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| J. Vernon McGee |
I recently noticed on the GES website, Shawn Lazar wrote a blog post titled “J. Vernon McGee on Repentance and Salvation” in which he quoted a few snippets of quotes by McGee on repentance and then concluded that “McGee suggests that repentance is a change of behavior (i.e., turning from sins to God).”[1] But Shawn Lazar is drawing the wrong conclusion from McGee's statement, because if unsaved people are trusting in the aforementioned sins to save them, then turning from those false confidences to trust in Christ alone would be a change of belief (from unbelief in Christ to now believing in Him as the only hope of salvation), not a change of behavior. G. Michael Cocoris affirms: “Repentance is a change of mind — period. A change of mind should result in a change of behavior, but the word repent looks at the change of belief, not the change in behavior. Repentance is the root; change in behavior is the fruit.”[2] Speaking in reference to the unsaved world, Jesus Himself said that when the Holy Spirit comes, “He will convict the world of sin...of sin because they don't believe in Me” (see John 16:8-9). The only sin that unsaved people must turn from in order to be saved is the sin of unbelief in Christ.
But let’s take a closer look at what McGee actually says: his entire quote on repentance, not just a few selective statements as Mr. Lazar has given us in his blog post. McGee’s entire statement (the full statement without cutting out any parts) is as follows. Commenting on Luke 3:8, McGee writes:
“John’s message was one of repentance. That is not exactly our message today, although repentance is included in faith. Paul said to the Thessalonian believers that they had ‘. . . turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God’ (1 Thess. 1:9). You can't turn to God without turning from something. (When you turn to anything, you turn from something else.) When you turn to God, you turn from sin—and that is repentance. When you accept Christ as your Savior, you are going to turn from the things of the world. Perhaps you have heard about the love of God, but you have not been moved by it and you have wondered why. You need to hear that voice crying in the wilderness, ‘Repent.’ Repentance is not the message of the hour; we preach the grace of God, but if you have been a recipient of God’s grace and have turned to Him, you are going to have to to turn from your sins. If you do not turn from your sins, you have not really turned to God. Repentance is involved in salvation, but today God's message is, ‘. . . Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved . . .’ (Acts 16:31).”[3]
Looking at the context, it seems evident that when McGee says, “If you do not turn from your sins, you have not really turned to God” — McGee is referring back to what the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 1:9, which he had just quoted (see above). This turning “to God from idols” (1 Thess. 1:9) involves a change of mind, which is repentance (cf. Acts 14:15, 17:29-30, 26:20; Heb. 6:1). Repentance and faith are like two sides of the same coin (cf. Acts 20:21). The turning “from idols" (1 Thess. 1:9) or "from your sins” (as McGee put it) is when a person changes their mind and transfers their trust away from whatever they were trusting in before salvation to now trust in Christ alone for salvation.[4] Lewis Sperry Chafer affirms that “turning to Christ from all other confidences is one act, and in that one act repentance, which is a change of mind, is included. The Apostle stresses this distinction in accurate terms when he says to the Thessalonians, ‘Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God’ (1 Thess. 1:9).”[5]
There is another statement by J. Vernon McGee on repentance and salvation that Shawn Lazar interestingly never mentions in his article. Commenting on 2 Corinthians 7:10, McGee writes:
“Here we find God's definition of repentance—real repentance. Repentance is a change of mind. As far as I can tell, the only repentance God asks of the lost is in the word believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ! What happens when one believes? There is a change of mind. There is a turning from something to Someone. Listen to what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: ‘. . . how ye turned to God from idols . . .’ (1 Thess. 1:9)—that was a change of mind. How did it come about? They first turned to Christ. When Paul had come to them, he hadn’t preached against idolatry, he had preached Christ to them. And they turned to Christ. But they were idolaters. So when they turned to Christ in faith, what else happened? They turned from the idols, and that turning from idols was repentance. That is the repentance of the unsaved; it is the repentance to salvation. I don’t know if God wants us to emphasize repentance to the unsaved; He does want us to emphasize Christ. When they respond to Christ, there will be a turning from their old unbelief to Christ.”[6]
Rather than McGee suggesting that “repentance is a change of behavior” (as Shawn Lazar suggests in his article), McGee makes it clear that “Repentance is a change of mind”! In light of other statements by McGee, what he furthermore taught is that repentance is a change of mind that is indicated by a change of behavior. Thus, in his commentary on Joel 2:12 he writes: “Repent means primarily to change your mind. You indicate a change of mind by turning around. It is true there may be some shedding of tears along with the repentance, but that is only a by-product of repentance. Repentance really means to change your mind.”[7]
This is what McGee taught, not that “repentance is a change of behavior” (as Shawn Lazar has suggested), but that repentance is “a change of mind” that is indicated by a change of behavior.[8] This is the proper understanding of repentance and the biblical order (cf. Matt. 3:8; Luke 3:8; Acts 26:20). If anything, the “turning from sins” (to use Shawn Lazar's words) is when the unsaved turn from their false confidences to trust in Christ alone for salvation (see John 16:8-9).
References:
[1] Shawn Lazar, “J. Vernon McGee on Repentance and Salvation” (GES Blog, November 18, 2020), https://faithalone.org/blog/j-vernon-mcgee-on-repentance-and-salvation/.
[2] G. Michael Cocoris, Repentance: The Most Misunderstood Word in the Bible, p. 20.
[3] J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary Series, Luke (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1991), p. 54, ellipsis his.
[4] Larry Moyer affirms: “Repentance is inseparable from salvation. When used in a soteriological context, ‘repentance’ means to change your mind about whatever is keeping you from trusting Christ and trust Him alone to save you.” (Moyer, Free and Clear [Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1997], p. 95, emphasis his.)
[5] Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, pp. 374-375.
[6] J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible Commentary Series, Second Corinthians (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1991), p. 94, italics and ellipsis his.
[7] J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible, Vol. 3, p. 668.
[8] In other words, a change of behavior is a fruit of repentance, not repentance itself. This is the traditional Free Grace understanding of repentance. See my blog post titled: “Charles Ryrie on Repentance and Faith” (May 22, 2020).
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