The Challenge: Understanding Repentance

Editor's note: This piece was co-authored by the author's daughter, Kristin Carey.

If you showed up at an Ash Wednesday service last week, chances are you heard the word “repentance” quite a few times. It isn’t a term we often use outside of a church context. It’s one of those scary-sounding “Christianese” words that few of us feel comfortable with, probably because it conjures up images of crazy old men standing on street corners, holding picket-signs and yelling at people as they pass by.

Look it up in the dictionary, and you’ll find explanations like “to feel sorry,” “conscience-stricken,” and “self-reproachful.” Pair that with the dust and ashes that represent our mortality, and the fasting that serves as a constant reminder of our frailty, and the whole idea of repentance—the whole idea of Lent, which is a long season of repentance—may sound pretty miserable.

But something is missing from our understanding of repentance if we are not drawn to it. Something is missing if we are not eager to embrace the practice that first leads us to salvation and then continues to draw us into deeper relationship with God.

Judas gets a bad rap because he betrayed Jesus for pieces of silver. But Peter denied Jesus on the very same day. In fact, every single one of Jesus’ disciples abandoned him on his way to the cross.

When they realized what they had done, both Judas and Peter were overcome with grief. Matthew 27:3-4 (NLT) says:

“When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. ‘I have sinned,’ he declared, ‘for I have betrayed an innocent man.’”

And when Peter realized his betrayal, Matthew 26:75 says, “he went away, weeping bitterly.”

Both men failed Jesus, their dear friend and teacher. And both men deeply and sincerely regretted their terrible mistakes. But the story ends differently for each man. Peter, known to the Catholic Church as the first pope, became the rock upon which Christianity was established. Judas left the Temple and hanged himself.

It wasn’t Judas’s mistake that sealed his fate—it was his response to it. The sorrow Judas experienced was distinct from Peter’s. It was marked by a crippling shame that dragged him quickly to his own spiritual and physical death.

Peter, on the other hand, who was known to be rash before Jesus died, was changed by his sorrow. From the moment he began to weep, he became simply and purely eager—eager to reconnect with the man he had betrayed, eager to be back in Jesus’ presence.

When the news came that Jesus had risen from the dead, Peter and John got up and raced to the burial site to see for themselves. John got there first, but perhaps out of respect or fear, stopped short of the opening to the tomb. But when Peter arrived, he didn’t hesitate to rush right in.

Later, when Jesus showed up by the Sea of Galilee, Peter demonstrated his eagerness again. He was out on the boat with the other disciples, but when he realized Jesus was standing on the beach, he leapt into the water and swam to shore, leaving the others behind. Nothing was going to stop him from being with Jesus again.

Jesus was not surprised by the fact that Judas, Peter, and all his other disciples betrayed and deserted him. (He actually predicted that they would.) And he isn’t surprised by our mistakes either. He died and rose again to offer them—and us—the option to come rushing back into his welcoming, healing presence when we realize our brokenness. So now, we have two options when we are faced with sorrow at our own imperfections: we can either let shameful regret lead us into deeper darkness, or we can repent as Peter did.

So what is repentance? It is godly sorrow. It is “the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have…For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s not regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death” (2 Corinthians 7:9-10, NLT).

Repentance is marked by change that brings the wanderer back onto the right path, back into the Lord’s presence. 2 Corinthians 7:11 (NLT) describes it like this:

“Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong.”

That kind of sorrow is life giving and it always results in deeper joy and renewed relationship with God. That is what repentance is all about, and that is what Lent is all about. It is made to bring us to the place where we let God move in to start working on another small bit of ourselves. Where we decide to return to him rather than to give up.

“Jesus came to open my ears to another voice that says, ‘I am your God, I have molded you with my own hands, and I love what I have made. I love you with a love that has no limits, because I love you as I am loved. Do not run away from me. Come back to me—not once, not twice, but always again… Do not judge yourself. Do not condemn yourself. Do not reject yourself. Let my love touch the deepest, most hidden corners of your heart and reveal to you your own beauty, a beauty that you have lost sight of, but which will become visible to you again in the light of my mercy.’”

Bible repentance (”metanoya”), means a changed mind. “The goodness of God leads to repentance [or a changed mind]” (Rom 2:4). It can happen anywhere, anytime. God is always leading us towards knowing him and his grace and to “repent from dead works” (self-effort). We have righteousness as a gift by the grace of God, not by our self-effort or self-righteousness (Rom 5:17).

There’s no need for emotional reactions even though that could be involved. But many times, after the crying and anguish is over, things are still the same because the person has yet to change his mind about letting go of his self-effort and trusting instead in God’s grace and love regarding the matter.

just one thought here- repentence is not needed for salvation- in as much as we must ‘become clean enough that Christ wil laccept us” The bible simply says ‘believe on the; Lord Jesus Christ” Nothing aobut ‘cleansing ourselves first before we are acceptable”

The word ‘repentence’ does not mean ‘lordship salvation’ where oen must make a life commitment vow to eschew all sin from here on in’ The original word for ‘repent’ simply means ‘change of mind” IE we ‘change our mind about WHO is responsible for salvation” (We do not save ourselves, this is a hard pill for many to swallow because we ‘feel like’ WE have to do soemthign in order to be saved- ie: Work to achieve salvation- The bible is very clear- We need only ‘repent’ Have a change of mind about WHO Saves- Chrsit and Christ alone saves- when we come to that realization, and submit to that reality finally, we have come to a point of ‘repentence”

Roy B. Zuck writes:

Repentance is included in believing. Faith and repentance are like two sides of a coin. Genuine faith includes repentance, and genuine repentance includes faith. The Greek word for repentance (metanoia) means to change one’s mind. But to change one’s mind about what? About sin, about one’s adequacy to save himself, about Christ as the only way of salvation, the only One who can make a person righteous (“Kindred Spirit,” a quarterly publication of Dallas Seminary, Summer 1989, p. 5).

