Reference: Repentance
American
A change of mind, accompanied with regret and sorrow for something done, and an earnest wish that it was undone. Such was the repentance of Juda, Mt 27:3; and so it is said that Esau found "no place of repentance" in his father Isaac, although he sought it with tears, Heb 12:17; that is, Isaac would not change what he had done, and revoke the blessing given to Jacob, Ge 27. God is sometimes said to "repent" of something he had done, Ge 6:6; Jon 3:9-10; not that he could wish it undone, but that in his providence such a change of course took place as among men would be ascribed to a change of mind. But the true gospel repentance, or "repentance unto life," is sorrow for sin, grief for having committed it, and a turning away from it with abhorrence, accompanied with sincere endeavors, in reliance on God's grace and the influences of the Holy Spirit, to live in humble and holy obedience to the commands and will of God. This is that repentance which always accompanies true faith, and to which is promised the free forgiveness of sin through the merits of Jesus Christ, Mt 4:17; Ac 3:19; 11:18; 20:12.
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the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish. Then God saw their actions-that they had turned from their evil ways-so God relented from the disaster He had threatened to do to them. And He did not do it.
From then on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!"
Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was full of remorse and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.
Therefore repent and turn back, that your sins may be wiped out so that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
When they heard this they became silent. Then they glorified God, saying, "So God has granted repentance resulting in life to even the Gentiles!"
For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he didn't find any opportunity for repentance, though he sought it with tears.
Easton
There are three Greek words used in the New Testament to denote repentance. (1.) The verb metamelomai is used of a change of mind, such as to produce regret or even remorse on account of sin, but not necessarily a change of heart. This word is used with reference to the repentance of Judas (Mt 27:3).
(2.) Metanoeo, meaning to change one's mind and purpose, as the result of after knowledge. This verb, with (3) the cognate noun metanoia, is used of true repentance, a change of mind and purpose and life, to which remission of sin is promised.
Evangelical repentance consists of (1) a true sense of one's own guilt and sinfulness; (2) an apprehension of God's mercy in Christ; (3) an actual hatred of sin (Ps 119:128; Job 42:5-6; 2Co 7:10) and turning from it to God; and (4) a persistent endeavour after a holy life in a walking with God in the way of his commandments.
The true penitent is conscious of guilt (Ps 51:4,9), of pollution (Ps 51:5,7,10), and of helplessness (Ps 51:11; 109:21-22). Thus he apprehends himself to be just what God has always seen him to be and declares him to be. But repentance comprehends not only such a sense of sin, but also an apprehension of mercy, without which there can be no true repentance (Ps 51:1; 130:4).
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I had heard rumors about You, but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I take back [my words] and repent in dust and ashes.
Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion.
Against You-You alone-I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge. Indeed, I was guilty [when I] was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Turn Your face away from my sins and blot out all my guilt. God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. read more. Do not banish me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me.
But You, God my Lord, deal [kindly] with me because of Your name; deliver me because of the goodness of Your faithful love. For I am poor and needy; my heart is wounded within me.
Lord, may You be praised; teach me Your statutes.
But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be revered.
Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was full of remorse and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.
Hastings
Repentance, in the sense of turning from a purpose, is frequently predicated of God in the OT (Ge 6:6-7; Ex 32:14 etc.). Repentance for sin is commonly expressed by 'turn' or 'return' (e.g. De 4:30; Isa 55:7; Eze 3:2; Ho 14:2). Repentance has a prominent place in the NT, alone (Mt 4:17; Lu 15:7; Ac 2:38 etc.), or in conjunction with faith (Mr 1:15; Ac 20:21 etc.), as an Indispensable condition of salvation. The word ordinarily used (metanoia) means literally 'change of mind.' The change, however, is one in which not the intellect only, but the whole nature (understanding, affections, will), is involved. It is such an altered view of God and sin as carries with it heartfelt sorrow for sin, confession of it, and decisive turning from it to God and righteousness (Lu 15:17-18; Ro 6:17-18; 2Co 7:10-11 etc.). Its reality is tested by its fruits (Mt 3:8; Lu 6:43-46). From this 'godly sorrow', which works 'repentance unto salvation' (2Co 7:10-11), is distinguished a 'sorrow of the world' which 'worketh death' (2Co 7:10), i.e. a sorrow which has no relation to God, or to the intrinsic evil of sin, but only to sin's harmful consequences. There may be keen remorse, and blaming of one's self for one's folly, yet no real repentance.
Disputes have arisen in theology as to the priority of faith or repentance, but unnecessarily, for the two, rightly viewed, are but the positive and negative poles of the same state of soul. There can be no evangelical faith which does not spring from a heart broken and contrite on account of sin; on the other hand, there can be no true repentance which has not the germ of faith in God, and of hope in His mercy, in it. The Law alone would break the heart; the Gospel melts it. Repentance is the turning from sin; Gospel faith is the turning to Christ for salvation. The acts are inseparable (Ac 20:21).
James Orr.
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the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the Lord said, "I will wipe off the face of the earth: man, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky-for I regret that I made them."
So the Lord changed His mind about the disaster He said He would bring on His people.
When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, you will return to the Lord your God in later days and obey Him.
Let the wicked one abandon his way, and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive.
So I opened my mouth, and He fed me the scroll.
Take words [of repentance] with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him: "Forgive all [our] sin and accept what is good, so that we may repay You with praise from our lips.
Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance.
