WHAT IS REPENTANCE?

Mike Johnson

 What is Repentance?  This is a very important question.  It is important to understand the meaning of repentance because repentance is essential to salvation.  In Acts 2:38 the people were told that they needed to repent (in addition to being baptized) for the remission of sins.  Thus repentance is certainly important.

There are several words which occur in the original language which are translated repent.  One of these words simply means sorrow or regret.  This word is not the same word found in Acts 2:38.  Many people are sorrowful about their sins, but few are willing to actually repent in the true sense of what repentance is.

The Bible, for example, tells us that Judas repented (Mt. 27:3) after he betrayed Christ.  The word used here, in the original, simply means sorrow.  He obviously did not repent in the sense of what God requires of sinners.  Sorrow is involved in repentance, but it is not, within itself, repentance.  II Corinthians 7:10 tells us that godly sorrow “worketh,” or produces repentance so “godly sorrow” is not the same thing as repentance.

What then is repentance?  The Bible actually defines it for us.  In Matthew 12:41, Jesus referred to what had happened at Nineveh when Jonah preached there.  Jesus said that the people of Nineveh repented.  Now, what did they do?  From Jonah 3:6-8, we see that there was sorrow involved.  However, verse ten points out that they, “turned from their evil way.”  The repentance that God requires of us and is found in such passages as Acts 2:38, Luke 13:3, Acts 17:30, and Acts 11:18 means “a change of heart or attitude toward one’s sin that results in a reformation of life.”

There are at least three things point out in the Bible which can cause repentance.  The first, as we have already noted, is godly sorrow (II Cor. 7:10).  A second factor is God’s goodness (Rom. 2:4), while a third factor is the judgment which is to come (Acts 17:30-31)

Repentance is required to become a Christian (Acts 2:38) as well as for the Christian who sins (Acts 8:13, 18-22).

In closing, consider Acts 17:30 which says, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but not commandeth all men everywhere to repent.”  Have you repented?