THERE are two incontestable proofs that man is a responsible being. One is, that God calls upon him, yea, commands him, to repent; and the other, that God is going to judge him.
God never calls upon horses, cows, or dogs to repent; and when they die He will not raise them again, and judge them for the deeds done in the body; but “God... now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:3030And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: (Acts 17:30)); “and... it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27).) This is a most solemn consideration for those who deny and teach that man is not a responsible being.
Repentance must not be confounded with conversion, nor with remorse; it is on earth that people must repent and be converted; there is neither repentance nor conversion in hell, there is nothing but eternal remorse there.
Repentance is turning “from dead works.” (Heb. 6:11Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, (Hebrews 6:1).) There is much more than turning from dead works involved in repentance, as I hope to show from the Scriptures before I have done. Conversion is the turning of the will and heart and life to God. (1 Thess. 1:9, 109For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:9‑10).) Remorse, like a quenchless fire, and undying worm, will be the burning, gnawing portion throughout eternity of the finally impenitent and unconverted. Repentance, as the word signifies in the Greek, means a change of mind, an afterthought founded upon reflection. To quote a most reliable authority upon the subject, “It is literally an after or changed thought, a judgment formed by the mind on reflection, after it has had another or previous one; habitually, in its use in Scripture, the judgment I form in God’s sight of my own previous conduct and sentiments—consequent on the reception of God’s testimony, in contrast with my previous natural course of feeling.”
Repentance is always preceded by faith; it takes place in the presence of God, and is produced by the revelation of God through His word to my soul of what I am and what I have done. God shows me that I am lost and guilty. The moment my faith bows to this solemn revelation on the part of God of what I am and what I have done, repentance is produced in my soul.
To say that repentance must come before faith, as some do, is to say that it is produced apart from the word of God, and that it is therefore founded upon unbelief, which is a most unscriptural and mischievous kind of teaching. To quote again from the same sound and scriptural authority: “The setting a certain quantity of repentance first (as some men preach) as a preliminary process to believing, I hold to be utterly mischievous and unscriptural. According to such views, repentance must take place without the word of God; for if it be by the word of God, there must be faith in that word, or else repentance is founded on unbelief, which is absurd.”
Jehovah by His servants in the Old Testament called upon guilty sinners, whether they were Jews or Gentiles, to repent; and repentance was wrought by a testimony rendered, and by their belief of that testimony. See an instance of what I mean in Jonah 3:4, 54And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 5So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. (Jonah 3:4‑5). “And Jonah... cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them... And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way.” Clearly repentance here was founded upon the word of God about coming judgments, and their faith in it; that is, faith preceded repentance, as it always does and always must.
Now if we turn to the New Testament we shall find that Jesus and His apostles preached repentance. See Matthew 3:2; 4:172And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3:2)
17From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17), where you will find Jesus and His servant John using exactly the same words: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Now all those who believed this twofold testimony saw and felt their unfitness to receive the kingdom of heaven, and repented or judged themselves on account of this moral unfitness.
Turn now to Acts 2, where we shall find a third and the most advanced testimony that we have yet considered. It is an open-air meeting; thousands are congregated together. Peter is the preacher. His subject is, Jesus and the resurrection. He charges home upon their consciences the murder of the Son of God in the most scathing language: “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that He should be holden of it.” And when they saw and believed their guilt in rejecting Christ, and God’s righteous act in raising Him from among the dead, the Holy Ghost used the word to prick them in their hearts, and genuine repentance followed.
In Acts 8:2222Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. (Acts 8:22) God says, “Repent of this thy wickedness.” Surely this is enough to convince anybody that repentance is not believing, though it follows it; neither is it conversion, nor forgiveness, though they invariably follow it. Unless I believe God that I have been guilty of wickedness, I shall most certainly not repent of it. Let me be clearly understood. I do not mean that saving faith comes before repentance; I believe it never does; at any rate, it ought not. Convicting faith comes before repentance, and saving faith follows it.
Repentance is not only pungent sorrow for what I have done, but also what I am—my state. Take Job as an instance of the deep, real judgment of state. See forty-second chapter: “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Where did Job’s repentance take place? and what produced it? It took place in the presence of God, and faith in what his ear heard of God produced it. God hath exalted Christ with His own right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 5:3131Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 5:31).) “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” (Acts 11:1818When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. (Acts 11:18).) But whether given to the Jews or granted towards the Gentiles, it is “towards God.” and is followed by “faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:2121Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21)), and it is “the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” (Rom. 2:44Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? (Romans 2:4)). When I believe the goodness of God to me, a ruined and guilty sinner, in delivering Christ for my offences, and raising Him again for my justification (Rom. 4:2525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25)), I sit in judgment upon myself in the presence of God, and abhor myself: I repent in dust and ashes on account of my God-hating, Christ-rejecting, Holy Ghost-resisting, sin-loving, unbelieving, guilty course. “Repentance is the judgment we form, under the effect of God’s testimony, of all in ourselves to which that testimony applies. Hence it is always founded on faith: I do not say the faith of the gospel.”
Repentance is not something that takes place in a lump, and then is all over forever. No; even after we are forgiven, and have got the Holy Ghost indwelling our body as His temple, the closer we walk with God conditionally, the more we shall judge everything in our state and actions that the word of God shows us is unsuitable to God.
To sum up this paper, we have seen that repentance is an afterthought produced upon reflection; that it is produced by the Holy Ghost’s application of the word of God to the conscience and heart; that it is founded upon faith in the word of God; that it takes place in the presence of a holy God; that it is the judgment of my state and actions; that it is a gift from the ascended and glorified Christ; that God grants it; that it is towards God; that the goodness of God leads to it; that it is from dead works, and an ever-deepening thing right into glory. This much may suffice to show the place and importance of repentance in the Scriptures. I pray God, in conclusion, that He would, by His Spirit and His word, work in all who may read this paper genuine REPENTANCE.