Is Repentance Necessary for Salvation?

For the unsaved who are destined for the lake of fire, repentance is necessary concerning salvation if one understands it to mean having a change of mind that salvation is obtained solely in Christ. Unbelievers cannot stop sinning, which means they cannot save themselves, and their good works have no saving merit (Isa 64:6; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9; Tit 3:5). The lost need to understand that salvation is 100% in Christ alone. Peter said, “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And when the Philippian Jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30), the simple reply was given, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). The gospel is simple. It means believing in the One who died for our sins, was buried, and raised again on the third day, as Scripture teaches (1 Cor 15:3-4). And salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (John 3:16), and not by any human effort (Eph 2:8-9; Tit 3:5), for “the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Rom 4:5). For Christians, turning from a life of sin and producing good works should follow salvation (Eph 2:10; Gal 6:10), but they are never a condition of it.