Repentance
Towards God
By
John Gill - Theologian
Prefaced/Edited
by Doktor Riktor Von Zhades
Preface
Repentance;
the word itself conjures up visions of sorrow and grief for doing
what has been traditionally considered immoral, or ungodly. Webster’s
Dictionary (Ed. 1913) defines it as follows:
“The state of
being penitent; sorrow for what one has done or omitted to do;
especially, contrition for sin. Repentance is the relinquishment of
any practice from the conviction that it has offended God. Sorrow,
fear, and anxiety are properly not parts, but adjuncts, of
repentance; yet they are too closely connected with it to be easily
separated.”
As
such, when one comes to repentance it is the giving up of lifestyles
that are not pleasing to our Creator. Sometimes it takes a very long
time to achieve this state. At other time it’s almost
instantaneous. The point herein, however it is that it is a state in
which we seek forgiveness and mercy from our Creator, by renouncing
our carnal and worldly selves, and putting on the new man in Christ
(Read Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:8). For we simply cannot please
the Living God if we pretend to be taking one path; that being the
path of righteousness and godliness, yet all the while traveling the
other path of earthy desires, and paying Him naught but lip service.
- D. RVZ
Part
One
Repentance
is another part of internal worship; it is a branch of godliness
which lies in the disposition of the soul Godwards; for in the
exercise of this the sensible sinner has much to do with God; he has
a special respect to him against whom he has sinned, and therefore it
is with great propriety called "Repentance towards God"
(Read Acts 20:21). Concerning which may be observed.
First,
the Jews commonly express it by hbwvt a "turning", or
"returning", and it is frequently signified in the Old
Testament by a man's turning from his evil ways, and returning [Read
Hosea 6:1-3] to the Lord; the term from which he turns is sin, the
term to which be turns is the Lord, against whom he has sinned; and
what most powerfully moves, encourages, and induces him to turn, is
the pardoning grace and mercy of God through Christ (Read Isaiah
55:7), and so in the New Testament, repentance and turning are
mentioned together, and the latter as explanative of the former;
(Read Acts 3:19; 26:20).
[Additionally],
there is another word in Hebrew used for repentance, “Mxn” (Read
Hosea 11:8; 13:14), which also signifies comfort; because such who
sincerely repent of sin, and are truly humbled for it, should be
comforted, lest, as the apostle says, they should be "swallowed
up with overmuch sorrow" (Read 2 Corinthians 2:7), and it is
God's usual way to bring his people "into the wilderness",
into a distressed state, to lead them into a sense of sin, and
humiliation for it, and then to speak comfortably to them (Read Hosea
2:14), and the Spirit of God is first a reprover for sin, and a
convincer of it, and then a comforter; be first shows men the evil
nature of sin, and the just desert of it, and gives them the grace of
repentance for it, and then comforts them with the application of
pardon through the blood of Jesus (Read John 16:7,8,14), and blessed
are they that mourn for sin in an evangelical manner, for they shall
be comforted (Read Matthew 5:4).
Secondly,
the Greek word more frequently used in the New Testament for
repentance is “metanoia’, which signifies an "after
understanding", or "after knowledge"; as when a man
takes into serious consideration a fact after it is committed, and
thinks otherwise of it, and wishes he had not done it, is sorry for
it, and resolves, through the grace of God, to forsake such
practices; this is a proof of a man's wisdom and understanding; now
he begins [Read Psalm Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10] to be wise,
and to show himself an understanding man; even an heathen could say,
“Repentance is the beginning of wisdom, and an avoiding of foolish
works and words, and the first preparation to a life not to be
repented of.” It is a change of the mind for the better, and which
produces change of action and conduct: this, as it is expressive of
true repentance, flows from the understanding being enlightened by
the Spirit of God, when the sinner beholds sin in another light it
did, even as exceeding sinful; and loathes it, and abhors it and
himself for it. There is another word the Greeks use for repentance,
“metameleia”, and though the noun is not used in the New
Testament, the verb is (Read Matthew 21:29,32), and signifies a care
and anxiety of mind after a fact is committed, a concern with sorrow
that it should be done, and a care for the future not to do it again;
hence the apostle, among the genuine fruits of godly sorrow for sin,
mentions this in the first place, "What carefulness it wrought
in you", not to offend more (Read 2 Corinthians 7:11). It also
signifies a change of mind and conduct, as appears from (Matthew
21:29), a penitent sinner has another notion of sin than he had;
