What Does the Bible Teach About Repentance?

What Does the Bible Teach About Repentance?

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  WHAT DOES THE BIBLETEACH ABOUT REPENTANCE? “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32, NIV, emphasis mine). Introduction ome people say that when Jesus asks people to repent, it simply shows that they are capable of repenting. However, is man’s capability God’s controllability? Must people repent first before they can heed Christ’s invitation to do so? What is Repentance? Repentance is a crucial step that everyone should do. However, fail to understand the true nature of repentance will surely ruin the way we look at Christ and the salvation that He offered. In fact, not only a few, but many fail to understand its true nature.1 To define, repentance is a sorrow for and a turning away from sin. In fact, “We shall not renounce sin unless we see its sinfulness; until we turn away from it in heart, there will be no real change in the life.”2 Man’s Post-Fall Status Man, after the Fall, is incapable of a right relationship with God. God “saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his [man’s] heart was only evil all the time” (Gen 6:5, NIV). “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isa 64:6, NIV). Because man is incapable of a right relationship with God after the Fall, God devised a plan—the restorationof the broken 1 See Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (1892; repr.,MountainView, CA: Pacific Press, 1956), 23. 2 Ibid. relationship. It was not to reinstate Adam to his pre-fall status but, rather, to gradually restore God’s damaged image in man. Adam’s pre-Fall status was not restoredafter he sinned. Instead, God says to him, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will provide thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return” (Gen 3:17-19, NIV). Clearly, the above statement is not Adam’s pre-Fall status but his post-Fall status. Paul says that “death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come” (Rom 5:14, NIV). It was Satan who led Adam to sin. In fact, God “would not communicate with him [Adam] after he had sinned as he did when he was without sin.”3 The Needof Christ Adam was given communion that was direct, free, and happy with His Creator. The Fall disrupted it. After his transgression, God would communicate to man through Christ and angels. Christ became Adam’s instructor as well as his mediator to God.4 The plan of salvation was not Adam-centered but, rather, Christ-centered. Adam is already incapable of restoring his pre- Fall status with God. However, Christ is the only One capable of restoring the separation caused by transgression.5 Christ “presented Himself as surety for the human race, with just as much power to avert the doom pronounced upon the guilty as when He died upon the cross of Calvary.”6 While it is true that God saved Adam after his fall, He only saved Adam but did not reinstate him to his pre-Fall status. In fact, all who do not continue to sin are no longer called Adam’s 3 Ellen G. White, Conflict and Courage (Washington, DC: ReviewandHerald, 1970),20. 4 Ibid. 5 Ellen G. White, Confrontation(Washington, D C: ReviewandHerald, 1970), 20. 6 Ellen G. White, God’s Amazing Grace (Washington, DC: ReviewandHerald, 1973), 23. S
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  descendants but, rather,born of God (1 John 5:18). The one born of God does not continue to sin (3:9), knows God (13:9), believes that Jesus is the Christ (5:1), and overcomes the world (v. 4). The Adamic race has “broken the covenant—they were unfaithful” to God (Hos 6:7, NIV). Paul says, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22, NIV). Thus, salvation is not about Adam—it is all about Christ—the second Adam. The Call to Repentance Christ says, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32, NIV). Repentance is a call. The Greek word for call means to invite or to bid. If that is the case, then repentance is man’s choice. E. G. White says something very crucial of the nature of repentance. She says, “The Bible does not teach that the sinner must repent before he can heed the invitation of Christ.”7 Thus, repentance is a response of the call—an event prior to heeding to it. God is only inviting us what type of choices we should make prior to heeding to the invitation of Christ. Because God calls us to repent, then we should answer the call. Peter says, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9, NIV). We should heed first Christ’s invitation before we can repent. The role of the Holy Spirit is to awaken our conscience.8 God gives us the chance, time, and influence to repent. However, we must do the actual repenting (Ezek 18:30-32;Acts 17:30). We choose to repent but under the influence of the Holy Spirit. We only respond to God’s call. God calls but we answer. It is never mentioned in the Bible that repentance God’s choice. If God is in charge of our choice then why people are sinning? Why is it that God is not wanting anyone to perish? Man can only make a good choice if he “surrenders to Christ,” — 7 White, Steps, 26. 8 Ibid. the time when “the mind is brought under the control of the law.”9 Capable of repenting does not mean that someone is controlled to repent. Because capability is not controllability, Jesus denounced “the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent” (Matt 11:20, NIV). Conclusion To conclude, repentance is a call and man’s part is to respond. It only happens after we hear Christ’s invitation to do so. Through the Holy Spirit our minds are awaken to conformity with God’s law. By then, man is capable of repenting. However, man’s capability is not God’s controllability. The only thing that He cannot do is to control man to repent. God would be no longer the God of love if He does it to you. Appeal God calls us to repent. Why not respond His call and grab this freedom now? ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cristopher V. Luaya teaches theology at Northern Luzon Adventist College. He graduated with a Bachelor of Theology degree from Central Philippine Adventist College (2004) and a Masterof Arts in Religion, major in church history, from the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies (2013) where he successfully defended his thesis on ecumenism. His first book is Understanding the Book of Daniel: An Introduction published by South Philippine Adventist College in 2015. Aside from teaching, he is the current pastorof NLAC Church. He and his wife Alvie are blessed with two growing kids, Chris Alwyne and Hailey Nicole. 9 Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing (1905; repr.,MountainView, CA: Pacific Press, 1942), 131.