Repentance

Repentance is the sinner's turning from sin to God through faith in Jesus Christ. It is not a meritorious work that earns pardon, but the necessary change of heart and life that accompanies saving faith. The classic Reformed and Puritan authors treated repentance as essential to salvation, yet they were careful to show that it rests entirely on Christ's atoning death and God's free mercy. Understanding repentance rightly matters because it guards the gospel from both legalism and license: it calls sinners to genuine sorrow for sin and real amendment of life, while directing all hope for forgiveness away from themselves and toward the Redeemer.

Repentance is for the guilty and unworthy

Charles Spurgeon insists that Christ's death was for those who sincerely repent of their sins (Romans 5:8). He stresses that even those who have blasphemed Christ and mocked his people may find him to be their Savior if they repent and feel their need of him. My hearer, hast thou ever blasphemed Christ? Hast thou ever mocked him, and scoffed at his people? Hast thou done all thou couldst to emulate the example of those who spat in his holy face? Dost thou repent of it? Dost thou feel thou needst a Saviour? Then I tell thee, in Christ’s name, he is thy Saviour; yes, thy Saviour, though thus hast insulted him—thy Saviour, though thou hast trampled on him—thy Saviour though thou hast spoken evil of his people, his day, his Word, and his gospel Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Love's Commendation”

Spurgeon further argues that pardon, repentance, and remission are only meaningful for the guilty, so Christ's gifts must be meant for the really guilty (Romans 5:6). God's saving mercy is directed toward sinners, prodigals, and the unworthy rather than toward the outwardly respectable. This emphasis does not lower the demand for repentance; rather, it shows that repentance is precisely for those who have no righteousness of their own. A sinner should come to Christ just as he is, with nothing but sin, not waiting to improve himself first (Romans 3:24). Even the most sinful and debased person should come to Christ if he feels his sin and renounces it.

Matthew Henry adds that God's goodness is designed to lead sinners to repentance, not to embolden them in sin (Romans 2:4). God leads sinners to repentance gently through goodness and love, not by driving them like beasts. This kindness does not make repentance optional; it makes repentance possible for those who would otherwise despair or harden themselves further.

Repentance is not a payment for sin

Spurgeon is emphatic that repentance and deep experience of sin do not meritoriously remove guilt or contribute to the propitiation for sin (Romans 3:25). A sense of need or weariness is not a propitiation for sin and gives no rest; only coming to Christ gives rest (Romans 3:25; Matthew 11:28). Trusting in feelings, repentance, or spiritual experiences to save is just another form of salvation by works (Romans 3:27). Nothing in ourselves can be offered to God; even repentance must look to Christ, because everything done by the creature is defiled. And if when you are repenting of sin you cannot still have one eye on Christ, remember it will be a repentance that will need to be repented of, for there is nothing in ourselves that can be offered to God Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Grace Exalted—Boasting Excluded”

Jonathan Edwards develops this point with careful theological precision. He argues that if repentance justifies, it cannot be as a virtue, righteousness, or atonement in us, because that would contradict the gospel doctrine of justification by Christ. Repentance is the special condition of remission of sins (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Luke 24:47; Acts 5:31; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19; Leviticus 26:40–42; Job 33:27–28; Psalms 32:5; Proverbs 28:13; Jeremiah 3:13; 1 John 1:9), but it functions as a condition, not as a meritorious cause. The repentance by which remission of sins is obtained cannot be completed without looking to Christ, who alone made atonement for sin.

Edwards also notes that the Old Testament scapegoat ceremony typified that only repentance and confession made over Christ the sacrifice, with dependence on him, obtains remission (Leviticus 16:21). The sinner's sorrow, confession, and turning from sin are real and necessary, but they add nothing to the finished work of Christ. They are the empty hands that receive a free gift, not the price that purchases it.

Evangelical repentance includes faith in Christ

Edwards argues that repentance in Scripture, when spoken of as the condition of pardon, is not a separate grace distinct from faith but is conversion viewed with respect to turning from sin (Acts 26:20). The word repentance in the New Testament means a change or turning of the mind, specifically as it concerns turning from sin. Many Scripture passages use repentance to mean conversion itself, not merely sorrow for sin (Matthew 9:13; Luke 13:3; Luke 15:7; Luke 15:10; Acts 11:18; Acts 17:30; Luke 16:30; 2 Peter 3:9).

