You want to put the cart in front of the horse.
No, I don't do that, you do.
I'll prove it to you easy.
Why wasn't the Pharisees saved, was it because they weren't saved first, or was it because they didn't repent of their sins?
Think about it.
The scripture says plainly that they didn't get baptized with John's baptism of repentance.
It does not say because they did believe in Jesus, it says says they didn't get baptized with the baptism of repentance.
Repentance is something that we do, it is a work of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit doesn't make us repent.
We are not saved or justified by anything that we do.
Jesus justifies those who obey him.
You are a Lutheran, which is close to a full blown Calvinist.
The Lutherans believe we have to have faith to get saved, and the Calvinists say it is a work and can't even have faith first.
Well, faith is a work, the Bible says it is.
You and the Calvinists have a contest on who obeys God the least.
We have to obey to get saved, it is to who the Holy Spirit is given.
Acts 5:32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is
the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Before anyone can repent, they must be born again by the Gospel.
Being born again happens after Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit, and he only gives the Holy Spirit to those he accepts, and he accepts those who obey by humbling themselves and repenting of their sin.
They must hear and believe the Gospel, 1 Peter 1:3. Here is the order of salvation.
They must hear, believe that they have to repent of their sins. The gospel is about our being crucified with Christ...our dying to the sins of the world...we promise to die to the sins of the world and live to please Jesus.
Hearing the Gospel.
Believing the Gospel.
Being born again by the Holy Spirit.
Repenting.
I can hardly believe you got the repenting part after being saved. If we sin AFTER being saved, of course, we repent. However, just to get saved we have to know what our sins are and repent of them.