentiles based upon the conversion of Cornelius and his household, not to God giving repentance to individuals directly.
Sources Used
Badger, Anthony B. Confronting Calvinism: A Free Grace Refutation and Biblical Resolution of Radical Reformed Soteriology, 256-257.
Cocoris, G. Michael. Repentance: The Most Misunderstood Word in the Bible. Grace Gospel Press, chapter 5.
Olson, C. Gordon. Beyond Calvinism & Arminianism: An Inductive Mediate Theology of Salvation. 3rd Edition Expanded, Revised, & Updated. Global Gospel Publishers, 260.
________. Getting the Gospel Right: A Balanced View of Salvation Truth. Global Gospel Publishers,77, 223-224.
Vance, Laurence M. The Other Side of Calvinism, 513-515.
Wilkin, Robert N. “Repentance as a Condition for Salvation in the New Testament,” An Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, May 1985, 74-76, 79-82.