Banner of Truth, 1970), 48-49. Published in Spanish as The Gospel of
It is clear that in the book of Acts one can observe from beginning to end that repentance was the central concept of the apostolic message. The the repentance they preached was not merely a change of opinion about who was Jesus, but consisted of turning away from sin (3:26; 8:22) and turning back to Jesus Christ (20:21); it was the kind of repentance that results in a behavior change (26:20). The apostolic message bore no resemblance to the gospel that denies the lordship and has become popular in our time.
I am deeply concerned about what is happening in the current church: the biblical Christianity has lost its voice; the church is preaching a gospel designed to appease sinners instead of confronting them; churches have become businesses dedicated to entertainment and to show in an attempt to win over the world. Those methods seem to attract the crowds for a time, but they are not God's methods and therefore are destined to fail. Meanwhile, those who confess as believers but have never repented and turned away from sin (and, therefore, they have never clung to Christ as Lord and Savior) are infiltrating into the church to corrupt it.
We must return to the message that God has called us to preach. we need to confront sin and call sinners to repentance (that is, to a radical break with love for sin and a search for the mercy of the Lord). We must lift Christ up as Savior and Lord, who frees his people from punishment and the power of sin. That is, in order to accounts, the gospel that he hasCalled us to preach.
1. Walter Chantry, Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic? (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1970), 48-49. Published in Spanish as The Gospel of Nowadays: Authentic or Synthetic? (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth, 1995).
2.A. W. Tozer,Ese increíble cristiano, trad. Dardo Bruchez (Harrisburg, PA: Editorial Alianza, 1979), "What it means to accept Christ."
3.Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Challenge Books, 2005), 611.
4. Although it can be counted in favor of Ryrie that he acknowledges that the repentance "produces some changes in the individual" (USTG), it