Darrell,

Since I can't find the phrase "repent of your sins" in the New Testament, I often wonder why so many use it as a requirement in salvation. You are correct in your Hebrew and Greek definitions, but they are not interchangeable, as they do not mean the same thing. They should have never been translated the same. Too many people think to repent of your sins means to stop sinning, and feel sorry for your sins, and too many include it in the Gospel. There is no way a person can be saved by turning from their sins, (stop sinning), making some sort of deal with God to sin less, or to feel sorry for their sins. We are born sinners, and even if somehow we never sinned again, we would still be guilty of sin. I hear and read churches saying salvation is a free gift, but then add repentance of sin to their gospel message. If there is some effort on our part, it's no longer free. In Luke 5:32 Jesus is calling sinners to repentance. I don't believe he is calling them to repent of their sins, but to the same repentance John was preaching, which was to change the way they were thinking concerning salvation, the Messiah, and the Kingdom of God. The only way we can deal with sin is after salvation, not before, and not as part of. I feel the repentance message we hear today is a huge heresy which bothers me greatly. I feel it stems from the misunderstanding of the word repent. thanks, Mark