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Repentance is a foundational doctrine of Christianity that is basic to salvation and mandatory for maintaining an ongoing clear conscience.When exercised it is a combination of a sense of contrition about areas in which one has offended God that are accompanied by changes in behavior as one turns to God through faith in Jesus Christ (Heb 6:1-3, Act 2:38, 3:19, 17:30, 20:21, 26:20).
Definitions
Repent/repentance means to experience sensations of guilt/compunction and to respond to such in a positive corrective manner. Compunction is a twinge/sense of guilt about things one has done, is in the process of doing and/or is about to do. The foremost party offended by sins is God. People who have been hurt are important, but secondary.
A Gift
Contrary to popular opinion, God does not withhold good to make people repent. He extends merciful good to bring people to repentance (Rom. 2:4). The ability to repent is a blessing from God (Acts 3:26). Repentance is actually a grace gift that is granted/bestowed by God through the auspices of the Holy Spirit. On the positive side this is denoted by words such as grant/granted; and on the negative side denoting that God is not obligated to grant the gift by phrases such as if possible and if perhaps/peradventure. (Act 5:31, 8:22, 11:18, 2Ti 2:25, Heb 6:6, 12:17).
Neglect Dangerous
Anyone who has feelings/twinges of guilt about sin and his/her relationship with God and/or behavior is foolish if they don’t repent. There are no guarantees that they will be able to do so at a future date. Esau and Simon are exhibits “A” and “B” of this truth. Esau tried to repent and couldn’t (Heb 12:17). Peter rebuked Simon the Sorcerer and told him to pray for God to give him the ability to repent about his duplicity. The wording in the passage infers that there was the potential that he might not be graced to do so (Act 8:22).
Ineffectual vs. Effectual
Repentance that is initiated solely by man is called worldly sorrow. It produces death, as it is incapable of permanency. Godly sorrow produces life as it grants repentance unto life and a vindictive attitude toward previous errant behavior (2Co 7:8-10).
Two Forms
Repentance for Christians takes place on two primary fronts, individual/personal and corporate/unified/church-wide. There are two pivotal texts that relate to both, Mat 3:8 and Act 26:20. These imply that believers are to continually exemplify the fruits of repentance in their lives. Points at which they don’t, individually and corporately, dictate the need of and topics of repentance.
Personal Repentance
Personal repentance is applicable in any situation in which a person has failed to produce the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5). It also extends to any area wherein one has transgressed explicit Biblical mandates of moral and ethical behavior. It would include matters of personal conscience where others might be given liberty by the Spirit while the particular person may not be afforded the same liberties. IE Some are permitted to consume alcoholic beverages others are not. Most are at liberty to enjoy whatever foods they like and some are not etc. Not pursuing spiritual things with adequate zeal taints one’s conscience and can invoke Spirit-inspired compunction.
Corporate Repentance
Act 3:19-21 is often used to provoke congregations into periods of repentance. Even though the passage was primarily addressed to the unconverted, it can be extended to those who are already Christians. Fellowships intermittently need to go through repentance sessions about specific things in order to qualify for times of refreshing/revival. However, that type of repentance is also a gift. Prayer that all concerned will be bestowed with the burden to repent is often more appropriate than simply going through a list of items from which congregations commonly need to repent. Prayers about the listed items are apt to be a fruitless religious rite rather than effectual unless the Lord has graced all with the gift of repentance in each specific area.
Off Target
In relation to the aforementioned, unified sessions of church-wide repentance has been en vogue for the past thirty years. Such are good, as long as God rather than religiosity initiates the themes of repentance. Often the problem is that churches are spending hours repenting for things wherein they don’t have the authority to bring forth subsequent fruits of repentance. Christians might voice contrition for the sins of society, but they don’t have the where-with-all to bring about the 180 0 change of mind within a culture that would be the fruit indicative of true repentance. Christians don’t have the authority to control the behavior of entire nations. The societies of antiquity where the Gospel was first preached were ridden with idolatry, hideous sexual practices and abortion. New believers renounced and repented of their personal involvement. However, there is no evidence that the Apostles led them in prayer treks to repent of those past or present sins within their national cultures and among the unredeemed.
A landmark signal of the impotency of the Church repenting for the sins of society would be America’s current preoccupation with sex. Christians have been repenting about such for decades through organizations like Intercessors for America, of which I am a charter member. The topics of prayer are often America’s obsession with sex and the legislation of godly values at the national level.
To my chagrin, the results have been less than encouraging. Many in our nation are now making moves to rid governmental and public venues of all inferences about God. Simultaneously, previously unacceptable things such as homosexuality, lesbianism, pedophilia and vulgarity have become commonplace in every facet of public media. Thirty years ago the Internet was unknown to most. Now any child can do searches that expose them to sexual predators and heinous depictions of aberrant sex acts.
National Sins
Previous national sins have also been a theme of repentance. Our history of enslaving blacks and persecuting Indians are common topics. There are biblical reasons why such represents misdirected zeal more so than an inspired spiritual mandate. Under the New Covenant the sins of the fathers are not the responsibility of their children. Every person is solely responsible for his/her own sins (Eze 18). In reality less than 30% of America’s current population had ancestors who were living here when those things took place. Repentance over ancient national sins is amiss on two counts. God doesn’t hold us responsible for the sins of our ancestors, much less the sins of those who are not of familial lineage.
Legitimate Areas
Nonetheless, there are an abundance of appropriate themes for church-wide repentance. We understand from 2Corinthians that 1Corinthians was designed to bring that fellowship to repentance about divisions, favoring certain teachers over others, frequent instances of fornication, an incestuous member and the misuse of spiritual gifts. Competitive attitudes between dominations and clergymen are counterproductive to the purposes of Christ. All of those things are evident within the contemporary Church. Several of the Epistles speak of the need to repent of false doctrines and Revelation 2 & 3 do the same. Such are equally rampant in present-day churches.
Particular churches might need to repent if such are not fulfilling the unique calling to which the Lord has called them. A worthy theme of repentance for some sectors within the Church is the fact that such have tainted the entire Church with a reputation of hostility towards those of the world. In so doing they have blurred the image of Christ’s extended hand of mercy towards unbelievers. The spineless fellowships that allow clergymen and congregants to persist unchecked in illicit affairs are also in need of the gift of repentance.
Repentance is a blessed gift. An appropriate continual prayer is for America’s saints and sinners to be bestowed with it and comply with its accompanying twinges of guilt and repent.
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