Repentance

What is the meaning of repentance?

Does it mean simply saying ‘sorry’ when we did wrong?

Does it mean stopping to do what is harmful to others or to me?

Does it mean more than that?

The word repentance comes, in the Old Testament, from the verb in Hebrew ‘shouv’ that means to turn away, to return. In the New Testament, the word 'repentance' in Greek is 'metanoia' and means to change your mindset, to turn about, conversion. 
Repentance means to turn away from sin, from actions that miss the goal of our relationship of love with God or our neighbor, and to move toward this goal of love. 

Repentance is the first step to follow, for those who are estranged from God, who either don’t know Him or have moved away from a loving and joyful relationship with God, for those who don’t know or have forgotten the dialogs of grace that each person can experience daily with the heavenly Father, for those who don’t know or don’t experience anymore the tender and peaceful presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. 

This key step of repentance begins with God’s grace, which opens our eyes to the fact we are away from God, that we have come to do things that destroy us and others, that damage our relationship with the creator God, the heavenly Father. As we realize the love of God lavished on us through the creation, whether it is in the shining sun or in the kindness of a person, the facets of God’s love are so numerous that they cannot be counted. As we become aware of God’s grace and of the ways we cut ourselves or others from this wonderful grace, from the flow of God’s love toward His creation, we will want to turn away. 

For turning away from sin, from all that harms relationships with God, our neighbor or God’s creation, we have to repent. We have to stop doing what is wrong and harmful to us or to others, and replace it with what flows from God’s grace. 

The apostle Paul would say: let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need (Eph 4:28). Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear (Eph 4:29). 

James would say: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (James 4:7-8)

John the Baptist would say: let your repentance produce its fruits. (Matthew 2:8)

We can clearly see that this biblical concept of repentance involve much more than saying we are sorry or that we stop practicing evil. If we don’t take the path of replacing a bad action by a good one, then at best it is an incomplete repentance or fruitless repentance, that risks to leave us open to repeat the bad action and feel defeat and despair. This is not God’s will for us, he does not want us to always battle and never win. God wants us to win the victory over sin, he wants us to reach the goal of our life - this joyful and peaceful relationship with him, with our neighbor (as much as it depends on us) and with God’s creation.

One could be tempted to say: I achieve repentance by my own strength. This attitude is fundamentally flawed, because it denies the fact that if we become aware of our sins - of missing the goal of our creation - it is only because of God’s multi-faceted grace in this world. 

It is also a mistake because even the decision and capacity to change and come closer to God is supported by God’s enabling grace, God’s prevenient grace, that sustains our efforts to move away from sin and move closer to God. 

It is the awareness of the coming of God’s love, of his kingdom of peace and love, that ushers repentance into our lives. As God comes closer to us, he invites us to get closer to him. Jesus said, following John the Baptist: repent, for the kingdom of Heaven has come near (Matthew 3:2, 4:17). When God comes closer to a situation or person, in his righteous love he will remove all the lacks of love, and if we hold to sin we could end up judged and condemned so that we stop harming God’s creation. This freedom of choice that God gives us in his love has a painful element: if we reject this generous love, God will not force us and will let us experience the consequence of the rejection of his love: spiritual and eternal death. What some call God’s deliverance from evil, other call judgement and condemnation, while it is simply God coming to visit a situation. If we hold to sin, when God comes closer it will involve our condemnation, whether it is ultimate condemnation at the point of death of estrangement and diminution of life and peace during our earthly life. If, when God comes closer to us through his grace, we recognize our sins (our lack of love or ‘missing the goal’), then God invites us to enter on the path of repentance, a joyful path that will lead us to be delivered from evil and to the blessed fellowship with God and his creation. 

Once we get a clear picture of what repentance means, it becomes joyful, it is turning away from a path of death and entering toward a path of life. Does it require energy and commitment? Yes. Does it involve God’s grace? Absolutely, from start to end.

The picture of the returning arrow illustrates simply this turning away from sin, and turning toward God. Sin is to miss the goal of our creation, this loving relationship with God and our neighbor, and to repent is to welcome this goal and pursue it through the prevenient and enabling grace of our loving God.

As we follow the promptings of God's grace and enter on the joyful path of repentance, we prepare for the next key step that can be described with three words: Justification, regeneration and adoption.