Turn around. What is repentance? Can we be forgiven if we do not repent? Is repentance necessary for salvation?
In both old testament and new testament, repentance denotes turning back or change of direction. The Hebrew word for repent — shûb — can also mean circumcise, break, reverse, return, convert. To repent means, basically, to change.
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
This couple of verses shows the clear connection between repentance, change and forgiveness. It is also interesting to note the relationship between repentance and circumcision. Real circumcision, as Paul understood, is of the heart, by the imbuement of the Spirit [Rom.2:29]. The Spirit is what will lead us toward the necessary change.
Why we need to change
The natural, carnal mind according to Paul is “enmity [hostile] against God” and His law [Rom.8:7]. That is why man in his natural state cannot please God [v.8]. That is serious, because as Paul further says:
Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
In other words, Paul is saying that if we continue in our same old way we are headed for sure death. But if we “mortify” [kill or stop doing] the deeds of the natural body — in other words, REPENT — Paul says we shall live.
That is why as Isaiah wrote:
Isa 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Real repentance as Isaiah wrote involve a change of attitude, or of thinking or outlook:
Outward evidence of repentance
“Fruits” of repentance would manifest itself outwardly in the life of a genuinely repentant person [Mat.3:8]. But nothing makes it more obvious than when it is set against the backdrop of the ways of this world:
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing [renovation] of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The “world” has its own ways, system and traditions which mostly are substitute for, and are contrary, to God’s way. And God says we should not conform to it — nor should we love it:
1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
This is because the whole “world”, as John himself wrote in Revelation, is deceived:
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Now, real repentance takes patient effort and doing:
Rom 2:13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
The apostle James, puts it a bit more picturesquely:
Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Jas 1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
Jas 1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
Jas 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [abide, persevere] therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Jas 1:26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
How do we keep ourselves undefiled — and how do we keep ourselves unspotted from the world?
Psa_119:1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
John never taught about repentance?
Some say that John never used the word repent in his version of the “gospel” and that believing is the only requirement for salvation. This view shows a lack of understanding of the concept of repentance. In fact, there is an account in John’s gospel about a man who came to Jesus for healing. Jesus healed him and afterward told him:
Joh 5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
To NOT repent — that is, to continue sinning — is to invite “worse thing” to come upon us. That is why repentance is NOT just another word that you can brush aside:
Luk 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish [be destroyed or lost].
That’s how serious repentance is. Without repenting we would end up lost – destroyed – like the Galileans.
Clearly repentance is essential to salvation.
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