I’ve been thinking, as I sometimes do, about the fourth word in this quaternary – Repentance. Lewis Sperry Chafer wrote, in 1994:
Too often, when it is asserted that repentance is not to be added to belief as a separated requirement for salvation, it is assumed that repentance is not necessary to salvation. Therefore it is as dogmatically stated as language can declare, that repentance is essential to salvation and that none could be saved apart from repentance, but it is included in believing and cannot be separated from it (Lewis Sperry Chafer, Vital Theological Issues, Roy B. Zuck, General Editor, Kregel, Grand Rapids, 1994, p. 119).
I concur that repentance is a primary requirement for salvation, along with grace, forgiveness, and faith. But how is it manifest in our lives? For that matter, how are the other three requirements displayed? By His actions, God Himself has demonstrated grace and forgiveness and all we have to do is acknowledge what He has done by the exercise of faith and mimic His grace and forgiveness in our dealings with one another. But repentance?
Numbers 23:19 et al: God is not a man that he should lie, or a son of man that he should repent.
But we also read in Jonah and in ten other scriptures that God repented:
Jonah 3:9 - 10 (KJV)
Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
I doubt that we can profit much from a debate about repentance on the part of God. I think the common definition is as close as one can get – that repentance is a “change of mind and heart”. That zeros in on the question of how we are to respond to God’s call for us to repent.
Only last week, an event occurred that perhaps illustrates my understanding about repentance. I live in a seniors’ complex. We get together every morning, except Sunday, for coffee and conversation – usually about politics or sports. We also share stories. I love telling stories and I’m told I’m pretty good at it. When my children were young, I would often hear the words “tell us a story, Daddy – the one when you met Mummy for the first time”, and others like that. As you know, Alida and I had nine children in a span of 21 years so I had that particular tale off pat.
Anyway, last week I was asked to tell a story to the group. I started to relate the indescribably sad saga of my prostate problems and their resolution. Three or four minutes into the story, I saw one of the guys starting a conversation with the fellow sitting next to him and ignoring me completely. I guess I was pretty upset because I set about lecturing him on what I perceived to be bad manners, loudly, so that all could see how he was guilty of acting in bad form. I never finished the story and got up and left.
That afternoon, I thought about what had taken place in the morning. The thoughts made me feel bad. “Steve” was 10 years older than me. I had belittled him in front of our friends. I had lost control of my temper. What to do? I would have to apologise and set things right. At coffee the next day, I told the group I had something to say and went on to publicly apologise to “Steve” for acting as I had. It no longer mattered that he had “sinned” against me by his actions. My over-reaction demanded that I repent.
I know that there is much more to the subject than the above. However, my experience has given me an inkling of what it means to repent.
