Biblical Repentance

[Titus]

It was not addressed to you brother.

J.

My comment to you had nothing to do with the discussion here.

 

[Titus]

I'll give it a try @Titus in a spirit of goodwill, not being facetious.


The distinction between "repentance toward salvation" and "repentance of sin" is a nuanced one, but it centers around the purpose, direction, and outcome of the repentance. Both concepts involve a change of mind, but they are applied differently in the context of Christian theology and soteriology (the study of salvation). Here’s how we can differentiate the two:

1. Repentance Toward Salvation

Definition: Repentance toward salvation refers to a change of mind that is focused on turning toward God and accepting the salvation offered through Jesus Christ. It is the initial act of turning away from a life of sin, self, and idolatry to embrace God and His redemptive work in Christ.

Focus: The emphasis is on turning to God for salvation. This is not merely about sorrow for sin but is primarily about recognizing and accepting Christ as the Savior, and the necessity of His death and resurrection for forgiveness and eternal life.

Biblical Examples:

Acts 20:21: "Testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ."

Romans 10:9: Repentance involves confessing Jesus as Lord, which is part of the process of salvation.

Theological Significance: This form of repentance is viewed as a change of mind and heart toward God that leads to salvation. It is often seen as an initial, essential step in the conversion experience-turning away from sin and toward the saving grace of God.

2. Repentance of Sin

Definition: Repentance of sin refers to the ongoing process of acknowledging and turning away from specific sins or sinful behaviors. It is a post-conversion aspect of the Christian life, where believers continue to reflect on their lives, confess their sins, and seek God’s forgiveness and restoration.

Focus: The emphasis is on specific acts of sin that need to be repented of as part of the believer's growth in holiness. This is often linked to the ongoing sanctification process, where the believer continually seeks to align their life with God’s will.

Biblical Examples:

1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Luke 15:7: "There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."

Theological Significance: Repentance of sin is an ongoing act in the life of a believer, where sin is identified, confessed, and forsaken to grow more in Christlikeness.

3. Theological Understanding of Metanoia

Metanoia (the Greek word commonly translated as "repentance") carries the idea of a change of mind or a turning around. The primary shift in metanoia involves a person’s attitude toward sin and God, which involves both a turning away from sin (repentance of sin) and a turning toward God (repentance toward salvation).

In Relation to Salvation: In the New Testament, metanoia often refers to an initial repentance toward salvation, where a sinner turns from self-reliance and sin to trust in Christ for forgiveness and eternal life.

Matthew 3:2: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" Here, metanoia is used in the context of repentance as part of the gospel message.

In Relation to Sanctification: As believers grow in their faith, metanoia continues to be relevant as they experience ongoing repentance of sin, leading to sanctification and greater conformity to God’s will.

2 Corinthians 7:10: "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." This verse highlights both the initial turning toward God and the ongoing repentance for sin.

Summary of Differences:
Repentance Toward Salvation:
Focuses on turning to God and faith in Christ for salvation.
Is initial and involves a change of mind regarding one’s relationship with God.
Is part of the process of conversion and justification.

Repentance of Sin:
Focuses on turning away from specific sins and sinful behaviors.
Is ongoing and involves the believer’s sanctification.
Is part of the believer’s growth in holiness and living in alignment with God’s will.

Conclusion--
Both types of repentance involve metanoia, but they differ in their focus and role in the believer’s life. "Repentance toward salvation" is a foundational step in the conversion experience, turning a person from sin to God, while "repentance of sin" is an ongoing process that continues throughout the Christian life, leading to sanctification. Both are essential, but the former is about initial salvation and the latter about continued growth and obedience.

Metanoia (The Greek Term for Repentance)
The Greek word metanoia (μετάνοια) means "a change of mind" or "a turning around," and it applies in both the initial repentance for salvation and the ongoing repentance from sin. This understanding is consistent in scholarly interpretations, including works by A.T. Robertson, Daniel B. Wallace, and F.F. Bruce.

