Personal Sin

WE AFFIRM that Christ calls on all men to repent of sin. We affirm that repentance from sin is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true understanding of his sin, and an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from sin to God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience in Christ. We affirm that the standard of the Almighty Living God is full and perfect repentance and obedience. We affirm that the Almighty God does not liken partial obedience or partial repentance as faithfulness, but rather as faithlessness. We affirm that the gospel message to repent and believe, which all who are in Christ are commanded to proclaim, carries with it the same standard and that believers should not lower the standards of God lest they replace God’s perfect standard with man’s own wicked creation. We affirm that a faithful call to repent is a call immediately to repent and obey Christ the King. We affirm that repentance is God’s gracious, inevitable, and continuous work of sanctification through the Holy Spirit and by Christ’s intercession before the Father.

WE DENY that a call to partially or incrementally repent is faithful. We deny that those who are in Christ are called to proclaim a standard of faith and obedience less than the standard given to us in the Word of God. We deny that repentance is solely the work of man. We deny that repentance can be found apart from Christ or the workings of the Spirit of God in man. We deny that any man can, based on his own merits, repent sufficiently to earn salvation from the just wrath of God. 

Joel 2:13; Mark 1:15; 16:15; Acts 2:37-38, 11:18, 17:30-31; 2 Corinthians 7:11