“When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, ‘Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life’” (Acts 11:18).
Federal Visionists love passages like this because it sounds as if repentance leads to eternal life. Beware! Such slippery eisegesis makes grace conditional, denying sola gratia and sola fide.
As David Gadbois has helpfully pointed out here, the Reformers universally rejected repentance as a condition of justification. Justification has nothing to do with repentance. Once you have been justified, you can repent if you want. Remember, justification is by faith alone, which means that repentance is optional.
So, what about the so-called “repentance that leads to life?” Notice how the Federal Visionists eisegetically stretch “life” to mean “eternal life.” Unfortunately, this shoddy handling of the word of God is typical in FV circles.
In this passage, “eternal life” is not in view. “Life” simply refers to the quality of our fellowship with God. You can think of this as “HD” fellowship. “Repentance that leads to life” means that repentance leads to a more fulfilling relationship with God.
So, while repentance is somewhat necessary for fellowshipping with God, let us be clear that “eternal life” in no way depends upon repentance.
As you know, the Reformed faith is under constant attack by the Federal Vision and other heretics, but we can be thankful for our friends over at Greenbaggins and especially the Grace Evangelical Society (love their web address – faithalone.org!). Together, these stalwart defenders of the Reformed faith are fighting to make sure that faith is always alone.
