Repentance

Repentancy's meaning is often reduced to a brief moment of regret or a quick prayer. Examining what the Bible actually says about repentance reveals a more demanding and life-changing concept.

Defining Repentance

1. Be Convicted of Sin

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. — 2 Corinthians 7:10 (ESV)

Without conviction, a person is doomed, as the Prophet Isaiah wrote:

For the look on their faces bears witness against them:

  • they proclaim their sin like Sodom;
  • they do not hide it.

Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.

— Isaiah 3:9 (ESV)

Everyone has sin.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. — 1 John 1:8 (ESV)

John the Baptist recognized that true conviction is required to be saved:

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them,

"Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance."

— Matthew 3:7-8 (NKJV)

2. Confess Sin

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. — 1 John 1:9 (ESV)

Confession is not just saying "I'm sorry" and continuing in sin.

This is exactly what David did:

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said,
"I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,"
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

— Psalm 32:5 (ESV)

All sin can be forgiven.

Simon, on the other hand, believed and was baptised (Acts 8:13), but refused to repent. This is what the apostle Peter had to say of him:

"You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." — Acts 8:21-23 (ESV)

3. Forsake Sin and Return to God

Repentance is not a once-off confession event or altar call. There is no such thing as a "sinner's prayer" that will guarantee salvation. The responsibility to make right with God does not stop after confession.

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. — Proverbs 28:13 (ESV)

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

— Isaiah 55:7 (ESV)

"Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!

Why will you die, O house of Israel?

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD;

so turn, and live."

— Ezekiel 18:30-32 (ESV)

Even Paul testified:

Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. — Acts 26:19-20 (ESV)

Consequences of Unrepentance

Many people mistakenly think that unrepentant sin only has an effect in the afterlife. However, it is written:

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity. — Proverbs 28:13-14 (ESV)

Curses

There are many examples where God warns and even "curses" (disciplines) people to motivate them to repent. God will never force anyone to repent. However, God may increase the severity of the punishment until the person repents.

"But if you will not listen to Me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn My statutes, and if your soul abhors My rules, so that you will not do all My commandments, but break My covenant, then I will do this to you:

I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.

And if in spite of this you will not listen to Me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins, and

I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.

Then if you walk contrary to Me and will not listen to Me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins.

And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.

And if by this discipline you are not turned to Me but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.

And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I break your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.

But if in spite of this you will not listen to Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.

You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you. And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing aromas. And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it. And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.

— Leviticus 26:14-33 (ESV)

Note how the severity of the discipline increases:

  1. Panic, disease, oppression by enemies
  2. Humiliation and crop failures
  3. Death of children and livestock
  4. Pestilence, poverty and hunger
  5. Cannibalism, mass death, desolation of cities, devastation of land, enemy capture, scatter among nations

A similar pattern is observed in Amos' prophecy:

"I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to Me," declares the LORD.

"I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither; so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to Me," declares the LORD.

"I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to Me," declares the LORD.

"I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to Me," declares the LORD.

"I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to Me," declares the LORD.

"Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!"

For behold, He Who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, Who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth⁠ — the LORD, the God of hosts, is His name! Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel: "Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up." For thus says the Lord GOD:

"The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel."

For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: "Seek Me and live;"

— Amos 4:6-5:4 (ESV)

  1. Hunger
  2. Partial drought
  3. Crop failures
  4. Pestilence and enemy oppression
  5. Destruction of some cities

At this rate, only 10% of the population would survive the final disaster.

This is also applicable to foreign nations, for example:

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it. -- Jonah 3:8-10

There are many such examples in the Old Testament. Some critics argue that these consequences only applied before Jesus "cancelled the curse on the cross." However, the same principle appears in the New Testament:

  • Ananias and Sapphira were punished for their sin while still alive (Acts 5:1-11)
  • Elymas the Sorcerer was struck with blindness for his sin (Acts 13:8-11)
  • Simon the Sorcerer was cursed for his sin (Acts 8:20-23)
  • Hymenaeus and Alexander were "handed over to Satan" to be taught not to blaspheme (1 Timothy 1:20)
  • Paul warns against sickness and death for using the Lord's Supper in an "unworthy manner" (1 Corinthians 11:27-30)
  • Paul curses false teachers (Galatians 1:8-9)

Death

If a person still hardens his heart, those actions may eventually lead to death.

"Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!

Why will you die, O house of Israel?

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD;

so turn, and live."

— Ezekiel 18:30-32 (ESV)

Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? — Ezekiel 33:11 (ESV)

Conclusion

Biblical repentance goes beyond a moment of regret. It requires conviction of sin, open confession before God, and a genuine turning away from sin back to God. The Bible makes clear that unrepentance carries serious consequences in this life, not only in the afterlife. Those consequences can escalate from hardship and suffering all the way to death.