340. 2. Briefly Put, Faith Is Believing That People Who Live Good Lives and Believe the Right Things Are Saved by the Lord

We are created for eternal life. All of us are capable of inheriting it, provided we use in our lives the means of salvation that have been prescribed for us in the Word. On these points all Christians agree, as do all non-Christians who have religion and sound reason.

There are indeed many means of being saved, but each and every one of them relates to living a good life and believing the right things. Therefore they all relate to goodwill and faith, for goodwill is living a good life and faith is believing the right things. These two universal categories of means of being saved - goodwill and faith - are not just prescribed for us in the Word, they are commanded.

From the fact that they are commanded it follows that goodwill and faith give us the capacity of providing ourselves with eternal life through a power that is assigned and given to us by God. The more we use that power and look to God, the more God increases the power until he turns every aspect of our earthly goodwill into spiritual goodwill and every aspect of our earthly faith into spiritual faith. In this way God brings dead goodwill and faith to life, and brings us to life as well.

[2] Two things have to come together before we can be said to be living a good life and believing the right things. In the church these two things are called our inner self and our outer self. When our inner self has good intentions and our outer self has good actions, then the two unite. Our outer self acts from our inner self, and our inner self acts through our outer self; we act from God and God acts through us. On the other hand, if our inner self has evil intentions, but our outer self still has good actions, nonetheless both are acting from hell. Our intentions come from hell and our actions are hypocritical. Our hellish intentions are inside every hypocritical thing we do, like a snake inside a plant or a grub inside a flower.

[3] If people know not only that we have an inner and an outer self but also what they are and that the two can work together either actually or seemingly, and also that our inner self lives on after death but our outer self is buried, they have access to an abundance of secrets about heaven and the world. People who unite these two in themselves for a good purpose become happy forever, but people who divide them, or worse yet if they unite them for an evil purpose, are unhappy forever.

528. Active Repentance Is Examining Ourselves, Recognizing and Admitting Our Sins, Praying to the Lord, and Beginning a New Life

Many passages in the Word and many unambiguous statements by the Lord there make it clear that we absolutely have to repent and that our salvation depends on it. For now I will give just the following examples. "John preached a baptism of repentance and said, 'Bear fruits worthy of repentance'" (Luke 3:3, 8; Mark 1:4). "Jesus began to preach and said, 'You must repent'" (Matthew 4:17). "Jesus said, 'Repent, because the kingdom of God has become closer'" (Mark 1:14-15). "If you have not practiced repentance, you will all perish" (Luke 13:5). "Jesus preached to his disciples that in his name they should preach repentance and forgiveness of sins to all the nations" (Luke 24:47; Mark 6:12). Therefore "Peter preached repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins" (Acts of the Apostles 2:38). Peter also said, "Repent and turn yourselves around, so that your sins may be wiped out" (Acts of the Apostles 3:19). Paul "preached to all people everywhere that they should repent" (Acts of the Apostles 17:30). Paul "also proclaimed in Damascus, in Jerusalem, throughout the region of Judea, and to the nations, that they should repent, turn themselves to God, and do things that are in keeping with repentance" (Acts of the Apostles 26:20). Paul "also proclaimed to both Jews and Greeks repentance before God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts of the Apostles 20:21). To the church of Ephesus the Lord said, "I have something against you, that you have left behind the goodwill you had at first. Repent. Otherwise if you do not repent, I will remove your lampstand from its place" (Revelation 2:4-5). To the church in Pergamos he said, "I know your works. Repent" (Revelation 2:13, 16). To the church in Thyatira he said, "I will hand you over to affliction if you have not repented of your works" (Revelation 2:19, 22-23). To the church in Laodicea he said, "I know your works. Be zealous and repent" (Revelation 3:15, 19). "There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:7). There are of course more passages as well.

From these teachings it is clear that we absolutely have to repent. What repentance involves, however, and how we go about it will be shown in what follows.