The Bible teaches repentance unto confession, not confession unto repentance

[Ghada]

Then finally I'm wondering if what we need is repentance from the whole body of sin, the sin nature itself.....

There is no sin nature man is born with. James 1 calls it the lust of the world, that we generate within our own hearts willingly. The same as Adam did in the garden.

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

 

[Ghada]

which then enables a walk in the Spirit that Paul speaks of in Romans..? Would that be right?

Yes. Now you're preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, that if we repent of lust and sinning, and have faith toward God by Jesus Christ, then He can make us clean and new and all of God at once, and also can keep us that way for life, just as He from His youth up.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Christian religion that does continued piecemeal repentance here and there, without first repenting of lusting within the heart, is no different that the Jews religion of Jesus' day, whom He commanded to cleanse within our platter first.

If even Jesus "learned" obedience through the things which He suffered.......then I believe that is the path that we generally follow also, that we may partake of His holiness in due time...?

Exactly. However, always remember that the obedience Jesus learned was not from sinning, but during temptations to sin.

We are born again sons of God, as pure as the Son. We only grow in grace while remaining pure of heart and life. No man grows in sinning.

We only grow as Christ while not sinning, by learning to continue obeying God while enduring temptation. Just like the Son our Brother, we are tempted, yet without sin.

If the pure born sons of God do sin, then we must repent and be washed clean as when first newborn in Christ Jesus, in whom is no sinning.

When I came to faith and the Lord was revealed to me, I wasn't convicted of sin initially, except the sin of unbelief, and I felt remorse for that.

When you say the sin of unbelief here, I believe you are only speaking of not being convinced by faith in certain things. That is neither sin nor even unbelief. That is only a matter of a weak conscience in certain things pertaining to Christ and the liberty of His law.

'Forcing' ourselves to believe something as a son of God, is not what we do. In fact, we are commanded not to override our pure conscience, if we do not have faith to do something.

And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Some sins fell off me automatically and right away, a gift from God, other sins I turned away from only after being instructed in the word.

Examples?

Years later I began to realize that I still fall short in spite of myself....that something more is needed.

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

We don't fight our own bodies, but the devil's tempting darts spoken into our pure minds. We no longer take any more of His thoughts without a fight. Jesus as a man had the same fight as we, and so He knows the nature and manner of fight we must now fight with Him.

Only in the resurrection unto life, is our mind and spirit perfected, so that as with God on the throne, we can no longer even be tempted to lust and sin again. (James 1:12-13)

To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Came to realize that no matter how hard I try the best I produce has mixture of the flesh and self, and I'm held back by things having to do with my soul/self,

Our new self in Christ is with power of His faith, to now cast down any and all vain imaginations and thoughts for sin, that the devil and the world sends our way.

Much of your perplexity is due to not perfectly identifying where the manner of our warfare begins and ends: In our pure minds attacked by the devil from without.

Neither he nor his lust is in the heart of any repented saint in Christ Jesus. The devil wants to get back in our hearts with his lust. The stopping ground and door to our heart, is our yet unperfected spirit and mind, which is where he comes knocking and speaking.

The wolf cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

"Or I'll huff and I'll puff and blow your house down..."

So what I'm putting forward here in a nutshell is three stages of repentance....first repent of unbelief which reconciles us to God,

Ditch the unbiblical doctrine of the first one. We don't repent of unbelief, but of sinning. Believing without repenting of sinning is imaginary faith alone, that reconciles no man with God.

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of:

Hearing with unbelief is hearing without repenting of sinning. Hearing with faith is by repenting as commanded first.

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

then repent of specific sins,

If we then do sin, we must confess with godly sorrow to be forgiven and washed as new born clean babes in Christ Jesus.

then finally repent of the whole body of sin...?

This is the repentance unto salvation that comes first: repenting of lust within the platter first and sinning without. We repent of the whole body and life of sinning first.

Piecemeal repentance of certain works of the flesh, without first repenting of lust within, is the filthy rags righteousness of man's own will, that is without Christ dwelling within.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Jesus has made the way.

Of righteous and true holy living.

You fight the good fight of the Spirit through the faith of Jesus, and remain on the offensive against the devil within your own heart and mind. Then walking with Jesus without lust and sin will take care of itself.

Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

We know that whosoever is born of God is not sinning; but he that is begotten of God is keeping himself, and that wicked one is touching him not.

The touch of sin is lust, and the sting of death is sin. If we repent of the lust within, then we cannot sin with the flesh.

