Repentance, Part 2

Before taking a look at the meaning of repentance, let’s look at what repentance does not mean.

1.    Repentance is not Confession.

Most of what Christians term repentance is actually confession – the agreement with God that our thoughts, motives, actions or inactions have violated the law of God. For a person who is saved, confession of one’s sins will always bring forgiveness (1 John 1.9), but confession alone will not bring salvation to a lost person.

In fact, the only effective confession for a lost person is not a confession of sin but the confession that Christ is Lord (Rom. 10.9).

This may be a bit confusing at first, but I pray that when we get into the true meaning of repentance, this idea will become more understandable.

2.    Repentance is not Remorse.

Perhaps it might be better to say that remorse is not repentance. Remorse is typically an element of repentance and a lack of sorrow for one’s sins would bring suspicion on a person’s sincerity in repentance.

Nevertheless, to define repentance simply in terms of sorrow for one’s actions or failures does not adequately define the word repent as it relates to salvation. Here is an example.

Matt. 27:3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he (Jesus) was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. (KJV)

Judas was sorry for having betrayed Jesus, but he did not repent, for had he done so, he would certainly have been forgiven.

In the NKJV, the verse says Judas was “remorseful.” In the ESV, verse three says Judas “changed his mind.”

The Amplified Version expands on the meanings of the words even more:

When Judas, His betrayer, saw that (Jesus) was condemned, (Judas was afflicted in mind and troubled for his former folly; and) with remorse (with little more than a selfish dread of the consequences) he brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.

According to Strong’s Concordance, the word used in this verse for repent means “to take care afterward.” This is what happened to Judas.

After Judas recognized the consequences of his actions, he was sorry for what he had done. Things did not turn out as he had hoped or planned. He even acted on his sorrow in an effort to reverse the effects of his former actions. But this was not repentance that leads to salvation because Jesus said in…

John 17:12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

According to Alfred Barnes, “True repentance leads to the Savior; this led away from the Savior to the gallows.”[1]

The repentance of Judas was in reality only remorse – sorrow that led him away from Jesus and to commit suicide. He is the real-life example of what Paul would later write in his letter to the church at Corinth.

2 Cor. 7.10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

3.    Repentance is not Resolution – an effort or determination to do better in the future.

All of us can relate to having failed on multiple occasions when we resolved to overcome some personal failure or shortcoming in our own power. Just think of how many New Year’s resolutions have ended in failure. Someone said, “A New Year’s Resolution is a to-do list for the first week of January.”

That is about how effective our efforts are at eliminating sinful behavior by resolution.

Thomas Watson wrote in 1668, “Self-love raises a sickbed repentance. But if he recovers – the love of sin will prevail against it. Trust not to such a passionate resolution; it is raised in a storm – and will die in a calm!”[2]

4.    Repentance is not Penance – an activity performed to try to atone for one's own sins

When you study the meaning of the English word “repent,” you learn that it is a compound word made up of “re” and “pent” – thus it means to do penance again. The English word does very little in helping us to understand the biblical meaning of the word.

I am sure most of us have had a similar experience following an awareness of sin in our lives. We first feel great remorse and regret – wishing there was some way we could take it back (and probably hoping that our sin is never discovered).

Since we can’t, the next thing we do is think of some way we can make it up to God – maybe by doing a series of good things that will balance out the bad. One writer identified such acts of obedience as “currency by which we pay God back for his gift of the forgiveness of our sins.”[3]

This same writer included the following definition in his blog concerning repentance:

The Roman Catholic sacrament of penance is the process by which the Church absolves a penitent sinner of his sin by requiring him to (1) confess that sin to a priest, (2) demonstrate adequate sorrow over that sin (usually by a prayer) and (3) endure any temporal punishments (such as repeating prayers or performing works of service) levied by the priest in order to make satisfaction for that sin before God.[4]

This is a typical pattern that we have learned through generation after generation of misunderstanding the meaning of repentance.

·         We confess our sin to God

·         We tell Him how very sorry we are for having failed Him

·         We promise never to do it again or that we will be very good in other ways from now on

We repeat that process over and over. Thus we do repentance – or rather re-penance – which is not repentance at all.

Notice that in each of these cases, the focus is on our sin with very little focus on Christ except as the One who can give absolution. Since that is where our focus is, we continue to return to our sin and fail time after time, in spite of our confession, our remorse, our strong resolution, and our repetitive penance.

However, the original meaning of the word repent had nothing to do with sin directly. In fact, if you do a word search of the Bible, you will never find the word repent directly connected to the word sin. The Bible never uses the phrase “repent of your sin.”

Such a statement may come as a surprise to most people, but I pray you will continue to follow this series on repentance and hopefully come to realize the true meaning of the word.

