On Sunday 8/24/08 we talked about repentance. There are some Christians, I hate to say, who think that repentance is not necessary for conversion or for sanctification (spiritual growth). They consider repentance to be a vestige of Roman Catholic legalism – an addition to biblical faith. They insist that what Jesus required was simply faith in Him, and that any notion of turning away from sin introduces some measure of “works” into the equation. They call this point of view “Free Grace.” I prefer to call it “Bad Scholarship.”
Behind the New Testament idea of repentance (Gk. metanoia) are the Hebrew words naham (change one’s mind) and shuv (turn back, return). The Old Testament prophets are continually calling God’s people to turn away from their sin and return to him (shuv). It is clear from the whole tenor of the OT that God expects nothing less than a turning away from sin and toward God. The New Bible Dictionary rightly connects this OT background to the NT concept of repentance: “Repentance [is not just] feeling sorry, or changing one’s mind, but… a turning around, a complete alteration of the basic motivation and direction of one’s life. This is why the best translation for metanoia is often ‘convert,’ that is, ‘to turn round.’”
Repentance, then, is the mark of a true Christian. A willingness to turn from sin is evidence of a soft heart toward God. Unwillingness to repent of sin is the biblical sign of a hard heart that reaps God’s judgment.
