Repentance, from the Greek, basically means to "think differently after." Metanoia is therefore primarily an after-thought, different from the former thought; a change of mind accompanied by regret and change of conduct, "change of mind and heart", or, "change of consciousness". Jesus announced that the Kingdom of God was at hand and that people should repent and believe the gospel. The Apostles on the Day of Pentecost told the crowd to repent. One of my favorite stories from the book of Acts is found in chapter 17:22-30, when the Apostle Paul was preaching in Athens. The following is that account:
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us, for
'In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent."
Let me ask the question one more time: What is Repentance?
I believe that repentance for the Jew in particular was turning from a life of establishing their own righteousness through the Law and accepting Jesus as the Messiah. Repentance for the Gentile often meant turning from a life of idolatry. We can see that in the church of Thessalonia when Paul stated that they had "turned to God from idols." Remember that repentance means to "think differently after." In essence what we are saying is that after you have heard the good news of the gospel that you will change your mind. You will see that your need is not to establish your own righteousness, or that the worship of idols cannot produce abundant/eternal life, or that we were not meant to live a self ruled life. No...after hearing the good news we should now turn our lives toward God. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. What Paul was telling the people in Athens is that their devotion to idols and to the unknown God wasn't good enough. There was a time when God overlooked this but has now commanded everyone to change their mind in regards to this conduct. He then goes on to tell them about Jesus.
Jesus presented Himself as "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." He tells us that "no one comes to the Father except through Him." Therefore, it is necessary for each of us to repent of any other ideas we may have about how to come to God. Jesus is the only way. Our repentance is a response to the good news. When Paul spoke to the church at Ephesus, he described the condition of those who did not believe. He says in Ephesians 4:18, "They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart." The ignorance and unbelief that was at work in the Gentile world kept them from experiencing the life of God. The necessity of preaching the good news was the only cure for bringing them out of the darkness.
In Romans 10, Paul talks about this same ignorance/unbelief at work in the Jews and how they should respond:
"For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes... But the righteousness based on faith says...if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." [10:3-4, 6, 9-10]
What does all this mean as it relates to repentance? I'm glad you asked.
Repentance means to think differently about God and your relationship to Him. It means to turn away from whatever is keeping me from experiencing abundant and eternal life and turn to the only one who can give it. Repentance is found in confessing Jesus as Lord of our lives. No one can confess Jesus as Lord and still submit to anything else. Self cannot be Lord, an idol cannot be Lord, pleasures and possessions of this world cannot be Lord, etc. While some people may view repentance as a confession of all our sins (much like going to a priest and giving him a list of our sins), I don't see it that way. Personally, I see repentance as giving ourselves to God. I'm turning to Him and Him alone as my only means of salvation. I'm trusting in Jesus and Jesus alone as the only means of righteousness. I'm responding to the good news that says Jesus died for the sin of all humanity, was buried, and rose again. And according to Paul, when I confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, I am saved (saved, healed, delivered, and made whole). How's that for some good news?
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