Luke 13:5

I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

The verbatim repetition of this verse in a single short paragraph shows: (a) that Christ frequently repeated sayings, as indicated throughout the Gospels, (b) that the necessity of repentance on the part of all who would be saved is absolute and invariable, and (c) that Christ thus avoided any implication that Galileans should repent, whereas the Jews were in any manner exempt from it.

Before leaving this paragraph, the universal command that all should repent should be identified as the most important thing in it, a fact attested by its repetition. In the light of this divine imperative, what becomes of the notion that people are justified "by faith alone," which by any definition is faith without repentance? Along with faith and baptism, repentance is established as one of the preconditions of salvation, as clearly enunciated by the apostle Peter (Acts 2:38). Just as those ancient Jews supposed that they did not need to repent, since Pilate had not murdered them and no tower had fallen upon them, there are people today who suppose the same thing on the basis that they have believed in Christ; and regarding both suppositions, one is as logical as the other. To be sure, in the sense of the ultimate, justification is based upon nothing that a sinner either believes or does, but upon the merit of Christ alone. Repentance, however, stands between every man and the merit which is in Christ Jesus.

Christ's call to repentance was next extended to include a third warning, that of the parable of the barren fig tree.