What People Get Wrong About Repentance

 

Introduction

I have previously about the topic of repentance. In my previous post on the topic, I was mostly providing a short commentary on the Church of the Nazarene's Article of Faith on repentance. Repentance is not something that is optional. God calls everyone, everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). It is not only for a few, and it is not something that is optional if we want to follow Christ. In fact, it is something that everyone is not only offered, but something that everyone needs. If all have sinned, and repentance means turning away from sin, then everyone needs repentance.

I did not anticipate writing a follow-up post on this topic after my article on the Nazarene Church's Article of Faith, since I kind of assumed that most people would have understood the concept of repentance based on the previous post that I made. However, it seems that there are still some myths surrounding the topic of repentance. It is the purpose of this post to address one of the biggest misunderstandings that I see and hear in discussions.

The Misunderstanding

There is a general idea that repentance boils down to simply saying that we are sorry for what we have done wrong. This viewpoint is especially prevalent among critics of Christianity. The idea that I see so often is that, if someone has done atrocious things, but simply apologizes for those things at the very end of his life, with little to no actual change in the heart, then that qualifies as repentance in the biblical sense. For example, the idea is often presented that if someone like Stalin, Hitler, Mao, or any mass murderer simply prays a prayer along the lines of "God, I'm done, and I'm sorry. Now take me to heaven" on their deathbed, that it means that they are saved. Despite the popularity of this viewpoint, it could not be further from the truth.

We can kind of see where this idea comes from. When we tell people that praying a simple prayer will cause them to be saved, and then we call for people to repent to be saved, it is easy to see how those who don't have a strong biblical understanding would come to believe that repentance boils down to a specific prayer that is prayed. Again, however, it is not the prayer that saves someone.

I also want to make it clear that the Sinner's Prayer can be used as a guide to help someone learn how to pray. However, it should never be taken to be the specific prayer that must be prayed to be saved. The confusion that has arisen from equating this prayer with repentance has actually done more harm than good.

When someone believes that repentance boils down to a simple apology, it tells me that they don't have a deep understanding of the theology that Jesus taught, and the apostles taught after him. Let me look at just a few passages of Scripture to give a general idea of what repentance is.

The Biblical Data

When we open Mark's Gospel, we see that the first thing Jesus began to preach after his baptism was repentance (1:15). We are told that he began to preach this message in Galilee. We can look at those to whom he preached while in Galilee to see what this message looked like. A prime example is when Jesus dines with Levi as recorded in Mark's Gospel. Jesus told Levi to follow him, and later, he ate dinner at Levi's house. The Pharisees, hearing about what Jesus was doing, asked why he ate with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus had a simple reply: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners." (2:17). Thus, Jesus called Levi and those dining with him to repentance. In addition, we infer that Jesus' call to Levi was a call to a lifestyle of repentance in addition to discipleship. This call to a lifestyle of discipleship can likely also be extended to the call of Simon Peter and Andrew (1:16-20). In addition, Jesus preached the message of repentance to the crowds throughout Galilee (1:35-39).

From this, we can see that the message of repentance was not a message preached to a small group of people. In addition, repentance is likened to a doctor healing a patient. Finally, the call to repentance involves a call to leave an old, ungodly lifestyle behind, which is seen most clearly in the case of Jesus calling Levi.

Later, Jesus sent his disciples out, and they, also, called people to repentance as part of their message (6:12). He also gave them instructions that, if their message was not welcomed, to shake off the dust from their feet (6:10-11). So the disciples, as well, brought this same message, likely because they heard it as the message Jesus was preaching.

One final teaching from the life of Jesus makes it abundantly clear that people are called to a changed life and not just to a simple apology. Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 7:21-23 that there will be people who profess to follow him. There will even be people who call him Lord. Yet, at the end of the day, Jesus will tell some of those who claim to follow him, "Depart, I never knew you." Jesus makes it clear that these people will say all of the things that every genuine Christian says, but they did not live the way Jesus called them to live. There was no change in lifestyle, just a change in vocabulary.

All of this points to the fact that repentance is more than simply repeating a sentence. All of this points to repentance involving a change of heart, mind, and lifestyle. It points to the recognition of repentance as a turning point, in which one turns away from an old lifestyle of sin, and chooses to follow Jesus.

The idea that repentance involves a turning away from sin is reinforced in Paul's letters. In Romans 2:4, Paul reminds the Christians at Rome that God's kindness is intended to lead people to repentance. This comes in the context of a passage of judgment, and particularly judgment of sinful lifestyles. The point that Paul is making is that the kindness that God shows us (including his kindness in delaying judgment) is intended to lead us to a change in the way we were living. So don't take advantage of God's kindness by digging in your heels to a lifestyle that doesn't honor God.

Paul reinforced the idea in 2 Corinthians 7:9-10, where he contrasts godly sorrow with worldly sorrow, noting that godly sorrow leads to repentance (as a change in lifestyle), while worldly sorrow does not. In both cases, sorrow is expressed, but in the first, something more than sorrow happened. A person's life was changed in the first description

One final passage contains a description of and encouragement to repentance. Ephesians 4:22-24 instructs those in the Ephesian church to take off their old selves and put on Christ. In other words, their lives have to change. This is perhaps the best expression of what repentance is in the entire New Testament. Neither Jesus nor Paul ever intended for the concept of repentance to be reduced to a few simple words.

As an additional note, the fact that repentance was preached to churches at all in Paul's letters indicates that repentance does, in fact, have to do with a lifestyle and not just with the words that a person speaks. You can speak all of the Christianese in the world. You could pray a million prayers each day. You could tell a million people about Jesus. However, if your lifestyle does not match what you proclaim--if there has been no change in your life--then it is fair to question whether there has been a moment of genuine repentance.

Conclusion

The idea that repentance boils down to simply saying "sorry" is not supported by the Scriptural data. Instead, repentance involves a change in heart, mind, and lifestyle that leads us down a path that is different than the one we were on before.