So far in this series, we’ve looked at two questions about repentance: 1) Why repent? and 2) What is repentance? There are still two other questions we want to examine related to repentance: 3) How do we repent? and 4) what is our assurance in repentance? We’re still centering around 1 John 1:5-9, which reads:
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
How Do We Repent?
I propose two mechanisms.
The first thing to note is that repentance happens because of God, not us. A vital role of the Holy Spirit is convicting us of our sin and empowering us to repent. The Spirit points out our wandering from God, and the Father moves us to repent. Like salvation itself, God makes the first move. Acts 11: “God has granted repentance that leads to life.” 2 Timothy 2: “God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.”
We ought not think we ourselves are righteous enough to repent of our own will. It is Christ in us, by the Spirit’s conviction and the Father’s power, that move us toward true, transformative contrition.
At the same time, we very much have a role. We must be in step with God—which is in fact the point of repentance, as it returns us to his side. The how of repentance is, as we’ve said, not only an intellectual exercise, but a matter of heart and action.
I used to think repentance was saying sorry. When I grew older, I thought repentance was saying sorry and feeling sorry. And then when I grew in the maturity of faith, I learned something else: repentance is saying sorry and feeling sorry, but true repentance is deeper; it’s trusting God, desiring the goodness he has for us, and then letting him work to make us different.
Repentance is a life change. It is God’s work of transformation in willing hearts. It first accompanies justification, and then for the rest of our earthly lives in the already but not yet, true repentance is the partner of growing faith and sanctification.
True repentance.
It’s an idea—and a practice—that seems simple. But the more I think about it, the more difficult it becomes. And it leads me to a final question. What good is all of it?
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