Acts 17:30, 2 Peter 3:8-9, Acts 3:19, and so on. Passage like these let us know that repentance is necessary for salvation or for forgiveness of sins to occur. God not only wants us to repent, but requires it. What is repentance, and how do we make sure we are doing it right?
Repentance is when we change our minds. Logically, if you have heard a truth and then believe it, you will change your thinking and actions to fit that truth. Faith implies obedience and, if we weren’t already doing whatever it is we now believe, requires repentance from our previous actions. When we live the life Christ demands, we no longer live in sin. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20). We no longer live by the way of the world, but live “by faith” - in other words, we act in accordance with His word.
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 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 Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:5-7
If we want to be with Christ, to fellowship with Him, we have to stop walking in darkness and leave behind all unrighteousness. We are promised forgiveness, promised a removal of sins by His blood, if we practice the truth/walk in the light. We have to crucify the sinner and choose to change our minds and our lifestyles to reflect the light God tells us to shine. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16
In James 4, James writes to a group of people struggling with various sins. We, too, can learn from what he tells them.
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:7-8
These Christians were at a crossroads. They had been acting like they were right with God while simultaneously living lives of sin. James called them “adulterers”, because they were cheating on God with the world. The crossroads was this: they had to make a decision, because they were now fully aware of their sins. It was either the world or God, because “friendship with the world is enmity with God” (vs. 4). James could not make that choice for them, but he told them in verses 7-11 what to do if they were to choose God. They needed to “cleanse” themselves from the sin and “lament and mourn and weep.” They should feel godly sorrow for hurting God for their own pleasures.
For us, it is more than guilt, regret, or remorse that needs to happen when we realize we’ve sinned. James doesn’t ask for us to feel bad that we got caught. He asks for a complete u-turn from the sin that separates us from God. He asks us to feel sorrow, not because we have been called out on our wrongdoing, but because we’ve cheated God out of the commitment we promised Him when becoming a Christian. 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 tells us that godly sorrow is the forerunner to repentance. We should love God so much that we feel sorrowful that our sins nailed His Son to the cross. Micah 7:9 helps show the difference between remorse and repentance.
I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness.
Remorse is when a man feels sorry for himself and mourns the sin because it has brought suffering to him (for example, feeling bad because you were pulled over but not because you were speeding and breaking the law). Repentance is when a man is grieving over the sin because of how it has wronged God. Repentance means we will accept whatever just punishment is necessary to reunite our sin-stained soul with our just and merciful God. Our debt to God must be paid in full and we must stop making the debt bigger; in other words, we cannot continue to live in sin once we’ve been forgiven (Romans 6:1-2). We submit to the punishment or suffering because we know that, by it, God is setting us free from our sin.
If repentance is knowing we have wronged God and wanting to fix our relationship with Him, how can we do so?
Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness - by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2:24-25
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace Ephesians 1:7
Christ has already made the payment. He took the punishment and suffering that covers the cost of all our sins. What is required of us now is to repent and “live for righteousness”.
When we realize we have sinned, God has shown us how to make it right. For those of us who have never committed to Christ, it requires those first steps of denying ourselves, taking up Christ’s cross, and following Him. The people who had just crucified Christ on the cross were told, “...Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…” (Acts 2:38). For those of us who have previously committed to Christ but now have noticed that we have fallen back into sin, it requires acknowledgement before God of wrongdoing and a determination to once again “live for righteousness.” In Acts 8:22, after Simon the Sorcerer is confronted about his sins, Peter tells him, “Repent therefore of your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.”
Pride can sometimes get in the way of repentance. Admitting that I’m wrong, that I’ve hurt God, and that I need to change my lifestyle is difficult. But, God does not expect us to walk this path of recovery alone. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. James 5:16-20
James tells these “adulterers” that, in order to repent, sometimes it will take another Christian pointing out that unfaithfulness. When we let others help us turn from sin, when we have a support group and family who pray for and with us, we are better equipped to fight the urges of sin and commit to God.
God requires repentance from those who sin. That means that all of us (see Romans 3:23) must confess our sins and turn from them. We must live for righteousness and help one another in these trials. There is no shame in having godly sorrow and requesting help from the church and forgiveness from God. The shame is on the other side of the crossroads: knowing wrong and continuing in it.