Some claim this is ‘easily salvation’ ‘cheap salvation (in that it cheapens the price Christ paid on the cross by not requiring us to make a vow to never sin again as in lordship salvation)’ etc- however, it’s clear in Gods’ word that the word repentence simply means to have a change of mind/heart about how we ‘get to heaven’ ie we don’t work our way there- and instead means we humbly accept Christ as our only means of salvation- We ‘bow the knee’ as it were- We admit finally to Christ that HE is Lord, and that We are NOT-

Nothing about ‘cleansing ourselves first before we are acceptable”

This one has me puzzled. So the Prodigal Son was wasting his time hauling his carcass home, accusing himself before his father (and the Father) of not being worthy to be called his son? The author of that Parable is Jesus Christ—but we're supposing that the Prodigal's repentance was a needless detail?

It seems to me that if that were the case, Jesus would have turned to His disciples at this point and said, "And you know, he didn't need to do all that. If he'd just acknowledged Me as his Lord and Savior, *poof!* everything would have been forgiven, no apology or change of heart necessary. Next stop, Heaven. . ."

Jesus wasn't known for shyness. I get the idea that if He had meant that, He would have said it. He didn't. If we're going to go by the words of the Bible, let's do it.

Other implications: St. Peter's tears were for nought. Ditto St. Paul's humbling blindness and helplessness. Ditto the King of Ninevah's sackcloth and ashes—even though that Scripture passage tells us the city's repentance is what saved it. I could go on, but won't.

Suffering has meaning, if it involves giving ourselves in imitation of Christ. It is indeed cleansing (ouch!), as the Bible shows us at every turn. I know you know this. "Faith without works is dead"—and you know what? I'll bet your own faith is not without works.

[[Other implications: St. Peter’s tears were for nought.]]

Pete was already saved- Paul’s blindness humbled him, it didn’t save him- His humbled attitude is NOT required- but was necessary for someone so hardened against God at the time of his blinding- but is NOT requirement for salvation

[[Ditto the King of Ninevah’s sackcloth and ashes]]

Already saved- yet sorry for his sins AFTEr salvation

Noone is saying humility is a bad thing- We are satyign however that it is not needed for salvation

Prodigal son parable was a story about someone already saved who left his father’s care and went into the world- the parable is that the SON- meaning he was a SON of the father- had every good thing, but decided the world’s draw was too great to resist- He found out that the world only really offers heartache- He came back to his FATHER, and his father received him UNCONDITIONALLY

The son never lost his ‘sonship’ simply because he went into the world- he was still his father’s son- but the son recognized he had grieved the father tremendously- which is why he repented- He may have even felt his father had disowned him0- but he hadn’t of course-

The prodigal story is one of backsliding and ocne again we see that ‘repentence’ means coming to a point where one changes their mind- The son changed his mind about the world, and realized how wrong he was- and how much he had hurt his father (who was still his father of course)

You will note that before the son even had a chance to ‘repent’ the father ran out to him grabbed him kissed him and accepted him back with NO conditions- The son then ATTEMPTS to confess and apologize, but the father cuts him off and has his servants bring out the best clothes for his SON- and not just any clothes- it was a rob of honor- one for distinguished guest of honor- the ring was as a symbol of the son’s authority in the household- The father restored the son without the son having to do anything to ‘earn it’- When the son took off for a life of debauchery and hedonism, He never gave up his son-hood and the father had the items of his authority waiting for the return of the son whenever that might be- The son NEVER lost those things, he simply said by taking off that HE didn’t want them for the time being.

and also note that the father tells the older bitter son that He will ALWAYS have his own inheritance, and that he will NEVER lose it, nor will it ever be taken away- no matter what the elder son should do- EVEN IF the elder son did what the younger one did-

The other poitns you bring up wil l take a lot of time I don’t have right now- but briefly Faith without works isn’t talking about ‘working for salvation’ as this takes it off of Christ (salvation that is) and places the responsibility on us- A Backslidden Christian can have a ‘dead faith’ where he won’t even appear to be saved- just like the prodigal son when he was whoring around, sinning, living a life of debauchery-

If you wish to look further into ‘faith without works’ not being about salvation, please see the following

http://www.biblelineministries.org/articles/basearch.php3?action=full&mainkey=FAITH+WITHOUT+WORKS

Just a nitpick- first you say (and not my CPS are for stressing key wordfs only- not yelling)

[[Jesus wasn’t known for shyness. I get the idea that if He had meant that, He would have said it. He didn’t. If we’re going to go by the words of the Bible, let’s do it.]]

Then you go on to quote IMPLICATIONS?

[[Other implications: St. Peter’s tears were for nought.]]

The bible is full of implications- the key is interpreting those implications correctly- using all of God’s word, understanding original greek and Hebrew, reading in context- (James was talking to SAVED people- and reading through the whole passage about works, one clearly sees that they risk losing REWARDS, NOT salvation)- Anyways- that site I listed goes pretty thoroughly through the points I’ve made

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