Quote:
Originally Posted by katie ha-lakh
I am new here but I would like to put 'my' two cents in on the subject of repentance. I am going to keep my sentences very simple as I am trying to understand if/how your definition of repentance is different than mine.
Let's look at why Christ died. Did he not become sin and die so that we could enter heaven without defiling it?
And in order to understand this, don't we have to admit to have sinned/that we are sinful creatures and that God hates our sin (it is an offense to Him).
And by understanding that God hates our sin, we have to acknowledge Him as the Ultimate Authority on the subject (and any subject) and hate our sin as well.
Isn't that essentially what repentance is? Isn't that turning from sin? We are weak so we may trip along the way, but knowing all the while these actions are wrong and gaining strength through much prayer and Bible reading.
Thus, I don't see how one can understand what Christ did for us if he doesn't understand that A: we are sinful and B: sin is an offense to God.
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Katie, this is a good example of the Bible as it's own dictionary and the rule of First Mention.
The first Person to repent in the Bible was God:
Ge 6:6 And it
repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
To repent is simply to change your mind. God made man and man turned out to be so sorry and corrupt that God was sorry He ever made man, and it has to be pretty bad to grieve God at heart.
Here are two more examples of "repenting" and "repentance" being
a change of mind:
Ex 32:14 And
the LORD repented of the evil which
he thought to do unto his people.
Ex 13:17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God
led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was
near; for God said,
Lest peradventure the people
repent when
they see war, and they
return to Egypt:
Exodus 32 God is ready to put a hurtin' on Israel and
He changed His mind. In Exodus 13 Israel was not ready to fight a war, too fresh out of Egypt they were not hardened by the sojourn and had they saw the fierceness of the Philistines they would have
changed their minds and
fled back to the relative safety of Egypt.
In John 8, before the cricifixion, we are told:
John 8:4 They say unto him, Master,
this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
John 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her,
Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Did she? If she didn't, she loved the "lifestyle" too much and died in her sins. She did, because she
changed her mind about herself and her sin.
"Repentance" is changing your mind from yourself towards God through the gospel of Christ.
2Co 7:9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye
sorrowed to
repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
2Co 7:10 For
godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Being sorry for your sins in not repentance. Sorrow for your sins, for your unsaved status as a sinner,
leads you to repentance, to a change of mind from yourself towards God. This leads us to:
Ro 4:5 But to him that
worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Some who wish to force us back under the Law say belief is a "work". This verse in Romans demonstrates
a difference, two distinct and separate precepts. (...but...")
I hope this helps.
Grace and peace Katie
Tony