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[b]Repentance[/b]
[i]by Eli Brayley[/i]
It seems abundantly clear that there needs to be clarification as to what repentance is, and is not, and what our contention is with certain misunderstandings of what repentance is.
My contention is that repentance does not mean 'stop sinning'. By saying that, I do not mean that repentance has nothing at all to do with sin... of course it does. The Greek word for repentance is metaneo which means to change one's mind. A Biblical definition would be to feel true remorse over one's sins. This certainly includes the will not to sin again. However, the will to not want to sin again does not necessarily equal not sinning again. I certainly do not want to sin again, but will I probably sin in the future? Yes. Am I thus impenitent? No. My response to future sins also reveals my repentant heart.
There are many things in view to be repented of when Jesus declared, "Repent and believe the Gospel!" He was speaking to Pharisees, commoners and crooks. I think the Scripture makes it pretty clear what sins made Christ more angry: self-righteousness more than fornication; justifying oneself before God more than tax-fraud. Repentance therefore is not just addressing outward sins, but inward sins. In fact, telling a person to give up their outward sins is really only attacking the symptoms and not the real problem. The real problem is the heart, from where all outward actions flow. Repenting from outward sins is totally useless if the heart is not dealt with. It is for this reason that I believe Jesus meant something much deeper than "stop your outward sins" when He declared, "Repent and believe the Gospel". That would be very shallow indeed. And when Paul preached that "God commands all men everywhere to repent", he meant much more than just 'cut down all your idols, boys'. The Athenians could take an ax to every statue on the Grecian Peninsula and still would have not truly repented of their sins. The repentance that God is looking for is "rend your heart, and not your garments".
The greatest sins of all are pride, mercilessness and self-righteousness. I really don't believe Jesus came preaching "stop your beer guzzling and your dope smoking!" All those will fall away when the heart of the matter is taken care of. "Repent" therefore means to humble oneself before the mighty hand of God, to acknowledge one's sinfulness in light of the "glorious holiness" of God, to beat one's breast in remorse and plead, "God be merciful to me a sinner." That is true repentance. I don't think God can show mercy on the man who stops all his outward sins and then tells God, "Okay, I'm good. Forgive me now". Such a man has never truly repented.
Jesus came to the most religious society this world has ever produced. They preached abstinence and piety better than any other monastic system could ever have... but Christ came in to demolish human pride and confidence in outward piety. Christ preached repentance of the heart, so that an adulterous woman weeping at his feet was more righteous than the morally blameless men who invited Jesus over for dinner.
Paul declared, "as touching the righteousness that is in the law, I was blameless." Outwardly I was spectacular! But when Paul met Jesus and was thrown to the earth, the light of truth exposing his inward sinfulness, Paul soon found out that all of his righteousness was in fact worth "dung", and he didn't just need forgiveness of past sins... what he needed was an entire inward transformation. The apostle of the faith, born again of the Spirit of God, could now proclaim the everlasting Gospel by the revelation of Jesus Christ given to him: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."
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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon
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|  2007/11/30 21:30 | Profile |
| | Re: Repentance -brayley | |
Eli said
Quote:
I think the Scripture makes it pretty clear what sins made Christ more angry: self-righteousness more than fornication; justifying oneself before God more than tax-fraud. Repentance therefore is not just addressing outward sins, but inward sins.
Had this thought:
Mark 6:6
And he marvelled because of their unbelief.
Matthew 17:17
Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me
Hebrews 3:12
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
John 16:9
Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Matthew 26:75
And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.
Quote:
This certainly includes the will not to sin again. However, the will to not want to sin again does not necessarily equal not sinning again. I certainly do not want to sin again, but will I probably sin in the future? Yes. Am I thus impenitent? No. My response to future sins also reveals my repentant heart.
I would use the word 'desire' instead of 'will', as it is more true to the condition of a repentant heart, and perhaps it helps one to assess the strength of one's desire not to sin in a particular way again.
The way we use the word 'will', is slightly too much as if it is something to do with our inward motivation, when in fact we can make a cold-blooded decision not to do a certain thing again and make it our business to be faithful to that decision. This will inform us how much our decision has reflected our desire. For we will certainly get our heart's desire. The discipline is in continuing to believe what we knew at the moment of our repentance, that we have indeed [u]made a decision[/u] to forsake sin.
Recently, I was prompted to repent over something which had been tangled up in my need for healing in the past, but now healed, I could not escape responsibility for the decisions I had made [u][i]to[/i] sin[/u]. As I wept over these ancient events, I was genuinely surprised by the spiritual nature of the transaction which was going on between me and God, my heart and His, my mind and His. I was also shocked at the pride I was shedding through my confessions to Him. I marvelled, also, at the definition the Holy Spirit gives to one's understanding at such a time. It felt as if it had been opened as well as washed in His blood, and took many hours to recover, until I felt He had poured in some oil. Amen. I find myself with a new - probably first time - understanding of what 'the heart' is. I also understood this had something to do with His spear wound, and then was amazed to find these words by Wesley. Obviously, what I experienced is a recognisable process, which has its own hallmarks. :-o
Come O my guilty brethren, come,
Groaning beneath your load of sin!
His bleeding heart shall make you room,
His open side shall take you in...
Have I repented before? Of course! But, I always knew it was only the goodness of God if He removed any of my burdens, as I was never quite sure what was going on and whether repentance was relevant to those issues. Now, I feel as if I've recovered a normal human faculty which is something to do with healthy transacting with God. In fact, after I'd had my first baby, my general respect for women who'd had babies went up. I was one of them now and it hadn't been easy for them either. I feel a similar sort of revelation of something which is an outcome of the normal physiology of a relationship with God, which has brought me into line with the experience of other believers... :-) - not before time... :-?
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| | 2007/12/1 19:05 | |
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