Thoughts on Repentance: In my early years as a believer, I heard repentance defined in nearly the same way: stop going in one direction, turn around, and begin going in another. It sounded obvious, and it was repeated so often that I never thought to question it. But as I began reading different explanations and looking more carefully at how repentance is spoken of throughout Scripture, I slowly began to see that the subject had far more to do with the mind than I had previously understood. Repentance was not primarily a command to renovate my behavior. It concerned a change of mind – a coming to see God, myself, sin, righteousness, and Christ differently.
Perhaps part of the appeal is that this way of defining repentance fits how we naturally think. We think in terms of what must be done, what happens when we fail, whether improvement can be seen, and whether change can be proven. Even in matters of grace, we often look for something in man that can be measured. A repentance that means turning from particular sins and demonstrating a changed life fits easily within that way of thinking. It gives us something visible by which we can judge whether repentance has truly taken place.
That does not mean repentance has no effect upon the way a person lives. What we come to see and believe will most certainly shape how we think, speak, and act. But the fruit of repentance should not be confused with repentance itself. Matthew 3:8. A change of mind will have its effects upon our conduct, but those effects should not be placed inside the definition as though they were repentance itself. Once the fruit is made part of the meaning, repentance begins to carry far more than Scripture requires the word itself to carry.
Repentance does not need to be made larger in order for us to take sin seriously or to give obedience its proper place in the believer’s life. Scripture already speaks clearly about obedience, putting sin to death, chastening, fruit, growth, and perseverance. We do not strengthen those truths by placing all of them inside the meaning of repentance. Keeping them distinct does not make them less important; it simply allows each one to stand in its proper place.
A person may truly come to see sin differently, himself differently, his works differently, and Christ differently, while still finding sin painfully present within him. A changed mind does not mean the sinful nature has disappeared. He may now hate what he once excused, grieve over what he once defended, and yet still fall into the very things he no longer wants to do. Romans 7:15-19. That conflict does not mean repentance never took place. It may simply mean that he now sees what he could not see before. And that clearer view of sin does not leave him impressed with his progress. It makes him more honest about himself and more dependent upon Christ.
Repentance does not leave a person admiring how much better he has become. It does not teach him to lower God’s demands until his obedience begins to look acceptable, and then carry himself as though he has overcome what no one since Adam has ever been able to overcome. Yet no matter how much we lower the standard in our own minds, God’s law remains exactly what it is.
The law does not bend to make room for our weakness. Galatians 3:10. It still demands complete, inward, outward, and continual perfection, and one failure destroys every claim to personal righteousness. Repentance brings us to see that more clearly. It shows us the seriousness of sin, the helplessness of our efforts, and the emptiness of every confidence we place in ourselves. It leaves us with no righteousness to boast in and no victory to claim as our own. At the same time, it brings us to see Christ differently – not as a supplement to what we have achieved, but as the whole of our hope – our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. I Corinthians 1:30.
One teaching that has especially confused the meaning of repentance is what is commonly called lordship salvation. Within that framework, repentance is no longer allowed to remain a change of mind that looks away from self unto Christ. It is enlarged into a lifelong examination of whether the sinner has changed enough to prove that his faith is genuine and that Christ has truly received him. The concern is often to protect the church from empty professions and careless living. But the sinner is left hearing two messages at once: look entirely to Christ, and then look back within yourself to determine whether enough change has taken place to make that faith believable. That is not gospel protection. It is the reintroduction of human performance at the point where Christ alone should stand.
But the issue is not whether Christ is Lord. Acts 2:36. Christ does not wait upon our submission in order to become Lord. Philippians 2:9-11. He is Lord over the obedient and the disobedient, over the strong and the weak, over the steadfast and the stumbling. Romans 14:9. Christ is Lord because of who He is, not because of what we become. Nor does the seriousness of sin need to be defended by adding our reform to the gospel, or obedience protected by placing it inside the meaning of repentance. Sin is serious because God is holy. Obedience matters because Scripture commands it. Neither truth is strengthened by making our performance part of the ground upon which faith is judged.
Once surrender, reform, obedience, and perseverance are made part of repentance, the believer can no longer look to Christ alone for assurance. He must also search his own life for enough proof that his faith is real. But because his obedience is never complete and his progress is often uneven, he is left asking whether he has changed enough, surrendered enough, and persevered enough. The eyes that should be fixed upon Christ are turned back upon the sinner and the quality of his own repentance. Isaiah 45:22. This is why repentance must be understood in a way that turns the sinner away from self-examination and back toward Christ.
Repentance, then, is not the successful renovation of the sinner. It is a God-given change of mind in which a person comes to see God, himself, sin, his own works, and Christ differently. He comes to see sin for what it is, himself for what he is, and his works for what they can never accomplish. Every false confidence is exposed, and Christ is seen as the only ground of righteousness and acceptance before God. Philippians 3:8-9.
In the final analysis, repentance does not send us away to prove how thoroughly we have changed. It brings us to the end of confidence in ourselves. We may still struggle, stumble, and find sin painfully present, but we no longer defend what once deceived us or trust what could never save us. We look away from ourselves unto Christ because our acceptance before God rests not in the quality of our repentance, but in the perfection of His righteousness. MPJ