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Whosoever is born of God doth is not committing sin; for his seed is remaining in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

Those hearers that repent not of sinning first, have the seed of God taken out of their hearts by Satan, who is not being resisted to sin not.

And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

 

[Ghada]

Did I say repentance was after the grave? No. I don't think I did. Let's look at the passage again.

You teach repentance after the grave, by saying we cannot live without sinning until the resurrection of the dead from the grave.

Once a man sins, then ceasing to sin is only by repentance. There is no Bible hope of repenting and ceasing to sin after the grave.

The future 'hope' that you preach, of going to sin no more only after the grave, is the vain hope of any unrepented sinner unto the grave.

You minister continued sinning unto death, and a vain hope of ceasing to sin by the grave.

All the talk of unrepented Christian sinners about 'looking forward' to not sinning anymore, is lip service only. It's not from the unrepented heart of lust. As well as all the lip service about 'hating' sinning now.

 

[Ghada]

1 Corinthians 15:51-52

Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.​

​

I take note of TWO things that will happen at the last Trump 1) we will be raised imperishable, and 2) we will be changed.

Taking out of context, includes not coupling all verses in the Bible together, that speak of the same thing. I Thess 4 belongs with 1 Cor 15.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

By full context on the rapture, we see the two things made immortal and incorruptible are the same thing: The body of the pure hearted saint in Christ Jesus. First the dead bodies of saints will rise immortal, and then them remaining alive on earth at the Lord's return, are also changed to immortality along with the resurrected dead saints.

Your future hope in your resurrection from the dead, of 'finally' being purified inwardly of lust with blameless living, will be a day late and a dollar short to repent of all your sinning.

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We either repent to go and sin no more with Jesus on earth, or we are resurrected apart from Jesus with everlasting shame and contempt.

Unrepented sinners that die separate from Jesus Christ, are resurrected separate from Jesus Christ forever.

For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

Your gospel of having fellowship with a Christ while sinning, and being raised by that Christ from the dead, to 'finally at along last' go and sin no more, is obviously not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus commands us now to repent and sin not. Not later.

For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Repenting to go and sin no more is not accepted by God after the grave. God's gospel is a now or never pure new birth and salvation from sinning.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

He that is committing sin is of the devil; for the devil is sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

I obviously don't believe in your ministry of continued sin and death. Your gospel is of unrepented sinning unto death, with the vain hope of ceasing from sin only after the grave.

 

[Ghada]

Paul argues that all men are subject to death because all men have sinned. In other words, if you die, you were a sinner. This aligns with God's punishment for sin as stated in Genesis: "you shall surely die."

This is a carnal minded reading of the Bible. It also yanks the verse out of context.

For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

That very day was their death by sinning, and was of the soul in separating themselves from God by transgression.

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

It's the soul that sins and the soul that dies by sinning. It's not the body that sins and dies by sinning.

The Bible teaching is of the spiritual nature of all sin and righteousness, which always begins with a heart of lust of the world or a purified heart in Christ Jesus.

The natural man only sees works outwardly and does not acknowledge the things of the spirit inwardly, from which all things proceed.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

This is why carnal minded Christians deny that they are spiritually dead and separated from God while sinning, just like all sinners of the world.

The true God's judgment of sin and righteousness is without respect of persons. The wages of sinning is still death of the soul, for whosoever is transgressing like Adam.

 

[Ghada]

Your view that sin can be eliminated in this lifetime contradicts Paul's view.

And so we see how your ministry of sin is by unbelief in Jesus' gospel of sinning not.

Your unbelief in doing His righteousness at all times, is obviously by you and your Paul's own unrepentance.

By repenting of sinning first, me and my Paul and John minister sinning not.

Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls:

This is not 2 Peter 2 concluding we cannot cease from sinning. Rather it's God's condemnation for the unrepented like you. that neither cease from sinning yourself, nor by your doctrine allow others to cease from sinning.

Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

 

[Ghada]

Those who sin will experience death. In Corinthians, Paul compares "death" to a scorpion and "sin" to its stinger. While a single sting may not be lethal, repeated stings can lead to anaphylaxis and death. Therefore, since sin is the cause of death's triumph, eliminating sin will bring an end to death. In other words, at the last trumpet, God will transform us so that sin is no longer a part of our existence, and we will have achieved victory over death.

Bodily death of all creatures on earth is naturally made by Christ from the beginning.

Christ is not the Maker of anything sinful, whether of spirit or of flesh.

