Repent = Turn From Sin,To God

Rippon · Aug 6, 2008

Eds and I have had some interaction on this topic on another thread. I don't want the other thread to get derailed;so I thought I would bring this topic over here. (Well, how considerate of you Rip.) Here are just a few verses that I have run across.

1 Chron. 15:4 ; but when they turned to the Lord God of Israel in their distress and sought Him,He was found by them.

Job 33:16,17 : He uncovers their ears at that time and terrifies them with warnings,in order to turn a person from his actions and suppress his pride.

Psalm 7:12 : If anyone does not repent,God will sharpen His sword;He has strung His bow and made it ready.

Psalm 37:27 : Turn away from evil and do what is good, and dwell there forever.

Isaiah 45:22 : Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.For I am God, and there is no other.

Jeremiah 23:22 : If they had really stood in my council, they would have enabled My people to hear my words and would have turned them back from their evil ways and their evil deeds.

Ez. 33:11c ... but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live. Repent,repent of your evil ways! ...

Ez. 33:19 : But when a wicked person turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right,he will live because of this.

Jonah 3:8b : ... everyone must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from his the violence he is doing.

Acts 9:35 : So all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

1 Cor. 3:16 : but whenever a person turns to the Lord,the viel is removed.

1 Thess. 1:9b ...how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

[All quotations are from the HCSB]

skypair · Aug 6, 2008

Good stuff, rip! :smilewinkgrin:

I notice it is the person who 'turns,' not God.

And apparently, too, they do so especially when under conviction or distress and not because they have the Holy Spirit yet.

Seems a lot like Rom 1:19-21 and Acts 2:38 combined --- when they heard and acknowledged God, they did repent and openly glorified His name with their "baptism" and received the Spirit of thankfulness in place of their "vain imaginations darkened."

I'd say that's pretty good sotierology, rip! Are you endorsing it at this time?

skypair

ReformedBaptist · Aug 6, 2008

God gives and grants repentance.

Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Acts 5:31

When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” Acts 11:18

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4

Concerning the word in Scripture:

Only one of these is used of the repentance associated with salvation from sin. This is the verb metanoeo, and the corresponding noun metanoia. The other verb is metamelomai, the noun of which does not appear in the New Testament, but occurs in the Septuagint in Hosea 11:8. The verb is used in the Septuagint in Psalm 110:4; and Jer. 20:16. It is also the word used in the New Testament in Matt. 21:29, which says of the son who had refused to obey his father's command to work in the vineyard, "afterward he repented himself and went." It likewise is found in Matt. 21:32 and 27:3, this latter being the case of Judas. Paul uses it in Rom. 11:29; and 2 Cor. 7:8, 10. It is also the word used in Heb. 7:21. In all other places, translated repent and repentance in the New Testament, the original is metanoeo or metanoia. This word means to reconsider, to perceive afterwards, and hence to change one's view, mind, or purpose, or even judgement, implying disapproval and abandonment of past opinions and purposes, and the adoption of others which are different. In all cases of inward change there is not necessarily a change of outward conduct, nor is such inward change accompanied by regret. These results would flow from the nature of that about which that change has arisen.

We arrive, therefore, at the meaning of Christian repentance partly through the meaning of these Greek words, but also partly because it is exercised about a question of morals. It is seen that it involves a change in the outward life because such change is a result of the change of inward opinions. It also includes sorrow for sin because a change of view as to the nature of sin and of holiness must be accompanied by regret and sorrow as to the past acts of sin.

The word metamelomai means to change one's care, to regret; the idea of sorrow always accompanying it.

The two words are nearly synonymous in their secondary meaning, and each is used in this secondary meaning in the New Testament. Metanoeo, however, traces the feeling of sorrow and the change of life back to an inward change of opinion and judgement as to the nature of sin and holiness, and of the relations of man and God. It is perhaps on this account that it is exclusively used for true repentance in the New Testament. This is not simply sorrow, or remorse, which may pass away, or lead in despair to other sins, or fill the soul with anxiety' but a heartfelt change in the inward soul towards God and holiness, which is lasting and effective, and which may be associated with peace and joy in believing. - Boyce, Abtract of Systematic Theology
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What it is:

II. To set forth explicitly what Christian Repentance is, it may be stated that it includes

1. An intellectual and spiritual perception of the opposition between holiness in God and sin in man. It does not look at sin as the cause of punishment but abhors it because it is vile in the sight of God and involves in heinous guilt all who are sinners.

2. It consequently includes sorrow and self-loathing, and earnest desire to escape the evil of sin. The penitent soul does not so much feel the greatness of its danger as the greatness of its sinfulness.

3. It also includes an earnest turning to God for help and deliverance from sin, seeking pardon for guilt and aid to escape its presence.

