When you hear the word “repent,” what comes to mind? Most people associate it with feeling guilty or asking for forgiveness, but the meaning runs much deeper. In its original Greek form, the word “metanoéō” means to change one’s mind or purpose—an action that signifies transformation. This article explores the true meaning of repentance, its role in the believer’s life, and how it aligns us with God’s covenant.
Understanding Repentance in a New Light
Repentance, at its core, is about aligning your mind and purpose with God’s will. That seems simple enough but it’s been my experience that some people misunderstand the word – often adding to the meaning. By examining its deeper meaning and reflecting on how it applies to everyday life, this article guides readers to understand repentance as a continual process. Repentance is not so much about turning away from sin as it is about embracing a new way of thinking, rooted in God’s truth.
The Uninitiated
Suppose you go to a conference where a brilliant philosopher is speaking. His presentation is on a novel concept which is unfamiliar to you. At the conference there is a lot of noise and distractions. Consequently, you are only able to partially absorb what he is speaking about. At the end of the conference, you get to shake the presenter’s hand. He tells you “You must metanoéō – you must change your mind or purpose”. But he doesn’t have the opportunity to elaborate, and he moves on to shake hands with another attendee. You know that your “mind” is the totality of your mental processes. But you think “I must change my mind, my purpose, from what? And to what?” Over the coming weeks and months, you think often about what he said, and your intrigue grows. It is as if he planted a seed in your mind.
Growth: The Seed Begins to Sprout
Some months later you happen to turn your car’s radio on to a Christian station. The speaker is discussing the status of an unsaved person before Holy God. The pastor reads Romans 1:28-32:
“Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.”
Suddenly, everything clicks. It was as if this speaker came along and watered the seed that the philosopher had planted in your mind months earlier. You realize that Romans 1:28-32 is what the brilliant philosopher was speaking about! The philosopher was saying that to have a relationship with God you must change your mind to turn away from the errant ideas that have defined you until now. And you realize that repentance involves more than just regret. It means completely rethinking how you view sin, God, and your life’s purpose. You now commit to repurposing your life to be in alignment with the one true God and His new covenant (what Christians call the New Testament).
What is Repentance?
Repentance is not a one-time event. It’s a lifelong process of realigning your mind and purpose with God’s truth. It involves continually assessing your beliefs and actions, discarding what is false, and embracing the new covenant established in the New Testament. True repentance shapes how you think about God, sin, holiness, and doing God’s will.
Let’s look at a few Bible verses that use the word Repent. But instead of using the word “repent“, we’ll use the above explanation to make the wording a bit more “full.” It’s a bit wordy but hopefully will help in understanding what repent really means:
“Then Peter said unto them,
repentchange your mind to align with God’s new covenant, 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. Acts 2:38
“No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they willrepentchange their minds to align with God’s new covenant.’ Luke 16:30
“Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them arepentchange of mind that aligns them with God’s new covenant leading them to a knowledge of the truth” 2 Timothy 2:25
Repentance – a gift from God
Charles Spurgeon, a preacher from the mid 1800s, said in a sermon titled REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE: “Repentance,” my dear friends, is the gift of God. It is one of those spiritual favors which ensure eternal life. It is the marvel of divine mercy that it not only provides the way of salvation, that it not only invites men to receive grace, but that it positively makes men willing to be saved.”
The Opposite of Repentance
- delight
- rejoice in
- celebrate
- endorse
- approve
When we contrast the two:
Repentant Example: “After he was born again, he regretted and abhorred his adulterous behavior.”
Unrepentant Example: “Despite knowing adultery is a sin, he still delights in it.”
As our thoughts come in to alignment with God’s new contract, we repent. We now think differently about God, our activities, and our behavior compared to how we thought before our salvation. And thinking differently about God is not a one time event – it occurs over a lifetime.
Repentance in the Life of a Believer – repentance vs the law
We should keep in mind that repentance affects only what occurs in our mental processes. Some will vehemently disagree but please read on. Understand that because our behavior follows what we think, a corresponding change in behavior is tacitly assumed. But behavior changes are related to, and commanded by, the law. And the law is not within the scope, command, nor definition of repentance nor of the new covenant. The Holy Bible tells us “we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code”. – Romans 7:6. This is an important distinction. Linking the law (our behavior) to repentance is a way of tying God’s unmerited favor (grace) to our works. And our works have nothing to do with God’s grace. Repentance and works are entirely different concepts.
Repentance ≠ sinlessness
It’s important not to confuse repentance with attaining sinlessness. Repenting doesn’t mean we’ll never sin again. Even the Apostle Paul acknowledged his struggles with sin, saying in Romans 7:19, “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.” And in 1 Timothy 1:15b Paul said “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I am the worst of them all”.
Repentance means continually striving to align your heart and mind with God’s will, even if we falter along the way. If God’s expectation was that when we repented of a sin that we would never participate in that sin again (which is what I used to think) then eventually, over the course of a lifetime, we would become sinless people as we repented of our various sins. And we know this does not happen. As Paul said “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41b)
Reconditioning Our Minds
We, mankind, have become conditioned that we earn what we receive (eg. we get paid for our labor). And we transfer that concept into salvation. But when it comes to salvation there is a tremendous paradigm shift. We don’t earn salvation. We literally cannot earn it no matter how hard we try, nor how good our intentions are, because we cannot stop sinning – ever. If you think, ‘maybe I am not saved because I can’t seem to repent of my sin,’ then you have not grasped that God offers salvation purely as a gift. And you haven’t fully understood the word repentance. You don’t earn salvation by repenting. Eternal life with God is not contingent on our righteousness. There is no balance beam that weighs out our good vs our evil. If you believe in Jesus the Christ then you are saved.
A Final Thought
The anxiety that we might feel about our sin comes from the process of repentance. We think differently about our sin. We know our sin is an offense to Holy God. And that causes anxiety and remorse. But anxiety and remorse are one of the tools that God uses to guide us within the framework of His law. We fail –> we feel remorse/anxiety –> we ask for forgiveness –> we repent (again). Repeat. While repentance won’t make you sinless, it will continually redirect your heart toward God, ensuring that your life is one of growth, not perfection. Over time God may deliver us from certain sins – and that is a huge relief.
Related content: The wonderful Jesus the Christ
AI did not write this article but assisted with proofreading.