before it was a sweet morsel, now a bitter and evil thing; before his
heart was bent upon it, now determined through divine grace to
forsake it, and cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart. [ Read
Proverbs 27:7]
Thirdly,
The Latins generally express repentance by "poenitentia",
from "poena" punishment; hence our English words
"penitence", and "penance". True penitence lies
[as] an inward punishment of the mind, when a man is so displeased
with himself for what he has done, and so severely reflects upon
himself for it, that he takes as it were a kind of vengeance on
himself within himself, which are the lashes of conscience; so the
apostle observes of godly sorrow, "What indignation, yea what
revenge" it wrought in you, as in the above quoted place; and
this inward revenge is sometimes expressed by outward gestures, as by
smiting upon the thigh, and upon the breast (Read Jeremiah 31:19;
Luke 18:13). There is another word which the Latins use for
repentance, "resipiscentia", which signifies a man's being
wise again, a coming to his wits, to his senses again. Lactantius
explains it of the recovery of a man's mind from a state of insanity;
a man, while he is in an unconverted and impenitent state, is not
himself, he is not in his right mind; not only his foolish heart is
darkened, and he is without understanding, and to do good has no
knowledge, but "madness" is "in his heart while he
lives" in such a state; every act of sin is not only folly but
madness, as all acts of hostility committed against God, which sins
are, must needs be; "the man that dwelt among the tombs"
(Read Mark 5:1-20), is a fit emblem of such persons: now when an
impenitent sinner becomes penitent, he may be said to "come to
himself", as the prodigal did (Read Luke 15:17), so the apostle
Paul [Read Acts 8:3; 9:1-2], before conversion was exceeding mad
against the saints, and thought he ought to do many things contrary
to the name of Jesus; but when he was converted he was recovered from
his insanity, and appeared sober and in his right mind, and said,
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" when a sinner is
truly convinced of sin, and thoroughly humbled for it, and has
repentance unto life given him, and a comfortable application of the
blood and righteousness of Christ unto him for his pardon and
justification, and his mind is become sedate, serene and quiet, the
man who before was mad, is an emblem of him, when he was seen
"sitting clothed and in his right mind" (Read Mark 5:15).
Fourthly,
the word "contrition", or brokenness of mind, is sometimes
used for repentance, and there is some foundation for it in the word
of God; we often read of a contrite heart and spirit; David says he
was "feeble and sore broken" (Read Psalm 38:8), which seems
to be under a sense of sin: a man's heart is naturally hard, as hard
as the nether millstone, and therefore called a "stony heart",
and such an one is an impenitent one; hence hardness, and an
impenitent heart, are put together[ Read 2 Chronicles 30:8; Acts7:51
(as it relates to the term “stiff necked)], as designing the same
thing (Read Romans 2:5). The word of God is made use of to break it
in pieces, "is not my word—like a hammer to break the rock in
pieces?" that is, to make the heart contrite, which is like to a
rock, and whereby it becomes soft and tender, as Josiah's was, like
an heart of flesh, susceptible of serious impressions, and of a true
sense of things; and though this contrition of heart seems to be a
work of the law, by which is the knowledge of sin, and which works
wrath in the conscience on account of it, smites and cuts and wounds
it; yet hereby it is prepared to receive the benefit of the gospel,
by which the Lord "heals the broken in heart, and bindeth up
their wounds" (Read Psalm 147:3; Isaiah 61:1). However, great
notice is taken of men of contrite hearts and spirits; the sacrifices
of such hearts are acceptable to God; he looks unto, is nigh unto,
and dwells with those who are of such a spirit and saves them (Read
Psalm 51:17; 34:18; Isaiah 57:15; 66:2), besides the heart may be
broken, made soft and melted down as much or more under a sense of
pardoning grace displayed in the gospel, than under a sense of wrath
through the threatenings and terrors of the law.
Fifthly,
repentance is expressed by sorrow for sin. "My sorrow is
continually before me", says David, "I will be sorry for my
sin" (Read Psalm 38:17,18), and which is signified not by
outward gestures, not by rending garments, but by rending the heart
(Read Joel 2:13), it is a felt pain and inward sorrow of the heart
for sin, and what the apostle calls a sorrow "after a godly
sort", kata qeon, "after God", which is according to
the mind and will of God; and because of sin committed against God, a
God of love, grace, and mercy, and which springs from love to God and
hatred of sin, and is attended with faith in God, as a God pardoning
iniquity, transgression, and sin, for Christ's sake; but of this more
hereafter.