From then on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!"
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news!"
"A good tree doesn't produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn't produce good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren't gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. read more. A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and don't do the things I say?
I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don't need repentance.
When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! I'll get up, go to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.
"Repent," Peter said to them, "and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to, and having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.
For godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation, but worldly grief produces death.
For godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation, but worldly grief produces death. For consider how much diligence this very thing-this grieving as God wills-has produced in you: what a desire to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what deep longing, what zeal, what justice! In every way you have commended yourselves to be pure in this matter.
Morish
The idea conveyed in this term is of great importance from the fact of its application not only to man but to God, showing how God, in His government of the earth, is pleased to express His own sense of events taking place upon it. This does not clash with His omniscience. There are two senses in which repentance on the part of God is spoken of.
1. As to His own creation or appointment of objects that fail to answer to His glory. He repented that He had made man on the earth, and that He had set up Saul as king of Israel. Ge 6:6-7; 1Sa 15:11,35
1Sa 15:2. As to punishment which He has threatened, or blessing He has promised. When Israel turned from their evil ways and sought God, He often repented of the punishment He had meditated. 2Sa 24:16, etc. On the other hand, the promises to bless Israel when in the land were made conditionally on their obedience, so that God would, if they did evil, turn from or repent of the good that He had said He would do, either to Israel or in fact to any nation. Jer 18:8-10. He would alter the order of His dealings towards them, and as to Israel He said, "I am weary with repenting." Jer 15:6. In all this the responsibility of man is concerned, as well as the divine government.
But the unconditional promises of God, as made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are not subject to repentance. "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." Ro 11:29. "God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it?" Nu 23:19; 1Sa 15:29; Mal 3:6. And this must hold good in regard to every purpose of His will.
As regards man, repentance is the necessary precursor of his experience of grace on the part of God. Two motives for repentance are presented in scripture: the goodness of God which leads to repentance (Ro 2:4) and coming judgement, on account of which God now commands all men to repent (Ac 17:30-31); but it is distinctly of His grace and for His glory that this door of return to Him is granted (Ac 11:18) in that He has approached man in grace and by His glad tidings, consequent on His righteousness having been secured in the death of Christ. Hence God's testimony is "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Ac 20:21.
Repentance has been described as "a change of mind Godward that leads to a judgement of self and one's acts." 1Ki 8:47; Eze 14:6; Mt 3:2; 9:13; Lu 15:7; Ac 20:21; 2Co 7:9-10; etc. This would not be possible but for the thought of mercy in God. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. Ro 2:4.
Repentance is also spoken of as a change of thought and action where there is no evil to repent of. 2Co 7:8.
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the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the Lord said, "I will wipe off the face of the earth: man, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky-for I regret that I made them."
God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes His mind. Does He speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?
Then the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, but the Lord relented concerning the destruction and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough, withdraw your hand now!" The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
and when they come to their senses in the land where they were deported and repent and petition You in their captors' land: "We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked,"
You have left Me. [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration. You have turned your back, so I have stretched out My hand against you and destroyed you. I am tired of showing compassion.
However, if that nation I have made an announcement about, turns from its evil, I will not bring the disaster on it I had planned. At [another] time I announce that I will build and plant a nation or a kingdom. read more. However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will not bring the good I had said I would do to it.
"Therefore, say to the house of Israel: This is what the Lord God says: Repent and turn away from your idols; turn your faces away from all your abominations.
"Because I, Yahweh, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
and saying, "Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!"
Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners."
I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don't need repentance.
When they heard this they became silent. Then they glorified God, saying, "So God has granted repentance resulting in life to even the Gentiles!"
"Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has set a day on which He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead."
I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
since God's gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.
For although I grieved you with my letter, I do not regret it-even though I did regret it since I saw that the letter grieved you, though only for a little while.
Watsons
REPENTANCE is sometimes used generally for a change of mind, and an earnest wishing that something were undone that has been done. Esau found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears; he could not move his father Isaac to repent of what he had done, or to recall the blessing from Jacob and confer it on himself, Heb 12:17; Mt 3:2; 4:17. Taken in a religious sense it signifies conviction of sin and sorrow for it. But there is,
1. A partial or worldly repentance, wherein one is grieved for and turns from his sin, merely on account of the hurt it has done, or is likely to do, him; so a malefactor, who still loves his sin, repents of doing it, because it brings him to punishment.
2. An evangelical repentance, which is a godly sorrow wrought in the heart of a sinful person by the word and Spirit of God, whereby, from a sense of his sin, as offensive to God, and defiling and endangering to his own soul, and from an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, he, with grief and hatred of all his known sins, turns from them to God, as his Saviour and Lord. This is called "repentance toward God," as therein we turn from sin to him; and "repentance unto life;" as it leads to spiritual life, and is the first step to eternal life, Mt 3:2; Ac 3:19; 11:18; 20:12. God himself is said to repent, but this can only be understood of his altering his conduct towards his creatures, either in the bestowing of good or the infliction of evil: which change in the divine conduct is founded on a change in his creatures; and thus, speaking after the manner of men, God is said to repent.
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and saying, "Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!"
and saying, "Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!"
From then on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!"
Therefore repent and turn back, that your sins may be wiped out so that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
When they heard this they became silent. Then they glorified God, saying, "So God has granted repentance resulting in life to even the Gentiles!"
For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he didn't find any opportunity for repentance, though he sought it with tears.