My God and My Country

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.