Reactions to these subsequent stings are sometimes severe enough to cause a life-threatening condition called anaphylaxis.

Sin is so closely associated with

In your natural man's pseudo-theological medical journal, sure. Not in the Bible where all sin and righteousness is spiritual in nature, and always begins in the heart and the spirit of the soul of man.

The Bible says it is the soul that sins with the body, and the soul dies by doing so. Which began on earth in the day Adam's transgression.

The natural body of all creatures on earth are made by Christ naturally mortal. Christ is not the Maker of anything sinful, whether of the spirit or of the flesh.

 

[Ghada]

And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

With the Bible, repenting of sinning is necessary to first have faith toward God and His righteousness.

We see how those repenting and believing Jesus, minister the faith of Jesus to sin not.

We also see how those unrepented and believing themselves, minister their own unbelief in sinning not.

Those repented of sinning preach the good news of Jesus Christ, with faith to do His righteousness at all times.

Those unrepented of sinning preach the sinners' news of another Christ, without faith in doing Jesus' righteousness at all times.

Repentance first is unto belief in Jesus' gospel. Unrepentance is unto believing not in Jesus' good news to go and sin no more.

 

[Ghada]

James may associate sin with lust, but he does not necessarily suggest that lust leads to sin in every case.

True. The teaching is that when a man sins, it is always from lust. Beginning with Adam.

Not every man sins by his own lust all the time. And in your Christians religion you preach holding lust in check for as much as possible, until the lust has it's way, like the uncaged lion lying at the door.

The path from lust to death depends on specific conditions that, when met, can lead to death.

Do lead to death.

And it's called sinning and trespassing the word of God. By lust of heart man sins, and by sinning man dies to God.

It first began with the angels by Lucifer:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

James qualifies the process by stating that "when lust has conceived," implying that lust may not always "conceive" and lead to sin.

Once again true. But so long as lust remains within, then it will be conceiving again unto sin and death.

Since your Christian gospel preaches against repenting of lust within, then you also minister when you sin again. Not 'if'.

Jesus' good news begins with repenting and being cleansed inwardly of lust and filthiness of the spirit, so that the saint can sin no more, so long as lust of the devil is kept outside the door.

 

[Ghada]

Furthermore, even if lust does give birth to sin, it must be "accomplished" before it can bring forth death.

Your reading is carnal minded.

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

The death of the soul toward God by sinning, begins with lust conceiving sin in the heart.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

What is 'brought forth' from within a corrupt heart is the outward work of the flesh. That is when the sin committed within, that God already sees, is now brought forth to be seen by men.

Now the spiritual man sees the outward working of death, that is already within the soul.

The soul that is sinning, it shall die.

That is not what Paul says in Romans 7.

Sure it is. It's the words of the Bible repeated. The verse says lust and envy are the same, and we are commanded not to envy, which is to lust.

Unwillingness to comprehend simple sentence structure is a by product of refusing to understand simple Bible truth.

He observes that before the law "came" he was alive but after that, he was "dead."

No one is alive to God while sinning against Him. (Unrepented Christian sinners notwithstanding)

Them that sin without the law perish without law, and them that sin in the law perish by the law. (Romans 2)

Anyone hearing the word can think they are alive to God by their own faith alone. But when God brings home His commandment to the heart, then the sinning hearer knows he is still dead to God by unrepented lusting.

Basically Paul was meditating on the 10th commandment,

Paul was being condemned by it, not just 'meditating'. The 10th commandment is about envying. Romans 7 reveals it is lusting in the heart.

The First great commandment is about repenting of all such lusting and envying, in order to love God with a whole heart.

Lusting draws away from God. (James 1) Repenting to resist the devil's lust draws nigh to God. (James 4)

The Seventh Commandment prohibits adultery, but the Tenth Commandment goes further by stating that one must not even have the desire to commit adultery.

Exactly. No one having lust and sin, can possibly be keeping the first great commandment.

To have lust is to conceive and commit sin in the heart first, before doing so outwardly. It is not possible to have lust within the heart and loving God with a whole heart.

Sinful Christian religion notwithstanding, no man is walking in the light with Jesus Christ, while having sin. Acknowledging lusting with the mind, is not repenting of lusting from the heart.

Saying you have sin, without repenting of it, does not have anyone translated by God from the kingdom of darkness, to that of the light of His dear Son.

The same applies to murder and theft; one must not even have the desire to commit these acts.

Exactly again. And yet you preach to repent not of lusting, which is to commit the act in the heart first.

