Repentance

[freeatlast]

The scriptures state the following;
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20:21.
What is your understanding of repentance? What is it exactly?

 

[tinytim]

Simply put it is changing your mind concerning sin.. it is seeing sin the way God does.... disgusting

 

[Scarlett O.]

The scriptures state the following;
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20:21.
What is your understanding of repentance? What is it exactly?

With intent and with purpose - repentance is changing one's mindset, attitude, lifetstyle, and heart to match God's holy nature.

 

[Tom Butler]

Simply put it is changing your mind concerning sin.. it is seeing sin the way God does.... disgusting

You've nailed it, tim.
Repent comes from the root word which means to "turn (pent) again (re)."
It goes along with confession, which means to "say with."
Fess--say; con--with

It is saying to God, I see my sin the way you see it, I've come to hate it like you hate it, and I want no more of it.

If someone wants to be saved from their sins by trusting Christ, but don't want to give up their sin, something's not right.

 

[Jim1999]

Consider repent in military terms,,,"About turn". The soldier does a complete turnabout and moves in the other direction.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[righteousdude2]

Repentance is...

...going in the opposite direction of the thing we have been convicted of and confessed to God as sin against His will and plan for our life! :godisgood:

Jim has it down right! It's a spiritual "About-face!" :thumbs:

 

[convicted1]

I agree with what everyone has said. :thumbs:

 

[stilllearning]

There are really two definitions of repentance.
(Depending upon if a person is saved or unsaved.)

(1)For the unsaved....it’s repentance with the heart.
(2)But for the saved....it is repentance with the hands.
--------------------------------------------------
The unsaved are not required to do anything but believe, to get saved.
But.....once your saved, good works(with the hands), is required; To prove to the world, that you are really saved..........
James 2:14
“What [doth it] profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?”

 

[Tom Bryant]

We define it as a change of mind that results in a change of action.

 

[Dr. Bob]

We define it as a change of mind that results in a change of action.

And that repentance can only come if the mind is capable of making such a decision/choice. The ungodly are such enemies of God and incapable of doing any right thing in His sight (they trick us, but not God).

Very first message preached in the NT, by John the Baptist, "Repent" followed by "Do the works that demonstrate your repentance was real". Wow.

Very first message preached by Jesus, "Repent".

It is either forgotten, glossed over or made into something generic with "if you believe you must have also repented automatically". Garbage. It is a stand-alone heart attitude and action that can be evaluated and demonstrated.

 

[preacher4truth]

And that repentance can only come if the mind is capable of making such a decision/choice. The ungodly are such enemies of God and incapable of doing any right thing in His sight (they trick us, but not God).

Very first message preached in the NT, by John the Baptist, "Repent" followed by "Do the works that demonstrate your repentance was real". Wow.

Very first message preached by Jesus, "Repent".

It is either forgotten, glossed over or made into something generic with "if you believe you must have also repented automatically". Garbage. It is a stand-alone heart attitude and action that can be evaluated and demonstrated.

Of course I agree with this. And yes, it is glossed over, called auto, all an attempt to bolster easy-believism.

 

[DHK]

It is either forgotten, glossed over or made into something generic with "if you believe you must have also repented automatically". Garbage. It is a stand-alone heart attitude and action that can be evaluated and demonstrated.

And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. (Acts 9:4-6)

There is no mention of repentance here.

Would this man, having just stoned Stephen, and persecuted many others, have called Christ Lord (believed on Him as Lord) had he not repented in doing so?

 

[Tom Bryant]

And that repentance can only come if the mind is capable of making such a decision/choice. The ungodly are such enemies of God and incapable of doing any right thing in His sight (they trick us, but not God).

Very first message preached in the NT, by John the Baptist, "Repent" followed by "Do the works that demonstrate your repentance was real". Wow.

Very first message preached by Jesus, "Repent".

It is either forgotten, glossed over or made into something generic with "if you believe you must have also repented automatically". Garbage. It is a stand-alone heart attitude and action that can be evaluated and demonstrated.

I absolutely agree that repentance is a forgotten message in our preaching and that repentance is not possible without the work of the Holy Spirit whose responsibility it is to bring conviction.

 

[preacher4truth]

And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. (Acts 9:4-6)

There is no mention of repentance here.

