CCC#3: Repentance (Added Clarification)

Emphasizing Something a Bit Better.

One of my first Corrupt Christian Concepts articles was about the concept of Repentance. I will link that article after this. I had a recent conversation with a dear brother about repentance and this caused me to research it again and review my article. While I stand by the article, there was something that I should have emphasized better in it. Thus, I added a clarification note to the beginning of it. Feel free to go back to the original article and read it or continue reading after the link. I include some additional thoughts in this clarification article.

The Clarification

I stand by the essentials of what I wrote in the repentance article and I am not going to change it. My articles have improved along they way, as they should, but that does not mean I need to rewrite every time I take issue if the data is still good. The main issue is a matter of formatting and emphasis. Thus, there is an emphasis I would like to emphasize, LOL, in advance of anyone reading or re-reading this article. I did mention this several times in the article, but I'm not sure I was clear enough.

All Unbelief in Christ is Sin

So, let me clarify: ALL UNBELIEF IN CHRIST IS SIN. Thus, when you repent for salvation you are changing your mind from unbelief in Christ to belief in Him. Thus, you are technically moving from the sin of unbelief to the good action of belief. Unbelief is the basis of all active sin. Thus, in that sense, repentance is always about the sin of unbelief. In scripture, this is the main focus of repentance. And even when other sins are in focus, unbelief is the root of them. “Whatever is not of faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)

However, as you will see if you read the article, the sin of unbelief is only ever implied with repentance. Rarely is the word ‘sin’ directly tied to repentance in scripture. You would never realize this when you listen to most teaching on repentance - and that is one of my points. One of the ways concepts are corrupted is by not emphasizing or over emphasizing something vs. the way scripture treats it. This is what happens with repentance in traditional teaching.

But, as my dear friend pointed out, repentance in scripture is always associated with the Trinity and aligning our thinking with God's. Sin is defined by thinking, attitudes, and actions that do not reflect God's way. Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. When you believe lies, it is automatically sin, because it is not of Christ who is Truth. This is another big reason we need salvation by grace or the gospel. As humans, it is impossible to fully know truth. Growth is discovering God's truth, believing it, and trusting it. Repentance = growth. Yet, if our status with God depended on our ability to believe truth - then frankly we are screwed. Again, God sent Christ for this very reason.

Turning from a list of sinful activities is not repentance.

As I emphasize if you read the article, the corruption of the repentance concept is that most teaching on repentance does not focus on the “change of mind” or moving from believing lies to believing truth as it should. Most teaching focuses on “turning from” a particular list of actions or activities - i.e. activities that would be considered ‘sinning’.

When scripture references ‘repentance’ for salvation or forgiveness of sins, it is not these types of ‘sinning’ in focus. It is always only the sin of “unbelief in Christ” or other beliefs that hinder faith in Him. However, in my 40+ years of listening to teaching on repentance, belief is rarely, if ever, the emphasis - despite the clear meaning of repentance in the Greek.

As you will see if you read the article, in scripture there are relatively few ties of repentance with these types of sinful activities and they are always for believers - not for salvation. The only sin that prevents salvation is the sin of unbelief. The sin of unbelief is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. That is the only focus or emphasis of repentance for salvation in scripture - not any other sinful activities. And this is where traditional teaching begins to become unmoored from scripture.

You may have stupid beliefs about some sinful practices and still recognize your need for Christ and His life. This is the faith that saves, regardless of your views on sinful activities. Truly this is only logical since genuinely turning from any other sin requires the life of Christ within. A spiritually dead person can turn from a thousand sins and yet remain dead. Changing your mind about Christ and what He offers is what matters. You don't need behavior improvement - you need His life.

Repentance is a Lifelong Pursuit

As usual, there is a works or legalistic mindset causing this external sin emphasis. This is the basis for nearly every corrupt concept out in the religious world. Can you see how this is really quite stupid? We can never believe 100% correctly, thus we can never stop sinning and act perfectly. If that is our goal, either for salvation or growth, then we will always fail. We could never succeed anyway - if so, the we would be God. Can you see how futile this pursuit of some kind of sinless perfection in our behavior really is? That is the true demand of the Law and legalism. Thank Christ for His work and the gospel of grace - that is always where this train of thought should lead. That is the purpose of the Law in the first place.

