Man's Ability to Repent

[Yeshua1]

"Sin" in the singular denotes a sinful lifestyle.
"Sins" in the plural denotes a list of sins. So they don't mean the same thing.
The latter may be nothing more than a form of reformation. Or, even if it is sincere, it is not necessary and may do more harm than good. It is not essential in God's plan of salvation.
Consider the following scenario:
An evangelist comes to town to preach in the local Baptist Church. He is well known and a good number of unsaved are also in attendance. At the end of a particular powerful message he gives an invitation but in his message he had emphasized that you need to repent of all your sins. If you don't repent of all your sins you can't be saved. Some come forward--too many for the pastor to counsel with. He enlists the help of some other of his members.
One "sinner" does want to be saved. The preacher had said that he needed to repent of his sins, so in his prayer he begins to tell God how sorry he was to commit adultery with so and so, to sell those drugs to those children, to take advantage of that particular girl, to steal from the local hardware store, etc. etc. And the counselor is there with his eyes closed and his jaw dropped. "Repent of all your sins." What he has just done may be of irreparable harm, given fodder for gossip, harmed not just himself but the reputation of others.
Repenting of individual sins does not mean confessing them before others. Neither does it mean listing them. But to many it does, and can have that meaning. It may not to you, but you don't know that it will to others.

Repentance simply means a change of mind. Look it up in any lexicon. It does not mean a turning from sin. It means to turn, to change, as in to change direction, to turn around. One must turn from the direction they were going (the way of sin and the world; the way of rebellion) and turn toward God, and submit to him. That is what repentance is. It is from...toward.... It is a change in direction. There must be "repentance toward God," and that does not come without faith. Faith and biblical repentance accompany one another. They are a package deal. You can't have one without the other. They are two sides of the same coin.


That speaks of fruit--after the fact.

God commands the sinner to repent of trying to get saved by own efforts, for Jesus did that for them, but if it really means to repent of all sinning before coming to Jesus, none of us here would be saved!

 

[Reformed]

"Sin" in the singular denotes a sinful lifestyle.
"Sins" in the plural denotes a list of sins. So they don't mean the same thing.

Think about it. They are the same thing. If I repent of sin or I repent of my sins it comes out the same. If I repent of sin in my life, then the singular form represents all the sins I have committed, including my sinful lifestyle. The singular and plural tenses are used interchangeably all the time. But let us dispense with confusion over the matter, shall we? Win a sinner repents he is repenting of his sins, whether itemized or not. Why does the sinner not have to remember all his sins and itemize them in order to to be saved?

1 Peter 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Jesus Christ bore our sins (plural). They were all laid on Him. Ergo, we do not have to itemize our sins in order to be forgiven. We repent en toto of our sins. Without repentance there is no salvation. Without faith there is no salvation.

The latter may be nothing more than a form of reformation. Or, even if it is sincere, it is not necessary and may do more harm than good. It is not essential in God's plan of salvation.
Consider the following scenario:
An evangelist comes to town to preach in the local Baptist Church. He is well known and a good number of unsaved are also in attendance. At the end of a particular powerful message he gives an invitation but in his message he had emphasized that you need to repent of all your sins. If you don't repent of all your sins you can't be saved. Some come forward--too many for the pastor to counsel with. He enlists the help of some other of his members.
One "sinner" does want to be saved. The preacher had said that he needed to repent of his sins, so in his prayer he begins to tell God how sorry he was to commit adultery with so and so, to sell those drugs to those children, to take advantage of that particular girl, to steal from the local hardware store, etc. etc. And the counselor is there with his eyes closed and his jaw dropped. "Repent of all your sins." What he has just done may be of irreparable harm, given fodder for gossip, harmed not just himself but the reputation of others.
Repenting of individual sins does not mean confessing them before others. Neither does it mean listing them. But to many it does, and can have that meaning. It may not to you, but you don't know that it will to others.

Why are you saying this? Who ever said sins have to be itemized and confessed as though someone was placing a catalog order? I do not believe that. No Monergist I know believes that. I honestly think you think we believe that, but that thinking on your part is wrong. I guess I have to be redundant in order to make any sense. We repent of our sins and our sin. We repent of the sinful deeds we have done, but there is no need to catalog them since Christ knows them intimately well, for He died for them. Our sinful lifestyle (call it being in the state of sin, if you will) is part and parcel of repenting of our sins.

Repentance simply means a change of mind. Look it up in any lexicon. It does not mean a turning from sin. It means to turn, to change, as in to change direction, to turn around. One must turn from the direction they were going (the way of sin and the world; the way of rebellion) and turn toward God, and submit to him. That is what repentance is. It is from...toward.... It is a change in direction. There must be "repentance toward God," and that does not come without faith. Faith and biblical repentance accompany one another. They are a package deal. You can't have one without the other. They are two sides of the same coin.


That speaks of fruit--after the fact.

Matthew Henry on "repent" in Acts 17:30

The charge God gave to the Gentile world by the gospel, which he now sent among them: He now commandeth all men every where to repent—to change their mind and their way, to be ashamed of their folly and to act more wisely, to break off the worship of idols and bind themselves to the worship of the true God. Nay, it is to turn with sorrow and shame from every sin, and with cheerfulness and resolution to every duty. (1.) This is God’s command. It had been a great favour if he had only told us that there was room left for repentance, and we might be admitted to it; but he goes further, he interposes his own authority for our good, and has made that our duty which is our privilege. (2.) It is his command to all men, every where,—to men, and not to angels, that need it not,—to men, and not to devils, that are excluded the benefit of it,—to all men in all places; all men have made work for repentance, and have cause enough to repent, and all men are invited to repent, and shall have the benefit of it. The apostles are commissioned to preach this every where. The prophets were sent to command the Jews to repent; but the apostles were sent to preach repentance and remission of sins to all nations. (3.) Now in gospel times it is more earnestly commanded, because more encouraged than it had been formerly. Now the way of remission is more opened than it had been, and the promise more fully confirmed; and therefore now he expects we should all repent. “Now repent; now at length, now in time, repent; for you have too long gone on in sin. Now in time repent, for it will be too late shortly.”

