True and False Repentance Part 2
September 2007
Looking
repentant is easy. Being repentant is another issue
entirely. I have sat in counseling situations and seen men and women
weep over sins, only to return almost immediately to them.
If you have ever been
involved in jail ministry, then you know well the scene. You sit
opposite someone with thick glass between you. The tears well up in
their eyes and they express such sorrow for what they have done. The
tears flow and talk always turns to God. You will never find a higher
concentration of “religious” and “innocent” people as you do within the
walls of a jail! The true test of their “conversion” and “repentance”
comes when they get out.
Last month1
we started looking at the difference between true and false
repentance.2 We saw that the
preaching of repentance was central to the preaching of Jesus and the
Apostles. We also looked at four things that repentance is not.
First, it is not merely a sense of terror over sin. Second, it is
not merely a resolution to stop sinning. Third, it is not
merely leaving certain sins. Fourth, it is not merely a
feeling of shame.
Now we need to look at
what repentance is.
Defining
Repentance
The Greek word translated
“repentance” in the New Testament is metanoia, from meta,
“after,” and noeo, “to understand.” Literally it means “after thought”
or “change of mind.” Some try to limit the understanding of metanoia
to simply a change of thinking and not a change in
conduct. However, this “change of mind” cannot be biblically
divorced from a change of life. Genuine God-wrought repentance will
manifest itself in “fruits of repentance” (Acts 26:20)
just as God-wrought saving faith will manifest itself in good works (James
2:14-26).
Biblical repentance is
not merely a change of mind, but a change of mind that manifests itself
in a changed life. The Bible stresses a change of purpose and
specifically a turning from sin to God and Christ. No change of mind can
be called true repentance if it does not bring forth the fruits of
repentance, that is, turning to God and away from idols/sin.
I like the definition
offered by Thomas Watson in The Doctrine of Repentance: “Repentance
is a grace of God’s Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and
visibly reformed.”3
As we look at biblical
repentance, I think you will see how Watson’s definition captures the
essence of repentance.
A Gift of
Grace
Let’s begin with the
divine element of repentance and then we will look at the human element
of repentance.
Repentance is a grace
of God’s Spirit. That is the puritan way of saying, “Repentance is a
gift from God mediated through the Holy Spirit.” Scripture teaches that
repentance is something that God grants to sinners.
Peter said to the crowd in
the temple in Acts 3:26, “For you first, God raised up His Servant
and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked
ways.” What is the blessing? It is Jesus turning us from our wicked
ways. That turning from sin is called a blessing by God and something
that Jesus does to us. Peter describes the activity of repentance as
“turning from your wicked ways” and yet also attributes that turning to
the blessing of God poured out on us through the work of Jesus Christ.
It is a gift.
Peter says it even more
clearly in Acts 5:31 when before the Sanhedrin Peter says, “He
is [that is Jesus who is raised, v. 30] the One Whom God exalted
to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to
Israel and the forgiveness of sins.” Peter says that Christ, from
his exalted position at the right hand of the Father, grants two things:
repentance and forgiveness of sins. The point is hard to miss. It is
within the prerogative of the exalted Son of God to grant repentance and
forgiveness to whomever He wills. It is a gift from God - specifically
Jesus Christ.
This type of thinking was
not unique to Peter. After Peter preached repentance and faith to
Cornelius he got back to Jerusalem and told the story to the other
Apostles (Acts 10-11). When the other Apostles heard of
Cornelius’s salvation and baptism, they responded by saying, “Well
then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to
life” (Acts 11:18). It was not just Israelites that God had
given the gift of repentance to (Acts 5:31), but now the Apostles
realized that God was also forgiving Gentiles and was turning some
Gentiles from their wicked ways and granting it to Gentiles to repent
and thus have life.
This sovereign element of
salvation is all through the book of Acts. In Pisidian Antioch God
granted repentance and faith to those who were ordained to eternal life
and they believed (Acts 13:48). The Lord did the same work in the
heart of Lydia by “opening her heart to respond to the things spoken
by Paul” (Acts 16:14). In Corinth, there were some who through
“grace had believed.”
What does Paul say about
this? He told Timothy that “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be
quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,
with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God
may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and
they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil,
having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-25).
Look at those words carefully. What is it that leads to the knowledge of
the truth, coming to their senses and escaping from the devil? It is God
granting repentance. Repentance is a divine gift. It is a
grace of the Spirit of God.
Have you ever considered
why a work of the Spirit of God is necessary? Have you ever wondered why
repentance must be granted by God? It is because salvation is the work
of God and not a work of man. Spiritually dead people do not repent. In
our unregenerate state, we cannot turn from sin or please God (Rom.
8:7-8). We are slaves to sin (Rom. 6:20) and Satan (Eph.
2:1-3). Thomas Watson wrote, “So dear is sin to a man that he
will rather part with a child than with a lust.”4
Spurgeon said, “Repentance and faith are distasteful to the
unregenerate; they would sooner repeat a thousand formal prayers than
shed a solitary tear of true repentance.”
Repentance is not a
human work, since God-wrought repentance is a gift of God, a work of the
Spirit of God. It is God that gives the gift of repentance to some,
granting that they might repent and have eternal life. So when we preach
that a man must repent of his sin, we are not asking him to do a
“work” any more than when we preach that he is to believe on Christ
for salvation. Believing is a gift of grace as well (Eph. 2:8-9; Acts
18:27; Phil. 1:29). Repentance, like faith are works of God in the
heart of the sinner. When Paul preached “repentance toward God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ” his gospel was not one of divine grace mixed
with human works and merit. Just as saving faith is “not of ourselves” (Eph.