There is no faith and love toward God from the heart, that is not repented of lusting and sinning unto death.

Paul had an epiphany when he realized the profoundness of the 10th commandment.

Saul of Tarsus did on the road to Damascus. Paul the apostle was penning God's words in Romans 7, that reveal such hidden things within the mind of hearers, that have yet to repent from the heart.

Romans 7 is all about the mind now knowing to do good by hearing only, and until vs 24-25, there is nothing about the heart changing to do good with faith toward God by repenting.

 

[Ghada]

Despite dedicating his life to living according to the Law and being blameless in all that he did, he found himself coveting all the time, breaking the 10th commandment.

You mean Saul of Tarsus, right?

Even a righteous and blameless man like Paul admitted that he could not keep the 10th commandment.

O Lord, you mean Paul the apostle! Oops, I forgot, you're preaching your own Paul of your own gospel.

Nevertheless, you have just succeeded in one sentence to successfully do away with the spiritual reformation of Jesus Christ, by rejecting His inward circumcision of the heart from lust's foreskin. You declare it impossible to do and to have.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

And while doing so, you make Saul of Tarsus and Paul the apostle to be the same old man of corrupted heart, and only having an outward change of religion and law. And that thin exterior veil means nothing to God's judgment of works and His justification of the soul.

And why? In order to preach it is impossible to be free from lust within the heart of the old man, that cannot be repented of. You reject the principle new covenant promise and good news of Christ Jesus:

Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

Good job. You now confirm there is no difference between the Jews religion and that of the Christians, other than incidental matters of outward law, since they both have the same old sinful hearts of lusting souls.

You have just preached inwardly corrupt religion of man, instead of the pure religion of Jesus Christ.

You now unite sinful Jews and Christian sinners religion into one, with a thin veneer of separation by outward works only.

This is in keeping with your carnal doctrine that outward works are no different, no matter the inward heart and spirit. You do so based solely upon the effects of works upon people, while as any natural man, you neglect the spiritual things of God's judgment of men's hearts.

The one great difference made among men's religions today, is Christ's pure religion of circumcision of the Spirit. This is what transforms man's filthy rags of his own righteousness, into the righteous works of God's Son and sons from pure hearts.

You have just preached outward righteousness of man's religion, with inward filth of man's lust, both for the Jews and the Christians.

For he is not a Jew nor Christian, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

But he is a Jew and Christian, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Way to go.

 

[Ghada]

Repenting is not just for unbelieving unsaved people, but also for saved people who need a spiritual 'rebooting'.

Repenting is not for repented sons of God walking in His Spirit and light with His Son Jesus.

God's command to repent is for all sinners everywhere not born of God, no matter that their religious affiliation may be. All those sinning against God need to repent and be born of His spiritual and divine power, and walk after His Spirit rather than after the flesh.

Christians throw being 'saved' around so much, some even have their pet poodles saved.

But no one sinning with the devil is a pure born son of God after God's own heart.

To whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

He that is committing sin is of the devil; for the devil is sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Whosoever is born of God is not committing sin; for his seed is remaining in him: and he cannot be sinning, because he is born of God.

The reason for that is the flesh. We inhabit sinful bodies in a physical world

Not much hope of repenting from sinning with the flesh, if we're going to believe a lie about our flesh made by Christ, and blame our bodies for our sinning. In fact, there's no hope for it.

 

[Ghada]

John 20, the same thing with Thomas, even though the actual 'repent ' word is not used, it is implied, in Christ saying
"Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

Of course, Thomas was an unbeliever, that Jesus told to repent. He was not a born son of God while in unbelief.

 

[Ghada]

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

Repent unto confession is necessary to repent unto salvation. No one is saved and justified with Christ without first repenting of sinning.

And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Because by their own confession, no unrepented sinner believes Jesus unto doing His righteousness. They only confess and believe unto more sinning.

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

The only way to believe Jesus unto salvation is first by repenting of sinning. Without repenting of dead works to have faith toward God, no man can receive the promised new heart of God, who do absolutely believe unto doing His righteousness at all times.

And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

The commandment to all men is to repent of sinning. The good news to all men that repent, is that we can now receives God's own pure and holy heart to please Him and only do His will in Christ Jesus.

The unrepented sinner simply doesn't have the promised new heart of God, but their own old heart of lust.

Faith alone religion is simply believing in being saved without repenting of sinning first. First we repent of dead works, that God may give us His new heart to do good.

