I once doubted the death, burial, and resurrection part of my baptism. I have cleared my conscience on that part. I came to realize that I knew what I was doing on that part. For some reason, I have started doubting my repentance before baptism. I knew before I was immersed that I had to change my manner of life after I was baptized. I decided that I was going to do my best to change and live my life for the Lord. For some reason, I am doubting. It seems as though I thought the change occurred after baptism. I thought repentance before baptism was the decision to change my life after I became a Christian.\u00a0 In other words, I decided that I was going to change. Isn’t it the decision to change that occurs before baptism and the actual change that occurs after baptism? Do you follow what I’m saying?<\/p>\n\t
Repentance means a change in the direction you are heading. “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance<\/em>” (Acts 26:19-20). One repents and then begins obeying God, thus doing actions that are in accordance with the repentance. The actions are not the repentance, but the result of repentance. The actions are not a one time deed but are a new way of life. One of the earliest demonstrations of a change in behavior is shown by submitting to baptism to become a Christian. It is a declaration that you started walking a new path. “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life<\/em>” (Romans 6:4).<\/p>\n You can see the repentance illustrated in the person’s attitude. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter<\/em>” (II Corinthians 7:10-11). A person who has repented doesn’t leave things as they are, thinking that God is going to accept them anyway. The repentant person makes major course corrections in his life.<\/p>\n The fact that a person has repented does not imply that he will not make the same mistakes again. A person sometimes has to learn how to avoid the traps of sin. “And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him<\/em>” (Luke 17:4). The key is that the person is working against sin and is no longer content to just let it slide.<\/p>\n Nor does it mean that a person who has repented will not make other mistakes. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us<\/em>” (I John 1:8-10). There will be sins we must address in our life which need to be repented of and corrections made in how we live. But the fact that we slip does not negate the fact that we repented earlier in our life when we became a Christian.<\/p>\n Doubts about what you’ve done in the past are not productive. As James warns, “for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind<\/em>” (James 1:6). Doubt undermines your faith and a lack of faith is sin, “for whatever is not from faith is sin<\/em>” (Romans 14:23). The problem is not whether you were saved because that did take place and was properly done. The problem is that you’ve allowed Satan to your faith in God’s power to save you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I once doubted the death, burial, and resurrection part of my baptism. I have cleared my conscience on that part. I came to realize that I knew what I was doing on that part. For some reason, I have started doubting my repentance before baptism. I knew before I was immersed that I had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1569,50],"class_list":["post-18068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-doubts","tag-repentance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68776,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/because-of-or-into\/","url_meta":{"origin":18068,"position":0},"title":"\u201cBecause Of\u201d or \u201cInto\u201d?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The Argument: \"In addition to Acts 2:38, there are three other verses where the Greek word eis is used in conjunction with the word \"baptize\" or \"baptism.\" The first of these is Matthew 3:11, \"baptize you with water for repentance.\" Clearly the Greek word eis cannot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70110,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-progressive-repentance-scriptural\/","url_meta":{"origin":18068,"position":1},"title":"Is Progressive Repentance Scriptural?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Osamagbe Lesley Egharevba via Unmasking Sophistry, Vol 4. No. 4, October-December 2024 During my preaching work in Ghana in July and August 2024, I heard the term \"Progressive Repentance\" for the first time. This is the idea that an alien sinner may not repent of his sins by ending\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34672,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-be-sure-i-repented\/","url_meta":{"origin":18068,"position":2},"title":"How can I be sure I repented?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, Hope you are well. I wrote to you a few years back regarding repentance.\u00a0 I was reading some articles on your page tonight and came across another article \"Should we refuse to study with someone who is in an adulterous marriage?\"\u00a0 In your answer to the inquirer,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40938,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-repentance-required-before-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":18068,"position":3},"title":"Is repentance required before baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I do have a question: Acts 2:38 says repentance comes before baptism. So does that mean a baptism is invalid if there was no repenting prior to it? In my case, when I was baptized, I just believed what the preacher was saying about Jesus was true, and knew\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84235,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-falling-back-into-sin-make-a-baptism-invalid\/","url_meta":{"origin":18068,"position":4},"title":"Does falling back into sin make a baptism invalid?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This idea has come up many times in Bible studies. It concerns sin before baptism and the process of repentance. The Scriptures teach that one must repent before baptism and that Christians will sin after baptism. I don't know of anyone who would think that a Christian can live\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64379,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-baptism-give-continual-cleansing\/","url_meta":{"origin":18068,"position":5},"title":"Does baptism give continual cleansing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I hope you are well. I have a question for you. I was baptized several years ago and when I was baptized I felt like my heart was not into it completely. I went into the baptism knowing that there were sins that I was not going to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}