The Truth is a person: Jesus Christ. Because we have faith in Him, we don't need to worry about our beliefs being perfect. Frankly, we don't need to worry about our other sinning either. Only in the sense that it is hurting us and others - we reap what we sow. This is why repentance and believing truth is a lifelong pursuit and grace is required to enable life. Life is also a person - Jesus Christ. This is all about Him.

This mindset is my focus when discussing the corruption of the concept of repentance in the article. When we make it about stopping our lists of sins, it corrupts the real meaning. While true repentance may lead to stopping of sins, the stopping of those sins is not repentance in and of itself. The only sin you are stopping when repenting is the sin of unbelief or wrong beliefs. This is the pre-cursor to the gift of faith. Faith is a gift of God, but we must change our mind about God and His gifts to receive it. As Christ says, the only work of God is to believe in Christ. (John 6:28-29)

This is true for salvation and for Christian growth. As a believer, if you are struggling with some sinful activity, it is still your belief system that is the root of the problem. A focus on the activity itself will only perpetuate it. This is why the Law enflames sin. (Romans 7:5) Legalism will never fix sin; it only ever leads to other kinds of sin; and often increases the very sin you are trying to fix.

Repentance is still a “change of mind” in scripture.

I hope that clears this up a bit. Certainly, repentance is changing your beliefs. That is the definition. However, in scripture this change of mind is always focused on Christ. If you don't believe Christ is God, or that He resurrected from the dead, or that He is able to give you His life and thus ‘save’ you, then you are still in your sins and remaining in the sin of unbelief. Thus, you must repent towards Christ for salvation.

However, changing your mind about your other sins and sinning is a life long process. And even then, it is never really about your sins. If your eyes and mind are fixed by faith on Christ, you will not be sinning. That should be our focus. But, I do cover this in the article, so I will let you read or re-read it if you so desire.

Again, where I believe repentance has been corrupted is defining it as purely “turning from a list of sins” and not emphasizing the scriptural meaning of a “change of mind” or beliefs. Yes, this change of mind in scripture is focused on aligning our thinking with God - not just any change of mind. However, the Greek word does actually mean that. So, if we were speaking ancient Greek today, you could use it for a generic way of thinking - not focused on God. But I don't want to suggest that scripture uses it in a neutral or generic way. An improvement in our thinking about Christ is always the goal.

I mean, this gets into a broader philosophical discussion. Since Christ is truth, thus God is truth, is believing any lie a sin? Certainly seems that way. Much like the Mosaic Law, this fact should discourage anyone from trying to be saved or live the Christian life by rule keeping. I hope you see the impossibility of that manner of living. It will destroy you and your sanity. We are fooling ourselves if we think we can ever be perfect in our thinking. And God requires perfection - because He is perfect. Thus, we must look to Christ who is offering it as a gift.

Conclusion

Thank you for letting me clarify. Certainly since unbelief in Christ is a sin, then the phrase “repent of sin” to be saved is not inaccurate. Yet, it is still not in scripture, as I attest in my article. Thus, I suggest we follow the way scripture puts it so there is no confusion. Using this phrase in isolation can lead to some very bad places. We should avoid this at all costs.

Further, in most teaching about repentance the phrase ‘repent of your sins” (plural) or “turn from sin” is used to define it. If you listen to the teaching, you find that this means a list of sins and is not focused on the sin of unbelief or wrong beliefs at all. This is a legalistic or works based approach to repentance and it corrupts the scriptural concept - especially regarding salvation. As with all legalistic teaching, this turns the focus from Christ to ourselves. This is actually the opposite of scriptural repentance.

Even in the relatively few times some specific types of sinning are in focus in scripture (ahem, Corinth); it still does not change the meaning of the word. Again, this is not about salvation - it is about believers changing their mind about their activities that are hurting themselves, those around them, and the reputation of the gospel and Christ. This is a legitimate concept in scripture - but in all actuality is quite rare. It certainly does not deserve the emphasis it gets by religion.

The focus of repentance is the “change of mind” not the change of action. If you truly repent and thus change your mind, then your actions will follow. Yet, anyone can change their actions for a time. For about two weeks every January this happens world wide! Yet, that is not scriptural repentance. And thus, to make it about activity or behavior improvement corrupts the concept.

But, I'm stealing thunder from the original article, so I will let you read or re-read if you want. Thanks to my dear friend and brother who challenged my thinking on repentance. I hope this makes it more clear. Here is a link to the original article for your convenience. Obviously you can now skip the note at the beginning. Continue to walk as children of Light because you are.