---

[1] Pierce, Larry. Online Bible Edition, Version 4.30, Sep 6, 2013, 07.29, Copyright © 1992-2013

[2] Watson, Thomas. The Doctrine of Repentance. Nook Book created by Lulu.com. 2013. p 11

[3] Riccardi, Mike. "Repentance versus Penance." For Our Benefit. N.p., 13 July 2010. Web. 20 Feb 2014. .

[4] Ibid.

Repentance, Part 1

In my studies I ran across some very interesting articles that claimed that repentance is not part of the process of salvation – that a person does not have to repent to be saved. I was quite surprised to find that anyone could come to such a conclusion in light of the clear teaching of Scripture.

In chapter 3 of the book of Matthew, Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. In the first part of chapter 4, Jesus goes off alone into the wilderness where He is tempted by Satan.

Following this time of temptation, Jesus returned home to Galilee, where Mark tells us Jesus began to preach.

Mark 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Matthew tells us that Jesus then left His home in Nazareth of Galilee to begin His traveling ministry. He did not head into the big city of Jerusalem – the center of Judaism – as you might think He would, but He headed out into the wilderness provinces of Zebulun and Naphtali.

Matt. 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

This is the same sermon that was preached by John the Baptist (Matt. 3.2), and it is the same message that the disciples would preach when they began their first mission trips (Mk. 6.12).

Just before Jesus was ascended to the Father following His resurrection appearances, Jesus said to His disciples…

Luke 24:46 Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Following the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the first sermon was preached by Peter. One of the primary points of his sermon concerned the need for repentance.

Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

After Peter preached in the home of the Roman Cornelius and witnessed the coming of the Holy Spirit on those who were not Jewish in national origin, he shared the good news with the leaders in Jerusalem.

Acts 11:18 When they (the Jewish leadership) heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to (all the people groups of the world) God has also granted repentance that leads to life.”

When the Apostle Paul stood face to face with the wisest men of the known world on Mars Hill in Athens, Greece, he preached to them of Jesus and the resurrection, and as he neared the end of his sermon, he said…

Acts 17:30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

On at least two occasions, Paul stated that his message never changed as he preached to both Jews and to those who were not Jewish…

Acts 20:21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

To the church at Corinth Paul would write…

2 Cor. 7:10 …godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Many will argue that all that is required for a person to become a Christian is to believe. And you will notice that belief is mentioned several times in the verses quoted above. However, I want you to understand that belief is not all that is required for salvation.

As we discovered in our recent study of the Revelation on Wednesday nights, millions of people will one day believe in Christ and even recognize that He is Lord, but they will not repent which leads to their doom.

Rev. 9:20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Rev. 16:9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. 10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

Finally, the writer of Hebrews encourages the believers in the early church by writing…

Heb. 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.

This verse tells us that the foundation of the doctrine of Christ begins with repentance from dead works and faith toward God. Thus we see that one of the fundamental concepts of the gospel of Christ is repentance.

Having established the necessity of repentance in redemption, the next question we need to answer is “What does the Bible mean by repentance?”

I hope to explain that meaning very clearly to you next time. I warn you, you might be surprised at what we discover.

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The Focus of Christianity

For the last few months in our Tuesday Night Bible Study group we have been studying the foundations of Christianity. Our purpose is to seek out the truth of what it means to be a Christian and to see if we can discover how the church has come so far afield from where God intended it to be.

We understand that the focus of Christianity is neither the church nor any creed. It is neither man nor his sin. It is not about what we believe or how we behave. All of these things are important elements in the understanding of Christianity, but none of these things are the focus of Christianity.

The primary focus of Christianity is not... 

• Being or becoming a better person or citizen

• Becoming all you can be in life
• Improving your marriage
• Raising the best children you can raise
• Never being homeless or jobless or free of persecution or discrimination
• Receiving the fruit of the Spirit
• Getting out of hell and into heaven

Surely all of these things are benefits and blessings of Christianity, but none of these things – which are the gifts of Christianity – are the focus of Christianity.

The focus of Christianity is found in the first syllable – the first six letters of the word – that is, Christ.

For too long the world has made Christianity out to be just another religious choice in a potpourri of religious choices. Indeed, many people today will admit that the reason they claim to be Christians is because they studied the major religions of the world and found Christianity to be the one that most satisfied their needs and expectations.

Others claim to be Christians because they were born into a family where Christianity was the religion of their tradition. The children continued in the footsteps of their parents, assuming that, because their parents were Christians and because they belonged to the church, they were also Christians.