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 2145). Peabody: Hendrickson.

From a very scholarly Lexicon, Louw-Nida, on repent:

41.52 μετανοέω; μετάνοια, ας f: to change one’s way of life as the result of a complete change of thought and attitude with regard to sin and righteousness—‘to repent, to change one’s way, repentance.’
μετανοέω: ἐξελθόντες ἐκήρυξαν ἵνα μετανοῶσιν ‘they went out and preached that the people should repent’ Mk 6:12.
μετάνοια: ἀγνοῶν ὅτι τὸ χρηστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς μετάνοιάν σε ἄγει; ‘do you fail to understand that God is kind because he wants to lead you to repent?’ Ro 2:4.
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. Whether the focus is upon attitude or behavior varies somewhat in different contexts. Compare, for example, Lk 3:8, He 6:1, and Ac 26:20.


Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 509). New York: United Bible Societies.

Another Lexicon on "repent":

3340. μετανοέω metanoéō; contracted metanoṓ, fut. metanoḗsō, from metá (3326), denoting change of place or condition, and noéō (3539), to exercise the mind, think, comprehend. To repent, change the mind, relent. Theologically, it involves regret or sorrow, accompanied by a true change of heart toward God. It is distinguished from metamélomai (3338), to regret. Intrans.:

Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

Does repentance include a change of mind? Absolutely. But does repentance only mean a change of mind? No. It also means a change of behavior. Louw-Nida call it a "total change". And that is what repentance is. It is a total change of mind and behavior. It is a turning from self to God. How can one claim to believe in God, through Christ, and continue in the same sinful direction? They cannot.

 

[DHK]

Does repentance include a change of mind? Absolutely. But does repentance only mean a change of mind? No. It also means a change of behavior. Louw-Nida call it a "total change". And that is what repentance is. It is a total change of mind and behavior. It is a turning from self to God. How can one claim to believe in God, through Christ, and continue in the same sinful direction? They cannot.

How is that any different than what I already said?

Repentance simply means a change of mind. Look it up in any lexicon. It does not mean a turning from sin. It means to turn, to change, as in to change direction, to turn around. One must turn from the direction they were going (the way of sin and the world; the way of rebellion) and turn toward God, and submit to him. That is what repentance is. It is from...toward.... It is a change in direction. There must be "repentance toward God," and that does not come without faith. Faith and biblical repentance accompany one another. They are a package deal. You can't have one without the other. They are two sides of the same coin.

 

[DHK]

Why are you saying this? Who ever said sins have to be itemized and confessed as though someone was placing a catalog order? I do not believe that. No Monergist I know believes that. I honestly think you think we believe that, but that thinking on your part is wrong. I guess I have to be redundant in order to make any sense. We repent of our sins and our sin. We repent of the sinful deeds we have done, but there is no need to catalog them since Christ knows them intimately well, for He died for them. Our sinful lifestyle (call it being in the state of sin, if you will) is part and parcel of repenting of our sins.

I say it because I have experienced it and am therefore careful in what I say about salvation. Having worked with people of various backgrounds it is easy for a person to think they must start "confessing sins" when that expression is used, so why use it? You think "sin" and "sins" mean the same, and perhaps in your thinking and theology they do. But that doesn't mean they mean the same to the uneducated unsaved person who simply needs to know that he is a lost sinner in need of a savior. In his lost condition he deserves to be permanently separated from God because of his sinfulness. But Christ paid the penalty for him that in stead of eternal separation he might have eternal life. He can have that gift of eternal life by accepting it by faith.
(If one accepts Christ by faith then Christ becomes the object of his life and he automatically is turning from sin and the world to Christ and submission to him, which is repentance.)
Faith and repentance go hand in hand with each other. You can't have one without the other.

 

[convicted1]

How is that any different than what I already said?

And when you do that, you repent of your sin...or sins...however you state it. When you turn to God you turn from self. When you turn from self, you turn from sin...or sins...however you state it....

 

[Reformed]

I say it because I have experienced it and am therefore careful in what I say about salvation. Having worked with people of various backgrounds it is easy for a person to think they must start "confessing sins" when that expression is used, so why use it? You think "sin" and "sins" mean the same, and perhaps in your thinking and theology they do. But that doesn't mean they mean the same to the uneducated unsaved person who simply needs to know that he is a lost sinner in need of a savior. In his lost condition he deserves to be permanently separated from God because of his sinfulness. But Christ paid the penalty for him that in stead of eternal separation he might have eternal life. He can have that gift of eternal life by accepting it by faith.
(If one accepts Christ by faith then Christ becomes the object of his life and he automatically is turning from sin and the world to Christ and submission to him, which is repentance.)
Faith and repentance go hand in hand with each other. You can't have one without the other.

DHK, you just gave me a subjective opinion based on your experiences. There is nothing I can say to that because it is subjective. My understanding is based on what I believe the Word of God says on the issue, and is aided by the testimony and scholarship of godly men who have also labored in this area of study.

 

[Reformed]

How is that any different than what I already said?

Let us hope that we are agreed. Considering that you and I agree on so little, it would memorable indeed.

 

[DHK]

Let us hope that we are agreed. Considering that you and I agree on so little, it would memorable indeed.

I think we do. It is only a small matter of semantics or being too picky over some definitions of some words.

 

[Squire Robertsson]

This thread is closed.