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“For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that
letter grieved you, though only for a while. 9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because
you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 10 For
godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces
death.”

Many say “see, it says repentance leads to salvation.” Read carefully. It says, “salvation without regret.”
Hebrews says it is possible for a believer to be ashamed at Christ’s coming. A person can be married but
have sorrow due to infidelity. If you want to avoid that sorrow, avoid infidelity. The issue here is not how
they get saved or whether they can lose it. The issue is that repentance leads to restoration for the
believer. We can stand without shame before Him when we repent because He is faithful and just to
forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 –
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.”

This passage is written to believers. It is about sanctification not a condition for justification. Many take
1 John as tests of authentic salvation. John is clear that the issue is fellowship with the apostles teaching
(1 John 1:3). Read in that light, the interpretation of the entire book changes. The important point for
this discussion is that repentance does not affect the believer’s salvation, it affects their daily fellowship
with God.

Does a person need to repent to be saved? If it means repenting from rejecting Jesus to accepting Him,
then absolutely. If it means recognizing your sin and asking Christ for forgiveness. Then yes, they do need
to “repent” to be saved. If it means that they must change their lifestyle in order to go to Heaven, the
Bible is clear that no works are necessary to be saved eternally. Faith alone is the only condition for
justification. In that case of repentance meaning a condition of a lifestyle change, the answer would have
to be a resounding “no.”

Is Making Christ Lord of Your Life Necessary to Become Justified?
I hope by now you are noticing a theme. If you confuse categories, you can make extra requirements for
justification that are not requirements. This question of Lordship, like the previous one on repentance,
results from confusion regarding the meaning of term. In this case the confusion is over the term “Lord.”
The term “lord” in Scripture has a basic meaning of master. As we have already seen, that only deals
with the lexical meaning. It does not address the content of Lord as it was used in the relevant biblical
passages. Did the Bible ever say you must make Jesus lord of your life through obedience to be saved?
One could arrive at that conclusion in passages such as Acts 16:31 which says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus,
and you will be saved, you and your household.”

The trouble is that is not what was likely meant by “Lord” in that culture. In the imperial cult you had to
affirm that Caesar was “Lord.” In this case Lord meant God and supreme one to whom you owe allegiance.
The Christian faith was completely counter cultural in that it affirmed that Jesus was Lord, not Caesar.
Notice that John 20:31 says “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Notice that Jesus is God in this simple
salvation message that is echoed in Acts 16:31. So the concept of the Lord Jesus ought to be understood
as acknowledging He is God and the ruler. It does not mean changing your lifestyle as a condition for
salvation. Norman Geisler says, “there is no evidence that one must express obedience to the lordship of

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