What Is Repentance?
by Vance E. Trefethen
via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 2, June 30, 1989
Most people who have studied the Bible, even a little, know that repentance is an important part of God's plan for the redemption of the souls of men. Jesus and the apostles connected it with baptism and forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47; Acts 2:38) and commanded it of "all men everywhere" (Acts 17:30).
The Greek words translated "repent" in the above passages means "to think differently, to think afterwards, to reconsider, or to reverse a decision." In each case, the text talks about sinners reconsidering or changing their minds about sin and deciding to give up a sinful lifestyle in favor of serving God. Several things are involved in the process of repentance.
First, a person must come to grips with the sins he has committed. Many who came to receive John the Baptist's baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins were not willing to truly repent because they did not really believe they were sinners. John said, "Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father. .." (Luke 3:8). Any of God's people who trust in being "children of Abraham" or "members of the church" and do not make any effort to deal with the sin in their lives stand in danger before God.
Second, the penitent must feel sorrow for sin (II Corinthians 7:9-10). Sorrow by itself is not repentance, since many feel sorrow over things they have done and have no intention of giving them up. But godly sorrow will motivate a person to repentance as it did to those in Corinth who needed to get their lives straightened out. In Acts 2, many were "pricked in the heart" when they realized they had rejected the Messiah and cried out, "What shall we do?" They were ready for repentance.
Third, repentance involves a change in lifestyle. Paul told people "that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance" (Acts 26:20). A man's works are the final test of true repentance. How could the early church tell that Saul of Tarsus had repented of his violent persecution of Christianity? "...And they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. And he was with them" (Acts 9:26-29). They could tell by his works.
Perhaps it's not a big deal, but I'm bothered whenever I hear "coming forward" or "aisle-walking" referred to as "repentance." Someone might say, "Sister X repented of her sins last Sunday night after the invitation song." Chances are Sister X did no such thing. What's more likely is that sometime during the week, Sister X realized that she had been living wrong, repented in her heart, and decided on Sunday to let others know she already had repented.
There are good reasons to let others know you have repented. I Corinthians 5 instructs the church to put away from its number those who practice certain sins. If the church is considering such action, and one has repented of the sins that would cause the church to consider such, the penitent one had better find some way to make that repentance known before the action is improperly taken."Aisle-walking" is only one of several ways to accomplish it. One could sit down with the church's elders and discuss the situation. One could talk to other members privately. One could write a letter and have it posted or read. There could be several other ways.
One danger we can fall into is the practice of legislating which sins require "aisle walking" and which ones don't. Are we respectors of persons" if we require a teenage girl who gets pregnant to walk the aisle, and yet do not require the same of a man who is publicly known to be practicing covetousness or some other sin? We run the risk of adding to God's word and "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" when we begin legislating the rules for "aisle-walking," all the while calling it "repentance."
Brethren, let us remember that repentance takes place in the hearts and lives of men and women, not in the aisles of church buildings. Public confession of sins and announcements of repentance are necessary in some cases, but we have no authority to legislate the exact form they take. Perhaps we must emphasize "doing works worthy of repentance," since that, and not "aisle-walking," is the final test of true repentance.