Let us be reminded that God does not have any grandchildren – only children. Every child born in this world is born into sin and has inherited the sinful nature of Adam and requires a Savior – Jesus Christ – to be reconciled to God the Father.

That is why it is so imperative that Christian men understand what Paul wrote in…

Eph. 6:4 Fathers (notice that it does not say mothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins, but Fathers) do not provoke your children to anger, but (Fathers) bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Some claim to be Christians because they fear hell and believe that becoming a Christian will deliver them from the penalty of sin. They do not necessarily make a commitment to Christ, but they join, attend, and support the church and believe the things of the Bible. In fact, many of them can argue things of the Bible with great passion, yet make little to no application of those same biblical principles in their everyday, walking around life.

There may be other reasons that people call themselves Christians, but the Bible makes it clear that the only people who are truly Christians are those…

• Who have been called by God the Father to salvation (John 6.44, 65)

• Who have been born again by the word of God and the will of the Holy Spirit (1 Pet. 1.23; John 3.5)

• Who have repented from sin (Acts 3.19)

• Who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in their hearts (Rom. 8.9)

• Who have confessed Christ as Lord (Rom. 10.9)

When our focus is on any other person or place or doctrine or blessing above the person of Christ, then our belief system is only a good religion and ceases to be worthy of being called Christianity.

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What God Intends for Us to Know

As is often the case, a recent conversation with one of my best friends, Steve, turned into a discussion about the nature of God. This has been an ongoing discussion for several years and grows more interesting as time goes by.

Today, Steve asked, “You know that I am reading through the Bible…”

Actually, both of us are reading through the Bible, though we are using different plans. It is the beginning of the year, so we are both in Genesis. My wife and I are in the midst of the story of the life of Joseph. You will see why this is important as the story progresses.

Now right about here, imagine that my brain has amped up, reviewing what we are both reading, and beginning to formulate my thoughts to stay up with, or maybe even stay ahead of where Steve is going with his point. Since no one’s brain works like Steve’s and since his comments seldom give clear clues to where he is going, I’ve never been successful at this. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying.

OK. So, now I am thinking. Steve continues... 

“As I have been reading lately, I’ve begun to ask the same question more and more, ‘What is it that God wanted Israel to know about Him?’ God delivered Israel after they had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years…”

Right about here in his comments, my mind takes in this new data and, at synaptic speed, continues to process: Almost everyone knows about the years of Israel’s captivity in Egypt. In addition, I had just read about how Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt and unjustly imprisoned there by his master. In both cases, God intervened in the lives of both Israel and Joseph to free them from bondage and captivity.

So, without giving my words due consideration, I cut in...

“That God is redeemer….”

“Whoa,” Steve interjects before I could utter another word. “Wait just a minute. Let’s stop right here...”

This is not an unusual occurrence in our conversations. Once Steve is on a roll to his objective, he doesn’t want to be interrupted, especially when it is obvious that I have taken the path most traveled by and he is off on a safari to seldom trodden places. More often than not, about the time he is really into his processing and explaining, someone or something will interrupt, like the telephone will ring. This is pestilence. It seems to happen every time. Wait for it…

Steve continues...

“The nation of Israel is in slavery in Egypt, yet God was the one who put them there. He must have had a purpose in doing so, but why? And when He delivered them from slavery, it began with the Red Sea. You know that there was the I-75 route – the shortest route – right up to the Promised Land, but no, He had them turn right and travel through a wilderness. So what is it that He is trying to teach them? What is it that God wants us to learn about Him?”

So here is a clue. My mind should pick up on something here, but I am still processing along my earlier track: Not only did God deliver the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, much later in their history they were carried off into captivity by Babylon. And, once again, God delivered them and restored them to their homeland and to Jerusalem.

All of these events – Egyptian slavery, Joseph’s imprisonment, and the Babylonian captivity – ended the same way. God delivered His people. They were all redeemed.

The same thing is true of those who know Christ as Lord. We were in bondage to sin and death until God, in His providence, redeemed us and granted us salvation and freedom in and through Christ.

So I chimed in once again...

“He is the God of redemption. God wanted the world to understand Him in terms of redemption.”

Right about here, you guessed it, “R-i-i-ing.”

Steve answers, and the conversation is ended.

I told you that Steve is my best friend, but he is also my employer. As he continued his phone conversation, I returned to the warehouse that I oversee a couple of miles away. Shortly after arriving, I am on a ladder retrieving a file when my cell phone rings.

It’s Steve.

“Remember what you said about God wanting men to understand Him in terms of redemption? You were right about that…”

At this point, I could begin to feel a bit of pride, but from experience, I know that another shoe is about to drop.

“…but...”