Would this man, having just stoned Stephen, and persecuted many others, have called Christ Lord (believed on Him as Lord) had he not repented in doing so?

The word doesn't need to be expressed, when the life of Paul proved he had repented.

All true believers show forth they've repented.

Belief doesn't mean repentance to be automatic. We have some "metropolitan" churches here that haven't and don't buy into repentance, yet they "believe." They live in willful sin.

 

[preacher4truth]

I absolutely agree that repentance is a forgotten message in our preaching and that repentance is not possible without the work of the Holy Spirit whose responsibility it is to bring conviction.

Amen. And Romans 2:4 wherein His goodness leads us to such a place, praise God.

 

[webdog]

You've nailed it, tim.
Repent comes from the root word which means to "turn (pent) again (re)."
It goes along with confession, which means to "say with."
Fess--say; con--with

It is saying to God, I see my sin the way you see it, I've come to hate it like you hate it, and I want no more of it.

If someone wants to be saved from their sins by trusting Christ, but don't want to give up their sin, something's not right.

I wanted to go a little deeper with this post. If the etymology is such that repent means to "turn again", when did the first tur occur? If man is created dead, there is no turning again...there is only turning.

 

[DHK]

The word doesn't need to be expressed, when the life of Paul proved he had repented.

All true believers show forth they've repented.

Belief doesn't mean repentance to be automatic. We have some "metropolitan" churches here that haven't and don't buy into repentance, yet they "believe."

As Paul demonstrated belief and repentance go together.
As you admitted, repentance doesn't have to be expressed. It isn't expressed because it goes hand in hand with belief. True faith includes repentance.

 

[preacher4truth]

As Paul demonstrated belief and repentance go together.
As you admitted, repentance doesn't have to be expressed. It isn't expressed because it goes hand in hand with belief. True faith includes repentance.

Never admitted a thing.

No, it doesn't go hand in hand with belief.

I can show you churches full of such that believe in believe only as do you, and the rest is taken care of automatically.

 

[freeatlast]

One of the problems today is that so many Pastors preach just believe, and don't preach repent also. Anytime it is assumed that the person hearing will automatically repent at believing is when you fill your church with unconverted believers. Several years ago I sat in a church that had a visiting preacher. His message was about what repentance was not. I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for him to explain what it was. He never did.

Repentance is not making promises to live for God, it is not saying I am sorry for my sin, it is not simply changing my mind about sin and turning from it.
Repentance is not what we turn from, but Who we turn to. A many a soul is willing to give up certain activities to be saved, but they have no desire to surrender to God. They may like Him and even lift Him up, but in their heart they will not allow Him the rule over them as He calls for and they remain lost in the mist of their religious practices.

So repentance is turning to God for who He is because of who we are. He is Lord and we are His creation and the only rights I have are those which He grants. In other words the person who is repenting is ready to get right with God no matter what it takes and it takes a surrendered heart from a beggar who has nothing to offer God. That is the heart of repentance and anything short of that leaves the person void of salvation.
Repentance is not 50%, 75% or 99%. It is 100% or repentance has not taken place. At repentance we are told to take that heart and place it on the Lord Jesus Christ (Lordship salvation as some call it) and that becomes faith and we are saved through faith by grace. That is what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ!

Any pastor that gives what they call the gospel message, calling people to believe in Jesus, and they do not include repentance is not giving the whole message and are failing in their calling leaving multitudes in their sin.

 

[Jim1999]

What sin did God turn from when He "repented" 1 Sam 15:10? "Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments...."

The application of the words used for repentance are totally dependent on the context. It has sinner and saint alike "turning about" from what they were doing individually or as a nation. It has nothing to do with their individual salvation, whch is by grace alone, and expressed through faith.

Often in the Old Testament and early into the New Testament, ie: John the Baptist's followers, repentance is an act that should follow redemption.

Paul preaches repentance as that act that expresses one's experience with salvation, and not the act leading to salvation. Hence, one may truly be saved, but still needs to express repentance after the fact, to get on with the Christian life.

The meaning of both the Hebrew and Greek words for repentance remains "an about turn" from what man was doing.

Remorse is attached to repentance (Lk 18:13) but here it is referring to a radical change, and not just turning about.

Cheers,

Jim