The Significance of Repentance| Transformed4More| Christianity

A few years ago, I was teaching a group of teenage girls, and I asked them how many had ever heard the words “repentance” or “repent”. Out of the group of eight girls, all of whom had grown up in church, only one raised her hand. I probed further and asked if she could put in her own words what it meant; she could not.

Unfortunately, I cannot say I was shocked by these findings. In a modern culture that unapologetically accepts and parades sin, and even “churches” who accept open sin, it is easy to see why this aspect of salvation is largely left by the wayside.

Today, I want to explain what repentance is and its importance in the process of salvation.

Understanding Repentance

A basic definition of repentance is a deep regret and sorrow over past actions. In the Christian world, repentance is the act of confessing our genuine regret and sorrow over past sins. God takes the act of repentance seriously, and this is prevalent in passages in both the New and Old Testaments. His commands about repentance never change or waver.

Here are some examples:

Job 36:10, “He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil.”
Jeremiah 15:19, “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me…”
2 Chronicles 32:26, “Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore, the Lord’s wrath did not come on them during the days of Hezekiah.”
Matthew 4:17, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’”
Luke 15:7, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent…”
Acts 2:38, “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”
Acts 26:20, “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.”

As the last verse reiterates, a person who has truly repented of sin has a heart change and he/she does all he/she can not to fall into sin again.

Repentance and Salvation

A person cannot be saved if he/she does not repent. This truth is overshadowed at times due to the main verse used to teach salvation which is Romans 10:9. It states, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” On the surface, it may seem that simply acknowledging Jesus is the son of God and believing in the resurrection is enough for salvation. However, this is not the case. Even demons recognize that Jesus is the son of God and believe in the resurrection.

When you declare that “Jesus is Lord”, that means that you are declaring he is the Lord of your entire life. If Jesus is your Lord, that means that you are his servant, and your role is to do his will on Earth. You cannot fulfill this role if you continue living in unrepentant sin. Jesus cannot be Lord of your life if you ignore his commands about abstaining from sin.

For Jesus to truly be the Lord of your life, you must repent and attempt to avoid sin at all costs.

In Closing

Just as a reminder, even after salvation, sin is a problem that will always plague us. We will fall into it and at those points, we need to confess our sin, ask for God’s forgiveness, and then again attempt to abstain from sin. We are called to live a life of righteousness and that should always be our focus.

God takes sin seriously and we all need a reminder about that from time to time.

If you’re curious about our other posts on sin, you can access them here.

Also, in our book God’s Not Gray: Biblical Truth in a Society of Blurred Lines, I discuss the topics of sin, salvation, the Christian mission and more. If you ended up here, it will interest you! Click here or below to learn more!