Metanoia involves not just intellectual acknowledgment but also a moral and spiritual transformation. Scholars agree that metanoia can refer to both salvific repentance (for salvation) and sanctifying repentance (for continued growth in holiness).

J.

I'm getting frustrated.
The whole purpose of my article is how Jesus teaches on Biblical repentance in Matthew 21:28-32

It will not allow repentance to be defined as simply a change of mind.
That is too vague, it does not show what is taking place.
Stories teach us what words mean with people acting out repentance or whatever subject is the lesson.

Jesus did not sit people down and give them a giant list of words to memorize their definitions.
He taught by examples of those words BEING PUT INTO PRACTICE.

This is how we can understand what Biblical repentance really is.
You cannot ever know what repentance means by word definition alone.

Proof? There are a large number of Greek Scholars and Hebrew Scholars that cannot tell you how to be saved. They are just as confused as the lay person.
Word meaning alone is not sufficient.

There is only one way to know the truth.
The Bible must be read.
The Bible itself tells us it is how we learn how to be saved.
1John 5:13,
- these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God

We know that we are saved by what is written in religious seminaries?
We know that we are saved by what is written from Greek scholars?
We know that we are saved by what is written from our preacher?

We know that we are saved by what is written from the epistles of the apostles?
The Bible maybe?
What was written down from the Holy Spirit working through man!!!

Jesus has a lesson to give us in Matthew 21.
You cannot find the "mystery" in this parable by NOT STUDYING THE PARABLE.

If you want to get good at soccer you play soccer.

Lifting weights will make your legs strong but it want teach you how to dribble the soccer ball.

You want to understand the parable of the two sons, then I know this sounds far fetched but you have to read the parable of the two sons.
Not go to some Greek lexicon and start looking up the definition of repentance.

I'm not against word study but it cannot explain a parable! Word study is only an aid to the Bible it cannot replace it.

 

[Johann]

I'm getting frustrated.
The whole purpose of my article is how Jesus teaches on Biblical repentance in Matthew 21:28-32

It will not allow repentance to be defined as simply a change of mind.
That is too vague, it does not show what is taking place.
Stories teach us what words mean with people acting out repentance or whatever subject is the lesson.

Jesus did not sit people down and give them a giant list of words to memorize their definitions.
He taught by examples of those words BEING PUT INTO PRACTICE.

This is how we can understand what Biblical repentance really is.
You cannot ever know what repentance means by word definition alone.

Proof? There are a large number of Greek Scholars and Hebrew Scholars that cannot tell you how to be saved. They are just as confused as the lay person.
Word meaning alone is not sufficient.

There is only one way to know the truth.
The Bible must be read.
The Bible itself tells us it is how we learn how to be saved.
1John 5:13,
- these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God

We know that we are saved by what is written in religious seminaries?
We know that we are saved by what is written from Greek scholars?
We know that we are saved by what is written from our preacher?

We know that we are saved by what is written from the epistles of the apostles?
The Bible maybe?
What was written down from the Holy Spirit working through man!!!

Jesus has a lesson to give us in Matthew 21.
You cannot find the "mystery" in this parable by NOT STUDYING THE PARABLE.

If you want to get good at soccer you play soccer.

Lifting weights will make your legs strong but it want teach you how to dribble the soccer ball.

You want to understand the parable of the two sons, then I know this sounds far fetched but you have to read the parable of the two sons.
Not go to some Greek lexicon and start looking up the definition of repentance.

I'm not against word study but it cannot explain a parable! Word study is only an aid to the Bible it cannot replace it.

Cheers brother-late here in South Africa and we are called to STUDY the Scriptures-like the Bereans.

J.

 

[marks]

The Bible also tells us that true repentance will result in a change of actions. Acts 26:20 declares, "I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds." This is the fruit of repentance (Matthew 3:8), not the essence of repentance (change of mind).