Seeking to do better in life and just sin less with the world, is simply the filthy rags religion of unrepented old hearts.

 

[rwb]

The problem with the gospel of believing the gospel unto repentance, is that God cannot beget us newborn and clean, without first repenting of dead works. God cannot wash clean in the blood of His Son, any one knowing they will willingly sin again. The blood of His dear Son washes us wholly clean of all past sinning. The blood of the Lamb of God is not like that of a bull or goat, that only covers continued sinning, as we gradually go on unto repentance.

Where does 'faith' enter into your equation? I know this may appear to be much ado about nothing, because faith and believing both mean the same thing. Though this is true there is a nuance we must consider to rightly understand how Scripture uses faith followed by our believing.

Faith to believe in Christ for eternal life comes by God's grace. That's why Paul can say, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8). The free gift of salvation that comes from God is faith, not by our believing. If we do not have faith to believe the Gospel, how can we who are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins believe, repent of our sins and turn to Christ for eternal life?

Faith in Christ and believing in Christ for eternal life cannot be separated. You cannot have one without the other. Faith then is not the action that causes us to believe and repent. Faith comes first from God and that faith enables us to believe in Christ, and with humble heart understand our need to repent and turn to Christ for eternal life.

Faith is a noun defined as moral conviction/persuasion of the truthfulness of God. This is exactly what natural, spiritually dead humanity lacks. Saving faith that comes through God's grace leads us to believe, which is defined as a verb that requires action from the recipients of God's grace. Believe originates from the same Greek word (pis'-tis) as faith. If we do not first possess faith to believe in Christ for eternal life, how can we believe in Christ for eternal life? So, we see how difficult, impossible in fact it is to omit faith from the equation when trying to discern how fallen mankind, who is spiritually dead (without faith to believe) is able to be eternally saved by God's grace through faith.

Strong's Greek Dictionary
4102. πίστις pistis (pístis)
Search for G4102 in KJVSL; in KJV.
πίστις pístis, pis'-tis
from G3982; persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself:—assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.
feminine noun

Strong's Greek Dictionary
4100. πιστεύω pisteuo (pisteúō)
Search for G4100 in KJVSL; in KJV.
πιστεύω pisteúō, pist-yoo'-o
from G4102; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ):—believe(-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.
verb

 

[rwb]

This is a great question. I am one. Until I went ahead and repented from sinning with a whole heart, with nothing off the table, then I never knew the Lord by His Holy Ghost personally filling my soul. I believed by words only, that it is supposed to be true, but I never knew it to be true, until I repented first, and then instantly He made me to know Him personally.

Until then, so long as I was trying to convince myself I could be saved and/or was already saved by my 'zeal' of faith alone, It was still just me, myself, and I in this life, other than knowing of God, but not knowing Him.

Believers can think they know Him by their faith alone, but they do not know Him as they ought, otherwise they could not be sinning against Him and still think they know Him. It's the same with the Bible. We can believe we agree with the Bible, but then we live and preach things against the Bible, such as knowing Him without keeping His commandments, and so we are not what we think we are by faith alone.

Ghada, it appears to me that what you lacked in the beginning of your life with Christ was sanctification! When we are born again through the power of His Word and Spirit in us we were made holy, but not yet perfect before God. We shall never be perfect before God as long as we live in our natural, physical body destined to death. So Scripture reminds us to be sanctified before the Lord by keeping our lives free from evil. As we commit our lives to serving the Lord, we are being made more and more holy, which is what it is to be sanctified in Christ. When we recognize we are clinging to any sin in our life, it's not that we were not eternally saved when by God's grace we believed and repented, but because we have given over to the lusts of our flesh that in this life we constantly struggle against.

What a blessing your story is for we who struggle against various sins in life! Your life of repentance and turning away from sins that had held you captive is so encouraging for any who are still struggling against sin. Through sanctification or growing in holiness you have gone from being a babe in Christ to a more mature faith/belief in Christ. Praise the Lord as you continue to cling to His Word and commit your whole life to the very God of peace who shall sanctify you wholly in mind (spirit), whole life (soul), and body (preserved blameless before the Lord) that you shall at the end of the age be resurrected immortal & incorruptible fully fit for eternal life with Christ forever.

 

[rwb]

Once again, this is a good question, but an even greater one is, why are all these believers not repenting???

Because they believe first and then repent, which repenting is never complete.

This is true! In this life whosoever is a true believer in Christ will repent, turn away from sin, and turn back to Christ again and again.