Some people think that sin takes a believer back to the other side of the Cross but that through repentance we regain our access back to the right side of the Cross. This is a very unbiblical understanding of repentance. The truth is, once you believe in Jesus you are born again and come into a new position in Christ where you are perfect in righteousness, one with Christ and seated in Him in heavenly places (Heb 10:10,12-14, 2 Cor 5:21, Eph 2:5-6, Col 3:1-4). Sin does not and cannot reverse that or cut you off from Christ ever again. Repentance is not about trying to regain something we already have and can never lose, repentance is about aligning our thinking to Jesus and His finished work of grace. Consequently as we do this the right behaviour will follow.

Repentance has got nothing to do with pleading or begging for forgiveness in order to come into a relationship with God or to maintain our relationship with Him. Sin doesn’t keep us out of God’s presence, it’s condemnation and unbelief that keeps us out because we don’t think we can go in. The truth is the way is always open even if we have sinned (God forbid). And the Bible confirms this to us by telling us that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence anytime we like because of the blood of Jesus. (Heb 4:16, Heb 10:19-22).

Repentance doesn’t get rid of our sin. Jesus gets rid of our sin. Repentance is putting faith in Jesus – who has gotten rid of our sins and made us righteous before God.

Repentance is not us trying to deal with our sin. Repentance is about thinking right about Jesus.

To repent, in the Greek (metanoéō), literally means “to change your mind and think differently” or “to think differently after a change of mind”. In other words you have a revelation of truth that changes your mind, which then causes you to think and behave differently after knowing that truth. Martin Luther used to think that works is what saves him until he had a revelation of justification by faith alone. That revelation caused him to repent, which was to change the way he thinks about the truth of salvation. After having this revelation his behaviour changed too. He started to bare the fruits of repentance. That is, he stopped engaging in dead works (trying to earn, keep or complete your salvation by works) and started walking by faith in Jesus.

Likewise, anyone today who trusts in works to save them or get rid of their sins, needs to have a revelation of grace so that they can repent from dead works and think inline with the finished work of Christ. So what if a believer sins, should they not repent? Well it depends on how you define repentance. We will look at this in part 2.

The Church today has added a lot of extra meaning to the words repent and repentance and have turned it into a work. But in actual fact, works is the very thing we are repenting of as we change the way we think about Jesus and His grace. The following three scriptures really define to us what repentance is in the New Covenant. See if you can find where it involves us grovelling on the ground while abhorring and punishing ourselves with guilt and begging and pleading God for forgiveness:

  • Acts 20:21 “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
  • Hebrews 6:1 “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,”
  • Acts 19:4 “Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”

Repentance is turning from dead works toward God with faith in Jesus. It’s giving up that old way of thinking that our works earn us something with God and submitting to the truth of grace. It’s renewing our minds to align with Christ’s truth. It’s aligning our hearts with God’s heart. And this will always have an effect on our behaviour.

In the next Bible study (part 2), we look at what repentance is and is not for the believer.

By Ryan Rufus.

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Articles you may find interesting:

Part 2: What repentance is and is not for the believer.

Part 3: A commentary on all the Repentance scriptures in the New Testament.

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