Nailed it! We show the reality of our repentance in what we do.

To me, repentance isn't just about the sins we perceive ourselves to commit. I don't think we really know all the sins we may commit. Paul wrote that way in 1 Corinthians 4.

I think of where Peter preached, in Acts 4, I think, "repent, and be converted". Repentance to salvation is to repudiate all we are and have and do and want, to realize we are dead in sin, and to reject that, in favor of Jesus, of having life in Jesus.

It often looks like "I got nothing, I need Jesus!" and maybe that's all we know at the beginning.

Coming to Jesus believing in Him, receiving Him, this is the prelude to God giving us rebirth. If our faith is real, and God's gift of rebirth is real, we will in fact be different. It may or may not appear immediately, and many of us have harder struggles, and may take longer to mature.

Hebrews speaks of meat being for those who "by reason of use have excersized their senses to discern good and evil". As we do the part we know, we go on to learn the parts we don't yet know.

Much love!

 

[Simonides]

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[Simonides]

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[Simonides]

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[marks]

It will not allow repentance to be defined as simply a change of mind.

An exchange of mind, to be specific. That's what the word means, and unless you begin from there, you will be building on the wrong foundation.

Jesus has a lesson to give us in Matthew 21.
You cannot find the "mystery" in this parable by NOT STUDYING THE PARABLE.

Alright, I'll skip ahead with you, and we won't come to acknowledge the meanings of the words that Jesus used.

To the parable . . .

There is repentance itself, the exchange of a mind for a new mind, and there is the result of repentance, the change of thinking, feeling, and, what we're talking about here, behavior.

The change of behavior follows, and results from, repentance, or metanoia, the change of mind. The man repented, and because he repented, he acted differently.

The result of repentance is not the repentance itself.

Much love!

 

[Simonides]

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[Simonides]

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[Simonides]

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[marks]

Not taking sides here. Still reading the thread. Just a question. Paul committed his sins of ignorance before receiving the Holy Spirit. After God had written His law upon Paul's heart, were sins of ignorance still possible for Paul, or anyone else for that matter?

Paul wrote,

1 Corinthians 4:4-5 KJV
4) For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
5) Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

Jesus, not ourselves, is the qualified judge of us. I believe we have neither sufficient self awareness nor sufficient understanding of sin to be able to declare ourselves sinless.

Much love!

 

[Simonides]

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[Simonides]

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[Simonides]

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[mailmandan]

I'm still waiting for Mark and any other who believes repentance toward salvation does not involve repentance of sin to answer my first question:

Could the son who repented and went to work in his fathers vineyard have repented if he had not gone to work?

How do you define repentance of sin? Become sinless, without fault or defect, flawless in thought, word and deed 100% of the time from the moment you repent until the day you die? Good luck with that. (1 John 1:8-10)

When we first come to repentance we acknowledge that we have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Afterward we place our faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation as the solution to our sin problem/lost state. (Acts 20:21; 26:18; Romans 3:24-28; 5:1; Ephesians 2:8,9) We then become new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and partakers of the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4) We have been changed! Praise God!

As born again children of God we now practice righteousness and not sin. (1 John 3:9-10) It's about the direction of our walk and not the perfection of our walk.

 

[Titus]

Not taking sides here. Still reading the thread. Just a question. Paul committed his sins of ignorance before receiving the Holy Spirit. After God had written His law upon Paul's heart, were sins of ignorance still possible for Paul, or anyone else for that matter?

Excellent question and Hello,
Well really I don't believe anyone can answer your question with full assurance that their 100% correct.

Paul once received the baptismal measure of the Holy Spirit was given miraculous knowledge.
So, my understanding of this ability is he knew all of the law not by study or by memory but by a miracle of Gods Spirit working through him. All the apostles were endowed with this miraculous knowledge.

So, my guess is no, he could not sin in ignorance while under the power of the Holy Spirit but I'm not going to be dogmatic about my position.