See? This is the way it always is. But never fear, because the outcome is always enlightening and on target. Steve has a real gift of discernment and an ability to see a picture from such a different perspective that I am seldom if ever disappointed. This case is no exception.

“…God is the one who put them there. God did not just know that Israel would be slaves; He caused it all to happen. This was His plan. But what is it that He wanted them to learn – that He wanted us to learn from all this? OK, He wanted men to learn about redemption, but I believe that there is much more to this than just redemption. ”

Everything I have shared with you so far is a summary of the events. The conversation was much longer and the dialogue much more involved. I have only used quotation marks for effect. 

Now, if you will permit, I want to drop the conversation and summarize where the dialogue lead us.

God is Redeemer and Savior (Is. 43:1-3). When we come to recognize Him as our Lord and our redeemer we are thankful and our love for Him increases and motivates us to worship Him.

Yet, while it is true that God is the God of redemption, there is so much more to be understood about who He is from what He has revealed of himself in the Bible. To see Him primarily as the God of redemption is sufficient to elicit praise and worship from His people, but it is a limited concept of God.

Before there was creation – before there was redemption – there was God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And everything He does is for His own glory. (Isaiah 43:6-7) Stated from another perspective, God desires worship.

Angels – including Lucifer, aka Satan in later reference – were also created by God (Col. 1.16; Ez. 28:13-15). Angels were created with personal will or else Lucifer and his followers could not have rebelled against God.

As far as we know based on God’s revelation, angels cannot be redeemed. Thus Satan’s destiny has been the same since the moment he first determined to rebel against God.

So we know that angels recognize God as Lord and worship Him and apparently do so in response to some motivation – maybe even love, but that motivation is not rooted in redemption.

Steve proposed that, for a moment, we forget about redemption. Take it out of the equation. Then ask the same question, “What is it that God wants us to know about Him?”

When God repeated and reaffirmed His promise to Abraham concerning the nation that would come from his (Abraham’s) seed, He also informed Abraham that that same nation would first go through a baptism of adversity as slaves in Egypt for 400 years (Gen. 15:13). He also promised that He would judge Egypt and deliver the nation of Israel, bringing them out of Egypt “with great substance.” (Gen. 15:13-14)

Not only did God know that Israel would spend time as slaves in Egypt and ultimately be delivered from bondage. God was the instrument by which the entire process was set in motion.

The story of Joseph is one of the most interesting stories in the Bible, telling how a set of jealous brothers sold their youngest brother (Joseph) into slavery, how Joseph thrived there and later became the second most powerful man in the nation of Egypt. God instructed Jacob to take his family down into Egypt in response to Pharaoh’s invitation. Jacob was not to fear the outcome of this migration, because God would accompany the people there and would make of them a great nation (Gen. 46:2-4).

Then, at the very end of the story (Gen. 50:20), Joseph convinced his brothers that they had nothing to fear from him because, even though their original intent to harm him was evil, God intended it for good.

God is so much more than a savior. He does not exist simply to deliver us from evil. Instead, He himself orchestrates the evil itself so that it cannot help but accomplish His purpose and His will, which are always good (Rom. 8:28).

The holiness of God is not just a reference to some degree or magnitude goodness, but a statement of God’s relationship to sin and evil. When man considers sin, he is threatened by its ability to demean and destroy, and when he succumbs to temptation and embraces sin, the result is death.

However, the same cannot be said for God for He is holy, meaning that He is impervious and immune to the effects or penalty of sin and evil. In fact, sin and evil are subject to His will. Thus He may handle it, mold it, or use it in any way He chooses to accomplish His will and purpose. God’s plan in redemption is to render the redeemed holy, even as He is holy, so that we, too, are not affected by the effects of sin.

God created man to worship God, not simply for the things that God does – create, sustain, redeem – but for who God is. God is much, much more than the sum of all of His actions.

That is why He identified himself to Moses as “I AM.” God is, and therefore, we are to worship Him simply because He is.

Not only is there no other greater than God – there simply is no “other.” (Ex. 8:10, Deut. 4:35, 39; Is. 46:9) Therefore, none can hold Him accountable or overcome Him or prevent His will or teach Him anything.

He cannot even be disappointed in us, because He has no expectations of us. Based on the dictionary definition of the word, an expectation is a feeling or belief about how successful or good (or bad) something or someone will be at some future time. But God’s awareness of our future actions is not based on a feeling or faith, but on facts. He is omniscient. He has perfect knowledge of who we are and what we do or will do because He is our Creator.

When we look beyond God as simply the source of redemption and blessing and see Him in His sovereign role as Lord of eternity and of the Universe, then we cannot help but to fall on our faces and worship Him in awe and wonder, and we cannot fail to rise and apply our worship in service.

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