Can repentance mean turning away from sin and do Christians ever need to repent from sin? The Greek word for “repent” generally used in the New Testament (NT) is metanoeo (Strong’s no 3340) and means changing of the mind or purpose for the better. This can clearly mean changing your mind to the belief that you are righteous and not a sinner any more, and that you are forgiven by Jesus because of His shed blood on the cross. Although after the cross (Acts to Revelation in the NT) there is little mention of repentance, the following scriptures show that repentance can also mean a changing of the mind or purpose away from sin, and repentance from sin is sometimes required for Christians.
- 2 Cor 12:21 “And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.”
- Revelation 2:20-23: “Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.”
These two Scriptures are addressed to Christians, and it is very clear from these verses that Christians must repent if they sin. Repentance can only be because of our understanding that Jesus has already paid the price for our sin on the cross, and we can only repent because Jesus gives us the desire to repent. Repentance is also not just about saying sorry, it is not self-pity and is not about trying to change yourself, as only Jesus can change you.
Consider also the following Scriptures:
- In Rom 13:12 Paul tells his readers to “cast off the works of darkness” and in 1 Cor 6:18 to “flee fornication” and in 1 Cor 10:14, to “flee from idolatry”. Clearly the Corinthians had lapsed into sin and needed to flee from it. Fleeing from or casting off something to me means changing your mind about it and therefore means the same as repentance. If this is not repentance from sin, I am not sure what it is. As believers, we are freed from sin and should not be sinning and need not sin any more, but if we do sin we need to repent/flee/cast off those sins. Of course we are forgiven by the blood of Jesus, by His grace, there is no other way to have sins forgiven at all, but sins are removed from us when we cast them off, let go of them, turn away from them (repent). It really is very simple.
- A number of scriptures command us to forgive one another, as Christ forgave us (Eph 4:32 and Col 3:13). It seems to me that forgiveness is a form of repentance from unforgiveness and bitterness.
- James 5:14-16 says “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” So the forgiveness of sins is related to the prayer of faith for the sick. We are also told to confess our faults to one another, which implies repentance. (Note that we are not told to confess “sins” to one another, although some corrupted Greek manuscripts incorrectly use the word for “sins” instead of “faults” in this verse – for more information refer to http://word.spiritbodysoul.com/bible-versions.
The above shows that, after true repentance and conversion, although you are righteous and not a sinner any more, if you do lapse into committing sin, repentance from this sin is required. This of course is only possible as a result of being saved and the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. And of course it is because of the shed blood of Jesus on the cross that sin is forgiven – see http://word.spiritbodysoul.com/forgiven-free.
There is what some would call a “spirit of repentance” that can come from the Lord, which often includes a godly sorrow (2 Cor 7:9), resulting in deep repentance from sins. In scripture, one term for this is the Lord searching the thoughts and hearts (Rev 2:23). Very often we have treated those who sin with punishment, as a kind of a deterrence not to repeat the sin. But does this really stop people sinning or deter others from sinning? As Danny Silk explains in his excellent book, Culture of Honour, dealing with a Christian who sins requires not punishment but honouring that person and understanding the problem that causes the sin and dealing with that underlying issue. This results in a godly sorrow to repentance (2 Cor 7:9).
In the following Scriptures, Jesus Himself commands Christians to repent, and although it is not explicitly stated that this means repentance from sin, this is implied:
- Revelation 2:4-5: “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
- Revelation 2:16: “Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”
- Revelations 3:3 “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
- Revelations 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
Someone may say, “Well, repentance is all about changing your mind about Jesus it is all about turning to a new way, to Jesus, not about turning from sin”. But if you turn to something you also must have turned away from something else. What is the something else? Sin, evil, satan etc. Turning from death to life. Turning from sin to righteousness. It is very simple really. There is no contradiction at all. Repentance is both, it is turning to Jesus and it is very clear from Scripture that repentance is also turning away from sin.
Some people also believe we should repent from good works, but that is not Biblical; for further discussion on this, refer to http://word.spiritbodysoul.com/fruit.
Some people quote Martin Luther as a good source of teaching on repentance. Here is a summary of what he taught about it: http://www.newreformationpress.com/freebies/Luther_on_Repentance.pdf. Although Luther rightly moved away from the Roman Catholic ideas of penance (our suffering to somehow pay for sin) and confession to a priest to a Biblical belief in forgiveness of sin by grace through faith, it seems he also believed in “absolution” by man, and so did not fully break from the traditions of men.
Since many of the above scriptures are telling believers to repent from sin, we therefore need to repent if we sin. We think it is legalism for anyone to tell people they should not repent, when the Bible says we do need to repent when we sin. If God is leading you to repent, and as it is already in His Word, how can any person to tell you not to repent?