What comes to mind when I say the word repent? Do you see some wild-eyed prophet pacing the street with a sign in his hand in all capital letters declaring REPENT! THE END IS NEAR? Do you feel judged and condemned wishing that those critical, judgmental Christians would just shut up and leave you alone? Or do you see it, like I do, as one of the greatest gifts God us gives to know His truth and come to Him?

Repentance is the fourth step in the Eight Steps to Experiencing His Victory process of healing and deliverance. 

An Incomplete Understanding of Repentance

One of the dangers I see in American Christianity is that we’ve equated belief and faith in Jesus Christ with a list of doctrinal beliefs. We believe that simply because we’ve been taught something and we know it intellectually that we actually believe it.

That’s the problem my dad had with Christians. Every time I tried to talk to him about coming to Christ he would go on a tirade about the hypocrites who went out on Saturday night, got drunk, and then went to church on Sunday.

It was hard for my dad to believe that the people he was talking about really had a relationship with Jesus when they lived like the devil all week and then went to church on Sunday. He knew deep down in his gut that if they are true followers of Christ, they would not be acting that way on a continuous basis.

In the same way, I see there is also a misunderstanding of true Biblical repentance. For many, the concept of repentance doesn't go far enough. Here are the main ones I see.

I’m Sorry

Some equate repentance with feeling bad about what they’ve done, apologizing, and promising never to do it again. This, of course, is wonderful but it doesn’t go far enough.

It reminds me of a commercial I saw years ago. A man is sitting at the kitchen table. He is drunk and holding his head in his hands. You can see that he is filled with remorse.

He says, “I’m so sorry, It’ll never happen again.”

The video stops and begins to rewind. You see the picture moving back to the beginning and hear the words going backward at a fast, high pitch. He then says the same words, “I’m sorry. It’ll never happen again.” I don’t remember how many times it rewinds, but as it rewinds a person comes on talking about the need to break the cycle of addiction.

The problem with feeling bad is that it doesn’t change the situation. There is more to repentance than saying I’m sorry.

Changing Your Mind

Part of the meaning the word repent is to change your mind. This is the most common understanding that people have about repentance. It is changing one’s mind and agreeing with what God says.

This is one hundred percent true but it doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t change the situation. It reminds me of the Apostle Paul and the struggle that He had in dealing with sin in his life. He tells us in Romans 7:14-25:

4 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Paul is showing us how he’s in total agreement with what God says. He knows the things he is doing are wrong, he doesn’t want to do them. and he even hates doing them. He wants to do good, his heart is in the right place but he is not changing and feels totally helpless wondering who will set him free from this hopeless situation.

An Example of True Repentance

Jesus enters the temple and the chief priests and the elders of the people confront Him and ask who gave Him authority to do the things that He’s doing. Rather than answering them, he asks them whether the baptism of John was from God or from men. Instant dilemma.

They know if they say from heaven, then Jesus was going to ask them why they haven’t repented and believed. If they say from man, they were afraid of the people because they believed he was a prophet. So they refuse to answer.

Jesus gives a simple parable that shows true repentance and rebukes them for their unbelief. He said:

28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.

So let’s compare the four groups of people and find out what Jesus believed to be true repentance:

The first son refused - felt bad - changed his mind - went to the field

The second son agreed - didn’t feel bad - changed his mind - didn’t go to the field

The tax collectors and prostitutes sinned - felt bad - changed their minds - believed

The chief priests and rulers didn’t feel bad - did not changed their minds - refused to believe.

An important side note is an understanding of the word believe. Belief in the Bible is not a mere mental assent, but always carries the idea of actions that flow from that belief. For example, the tax collectors believed the message of John and were baptized by him. True belief requires putting something into practice.

There are three components of repentance: regret, a change of mind, and a change of action. Let’s focus on the last component of action. True repentance always has an element of turning away from something and turning to something else.

Turning From . . . Turning To

I always like to get my understanding of truth from the word of God. It’s the only firm foundation for life and doing things God’s way always releases His blessing on our lives.

One of the main words for repent in Old Testament Hebrew is šûḇ. The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition explains the meaning of šûḇ as “the call for repentance on the part of man is a call for him to return (šûḇ) to his creaturely covenant and dependence on God.”

The article goes on to say that the:

NT usage is much more influenced by the OT šûḇ; that is, repentance not just as a feeling sorry, or changing one’s mind, but as a turning round, a complete alteration of the basic motivation and direction of one’s life. This is why the best translation for metanoeō is often ‘to convert’, that is, ‘to turn round’

In Acts 3:19 Peter tells his listeners:

Therefore, repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

Paul proclaims the same concept when speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus. He told he was “solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21)

It is so clear that Biblical repentance requires not only sorrow for sin, but a change of mind, followed by a change in lifestyle. No change in lifestyle, no repentance.

Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. (Hebrews 6:1)

For Paul repentance from dead works and faith in God go hand in hand. We must turn from one to the other. Repentance will change not only the things that we think but also the things that we do.

So in order to wrap this post up, I want to leave us with my favorite definition of repentance I have found so far. It is by Louw and Nida, two Greek experts They say:

Though in English a focal component of repent is the sorrow or contrition that a person experiences because of sin, the emphasis in μετανοέω and μετάνοια seems to be more specifically the total change, both in thought and behavior, with respect to how one should both think and act.

True repentance requires a change in action. The way to know if you truly believe is by your actions.

Thank You, God, for leading us in the pathway of repentance. Show us any place where we need to change not only our thoughts, but also our actions.