It is also accompanied by deep regret because of the sins committed in the past, and by determination with God's help to avoid sin and live in holiness hereafter. The heart heretofore against God and for sin is now against sin and for God.

From these facts it will be seen that

(1.) The seat of true repentance is in the soul. It is not of itself the mere intellectual knowledge of sin, nor the sorrow that accompanies it, nor the changed life which flows from it; but it is the soul's apprehension of its heinous character, which begets the horror and self-loathing which accompany it, and the determination to forsake sin which flows from it.

(2.) That true repentance is inconsistent with the continuance in sin because of grace abounding.

(3.) That true repentance consists of mental and spiritual emotion, and not of outward self-imposed chastisements. Even the pious life and devotion to God which follow are described not as repentance, but as fruits meet for repentance.

III. The Scriptures teach that the author of true repentance is God operating by truth upon the renewed heart.

Acts 5:31. Christ is said to have been exalted "to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins."

Acts 11:18. "Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life."

The means used is the preaching and other exhibition of the truth. Repentance like faith comes through the hearing of the word. By this men are exhorted to that duty, and gain the knowledge of the truths taught by God, through spiritual apprehension of which men are led to the truth.
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Boyce does an excellent job setting forth what repentance is.

Deacon · Aug 6, 2008

Boyce preached at 10th Presby, just a short way from here.
A devoted, former Church member attends there now.
Good preacher!

Taking "turn from sin" into a practical sense,

I work in the field of cardiology.
I see the devastation that tobacco has on people and encourage them to stop.

Most people acknowledge the effects and regret ever starting.

Few repent and turn from the their ways.

IMO, whether God or man effects the change (and turning from sin), it must happen to be repentance.

Rob

skypair · Aug 6, 2008

RB,

One part of Boyce's quotation stands out as distinctive to me in our personal salvation.

"... This word means to reconsider, to perceive afterwards, and hence to change one's view, mind, or purpose, or even judgement, implying disapproval and abandonment of past opinions and purposes, and the adoption of others which are different. In all cases of inward change there is not necessarily a change of outward conduct, nor is such inward change accompanied by regret.
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At the point of repentance unto salvation, I believe:

1) We, first, intellectually change our own "view, mind, purpose" because we believe God's revealed truth that has "convicted" us.

2) We (I know I did) turn from worldly wisdom and self guidance to God's wisdom and leadership even though we know almost none of that wisdom or where that leadership will take us! What we know of God will constitute our "worldview," Godliness becomes our purpose in life. Though we don't yet know what Godliness is, we commit to it.

3) Inward change not accompanied by outward change is a sign of inadequate knowledge. That is where "discipleship"/"sanctification" comes in. Having "repented" our lives to God, we begin repenting our ways to God -- turning from individual sins rather than from the life of sin that separated us from God.

skypair

ReformedBaptist · Aug 6, 2008

Deacon said:

Boyce preached at 10th Presby, just a short way from here.
A devoted, former Church member attends there now.
Good preacher!

Taking "turn from sin" into a practical sense,

I work in the field of cardiology.
I see the devastation that tobacco has on people and encourage them to stop.

Most people acknowledge the effects and regret ever starting.

Few repent and turn from the their ways.

IMO, whether God or man effects the change (and turning from sin), it must happen to be repentance.

Rob
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Hey Rob,

This Boyce is a different one. James P. Boyce was one of the founders of the SBC back in the late 1800s. I am pretty sure he is with the Lord now. :laugh: But I bet you heard James Boice, who also is a great preacher.

Rippon · Aug 6, 2008

ReformedBaptist said:

Hey Rob,

This Boyce is a different one. James P. Boyce was one of the founders of the SBC back in the late 1800s. I am pretty sure he is with the Lord now. :laugh: But I bet you heard James Boice, who also is a great preacher.
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James Boice died in June of 2000.He's with the Lord too.JMB was/is one of my favorite preachers. I met him a few times and he signed one of my books that he authored.

Rippon · Aug 6, 2008

skypair said:

Good stuff, rip! :smilewinkgrin:

I notice it is the person who 'turns,' not God.

And apparently, too, they do so especially when under conviction or distress and not because they have the Holy Spirit yet.

Seems a lot like Rom 1:19-21 and Acts 2:38 combined --- when they heard and acknowledged God, they did repent and openly glorified His name with their "baptism" and received the Spirit of thankfulness in place of their "vain imaginations darkened."

I'd say that's pretty good sotierology, rip! Are you endorsing it at this time?

skypair
Click to expand...

There is a passage quoted in Romans 10:20,but found originally in Isaiah 65:1 :"I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;I was found by those who did not seek me."

The Lord does the seeking.The Lord reveals Himself to those who were not looking for Him.

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