2:8-9), so repentance was granted to us by Christ. It is all
of grace. Boasting is excluded that God might get all the glory for
salvation.
The Human
Element
Does the fact that
repentance is a gift mean that we aren’t responsible to repent? No. No
more than the fact that saving faith is a gift means we are not
responsible to believe, or the fact that sanctification is the work of
God (Phil. 2:13) means we are not responsible to pursue holiness
(Phil. 2:12: Heb. 12:14).
God does demand
repentance. Christ called men to repentance and belief on Him. Peter and
the other Apostles preached repentance. Paul preached “repentance toward
God and faith in the Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:21). God declares to
all men everywhere that they should repent (Acts 17:30-31). We
are commanded to repent and place our faith in Christ. Yet, it is God
who grants repentance.
Does the sinner truly
repent? Yes, God works on the heart to “turn them from their wicked
ways” (Acts 3:26) and we, in response, “turn from idols to serve
the living and true God” (1 Thess. 1:10). Repentance is not a
human work which earns human merit. Repentance is something we do as God
grants it to us. We are responsible to repent, God graciously grants it
to us.
It is a two-sided coin. Do
men repent? Yes. Does God grant it? Yes. Is that a contradiction? No. As
Spurgeon said, “God gives repentance, but men must themselves repent.”
The Inward
Humbling
True repentance
produces an inward humbling. A person may be sorry that they are
caught in their sin without being sorry for the sin itself. True
repentance is a sorrow over sin not because of the consequences, but
because the sin is a sin against a holy God. Again, Spurgeon: “The
true penitent repents of sin against God, and he would do so even if
there were no punishment. When he is forgiven, he repents of sin more
than ever; for he sees more clearly than ever the wickedness of
offending so gracious a God.”
When David was confronted
with his sin by Nathan, his response was to say, “For I know my
transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I
have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight.” David saw his sin
as an affront to a holy and gracious God. He was sorry for his sin. In
fact, David recognized that, “The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
That is the inward humbling of genuine repentance.
The proud of heart does
not see his sin or how his sin has offended God and earned God’s wrath (Luke
18:9-14). True repentance demonstrates the inward humbling work of
the Spirit of God whereby a man or woman is grieved over sin, not
because of what the sin cost him, but because of what the sin cost the
Savior.
This inward humbling not
only involves sorrow, but also shame. The penitent man feels shame
before God and not before man. The impenitent man may feel shame because
of what men think without ever giving a thought to how God feels about
his sin. True repentance involves feeling shame in the sight of God for
sin.
Visible
Reformation
Back to Watson’s
definition: Repentance is a grace of God’s Spirit whereby a sinner is
inwardly humbled and visibly reformed. This inward humility of
repentance must manifest itself in the outward life. True repentance is
an act of the entire person and affects the emotions, will, thinking and
behavior.
It is unthinkable that a
man can have the type of inward remorse over sin which is wrought by the
Spirit of God and then continue in sin. Repentance and saving faith must
manifest itself in a changed life. As Spurgeon put it, “If the man
does not live differently from what he did before, both at home and
abroad, his repentance needs to be repented of, and his conversion is a
fiction.” In other words, we can rightly expect that they will
“perform deeds appropriate to repentance” (Acts 26:20; Luke 3:8).
Comparing
the True and the False
True repentance is a gift
of God wrought by the Holy Spirit. False repentance can be manufactured
by man. True repentance must be granted by God. False repentance is
something man does for show. True repentance involves sorrow over sin.
False repentance hides a love for sin. True repentance is grieved over
what sin does to God. False repentance is grieved over what sin costs
the sinner. True repentance results in a changed life. False repentance
quits sin for a season only to eventually return. True repentance
creates a hatred for sin and a love for righteousness. False repentance
hides a love for sin and puts on a show of righteousness.
Do True
Believers Sin?
Yes. True believers do
sin. Having repented of sin and continuing in a life of confession,
repentance, and growing holiness does not mean that we cease from all
sin and can say, “I have no sin,” or, “I have not sinned” (1 John
1:8-10). The true believer falls into sin. The unbeliever
dives into sin. There is a gulf of difference between those two. The
believer is overtaken by sin, the unbeliever dwells in and
revels in sin. The believer runs from sin, the unbeliever to
sin.
When a believer sins, his
conscience convicts him, the Spirit of God brings guilt, he confesses
his sin and turns from it and is grieved and shamed before God. When an
unbeliever sins, his conscience doesn’t bother him, he doesn’t confess
it (unless caught and confronted) and feels no shame before God. The
believer hates sin because of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. The
unbeliever loves sin and enjoys it.
Where are you in all of
these descriptions? Have you never repented of sin and trusted Christ?
Have you humbled yourself before a Holy God, or do you still love sin?
Without Wax -
Jim Osman
Pastor/Teacher
Footnotes:
1.
Part 1 of
this article can be accessed at the newsletter archive on our website (www.kootenaichurch.org).
2.
For
a more complete treatment of these issues and their relationship to
gospel preaching, I would recommend The Gospel According to Jesus
and its sequel, The Gospel According to the Apostles, by Dr. John
MacArthur. Consider also a good puritan classic by Thomas Watson titled,
The Doctrine of Repentance, available through Banner of Truth
Trust.
3.
Thomas
Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance (Carlisle: The Banner of Truth
Trust, 1991), 18.
4.
Ibid., 16. |