What I can say for sure is the apostles after receiving Holy Spirit baptism could go against God and sin.
We see this with the apostle Peter. Paul rebuked him to his face.
When Peter sinned I absolutely believe he knew better but allowed his flesh to win over the Spirit.
That was a choice he freely made.

If the Holy Spirit caused them to have no ability to sin then they lost their freewill under the influence of the Holy Spirit and became Gods robots, his puppets on strings. Which I believe the Scriptures prove this to be untrue.

John 14:26,
- but the Comforter which is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you


Of course today we are not under a miraculous pouring out if the Spirit.
Some claim we are.
So for those I ask, why do you need to read and study your Bible?
Why are you not able to quote any Scripture immediately without having to turn to it?

So for christians, they are very much ignorant and therefore still sin in ignorance.
btw, God does punish us for sins of ignorance.

If you did not know the laws of the road, and you broke the law and had to go to court.
Would a defense of..."Well your honor I didn't know i broke the law because i didn't know the law.

Do you think the judge would pardon you or would you still be guilty?

People today think if they are involved in sins of ignorance but get saved they can still practice those sins because they didn't know better.

Example homosexual marriage.
Two married homosexuals obey the gospel.
Does God take their sin of marriage away because they didn't know any better when they were married?

No, they will have to separate. They cannot continue in that sinful marriage.
Same with heterosexual marriage that is adulterous.
Just because the two who were previously married to others and now married to one another in adultery does not make the sin go away when they both get saved.
They must separate get divorced as they had no right by Gods law to be married in the first place.

I pray for God to forgive me of willful sins and sins that I'm not aware that I've committed(ignorance).

 

[mailmandan]

I'm getting frustrated.
The whole purpose of my article is how Jesus teaches on Biblical repentance in Matthew 21:28-32

It will not allow repentance to be defined as simply a change of mind.
That is too vague, it does not show what is taking place.
Stories teach us what words mean with people acting out repentance or whatever subject is the lesson.

Jesus did not sit people down and give them a giant list of words to memorize their definitions.
He taught by examples of those words BEING PUT INTO PRACTICE.

This is how we can understand what Biblical repentance really is.
You cannot ever know what repentance means by word definition alone.

You seem to be making this out to be more complicated than it really is. In regard to the first son repenting in Matthew 21:29, this was in regard to him refusing to go and work in the vineyard then afterward he changed his mind and went. That was the new direction of his change of mind.

Matthew 21:32 - For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. *Notice what the new direction of that change of mind is here. Believe him.

Mark 1:15 - And saying: The time is accomplished, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe the gospel. *Notice what the new direction of that change of mind is here. Believe the gospel.

Acts 20:21 - testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. *Notice what the new direction of that change of mind is here. Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

[MatthewG]

I believe the definition is change of mind in Greek. @Titus. I think it’s good to use the definitions in what the term identifies with. When John the Baptist was baptizing people, they were showing they had changed their mind and were going to look towards God. John said there would be Jesus who would baptize in in Holy Spirit and fire.

If you’re looking for sanctification? That would be after the change of mind.

Strong's Hebrew 6944: Refers to holiness or sacredness, often used in the context of things set apart for God.

- קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh) - Strong's Hebrew 6918: Meaning holy or sacred, used to describe God, people, or objects dedicated to God.

Usage: Hagiasmos refers to the process of making something holy or set apart for God's purposes. In the New Testament, it often describes the spiritual growth and moral purity expected of believers as they are transformed into the likeness of Christ. It encompasses both the initial act of being set apart at salvation and the ongoing process of spiritual maturation and moral purity.



Would be what you might be looking for, rather than repentance itself. It’s where we become more like Christ by allowing him to flow through us by the Holy Spirit, and that fire burns away our desires to perhaps indulge the flesh as much.

 

[Titus]

Repentance always precedes forgiveness and always involves a cha ge in behaviour.

Amen, Simple plain answer.