We like to use big fancy words in church, but do we really understand what they mean?
In your own words, what does Repentance mean?
How is it lived out?
Do you know of a biblical example of what repentance looks like?
Concerning the Gospel: Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, it means turn to God.
If a person is called to turn to God, then by default, they are called to turn away from Satan as their lord, king, ruler, or master.
The way we obey the Gospel call to repent, is to confess Jesus as Lord.
Not repent of your sins, but repent as in turning away from Satan as lord, and turning to Jesus as our Lord.
[Repentance of sins comes after we are empowered to live in dominion over sin, by His Spirit.]
This is what grants us the forgiveness of sins, by which we are transferred out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God; The kingdom of His dear Son.
Here it is from the Lord's perspective.
Words of Christ in red -
- to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins
14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language,
‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said,
‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. 17 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, 18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’
19 “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. Acts 26:14-20
- that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
This was a common practice in those days, and was how a kingdom would overthrow another kingdom.
The conquering kingdom would assemble their army and ride to the capital city of the country that was to be overthrown.
They would surround the city as a siege, not letting any supplies or reinforcments in, for several weeks, to soften up the people, and to demonstrat their power and ability to control the area.
Then the king or commander of the conquering army would ride toward the gates of the city with the "gospel", [evangelion] the terms by which they would accept surrender.
King so and so has been set apart for destruction,
turn away from him [repent] and bow [bend the knee] before the king of "Babylon", [example] and declare your allegiance to Him, or die with him.
This usually meant a life of slavery and misery, so some would just fight to the death, but many would defect and go out to bow and confess their allegiance to this conquering king.
The Gospel came to mean good news, because we are called to be sons of God and joint heirs with Christ.
Repent, is an eternal commitment to commit ourselves, trust and obey Jesus as our Lord.
The evidence of our sincereity of our committment is love: demonstrating or expressing our faith through acts of love inspired and motivated by His Spirit within us.
These are the "works" we do "befitting" repentance.
We are not saved: born again, regenerated because we did some good works, and are now deserving to be born again, we are born again by obeying the Gospel command to repent.
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 1 Peter 1:22-23
Since we have been born again through obeying the Gospel [truth], we have been called to love the brethren with a sincere love, because we have been born again of an incorruptible seed: The Gospel message of the kingdom.
JLB