This means repentance and faith are not two separate, parallel conditions of justification. Faith is the single condition and comprehends the whole of that by which we are justified (Romans 3:28). Evangelical repentance is not a grace entirely separate from faith; it is the aspect of faith that deals with sin. Justifying faith deals with two things: sin to be rejected and delivered from, and positive good to be received through the Mediator. The aspect of justifying faith that respects sin consists of a sense of sinfulness, acknowledgment of deserved punishment, and looking to God's free mercy in a Redeemer for deliverance. This aspect of faith is the very evangelical repentance to which remission of sins is promised, is essential to justifying faith, and is the proper condition of remission of sins.

Edwards supports this by pointing to Acts 19:4, which shows that John's preaching of repentance for remission of sins was really a directing of people to believe on Christ. He also cites 2 Timothy 2:25, where repentance includes the acknowledging of the truth, which is what happens in believing. When Scripture mentions faith and repentance together, the terms often explain each other rather than name two separate conditions of salvation (Mark 1:15; Matthew 21:32; 2 Timothy 2:25; Acts 19:4).

Edwards is careful to say that repentance and faith are distinct in their general nature, but evangelical repentance and justifying faith imply each other and both respect a mediator. Evangelical repentance includes a dependence of soul on the Mediator for deliverance from sin, not merely sorrow for sin and forsaking it. Repentance that lacks faith in God's mercy through Christ is not the evangelical repentance to which forgiveness is promised.

True repentance is humble, not despairing

Edwards insists that true repentance humbles the sinner before God by including hope in his mercy; without that hope, sorrow drives the sinner further from God. The fear and worship of God that belong to true repentance arise from faith in divine forgiveness (Psalms 130:4). The confession of sin to which mercy is promised is a confession made with faith in God's mercy, not a despairing confession (Proverbs 28:13).

David's confession in Psalm 32 shows that forgiveness came when he acknowledged his sin and began to encourage himself in God's mercy (Psalms 32:1–5). Paul uses David's experience in Psalm 32 to confirm justification by faith alone, because David's confession included faith in God's mercy (Romans 4:6–8; Psalms 32:1–2). By contrast, a despairing confession like Judas's is not the confession to which the promise of mercy is made. The difference is not the degree of sorrow but the presence or absence of faith in God's free mercy through Christ.

The sinful woman's weeping at Jesus' feet demonstrated the kind of faith that saves (Luke 7:37–38, Luke 7:50). Her tears were genuine sorrow over sin, but they were also an act of trust in Jesus himself. Edwards sees in her the pattern of evangelical repentance: sorrow for sin, acknowledgment of deserved wrath, and looking to God's free mercy in Christ for pardon.

Repentance is a turning from sin to God

Matthew Henry describes the effectual call as turning a person from self, earth, sin, and vanity to God, Christ, heaven, grace, and holiness (Romans 8:30). This is the positive side of repentance. It is not merely negative sorrow or self-loathing; it is a decisive change of direction. Spurgeon likewise says that conversion turns sinners from the error of their ways and brings stray sheep back to the fold (Romans 5:6).

Henry warns that a sinful condition is like being asleep, and Christians must be stirred up to wake from sin, spiritual deadness, and careless security (Romans 13:11). Believers should remember their former slavery to sin to stay humble, penitent, watchful, and quickened in serving God (Romans 6:17–18). Sin is an unbecoming service that produces shame, whether the shame of repentance now or eternal shame later (Romans 6:21).

Spurgeon adds that continuing in sin prevents a person from coming to Christ; repentance and leaving sin are necessary (Romans 3:24). The gospel's demands cannot be revised or softened, so sinners must alter themselves to meet its requirements (Romans 3:4). Those who oppose God should immediately surrender to him, because contending with God is as futile and destructive as a gnat contending with fire. This is strong language, but it is the language of urgent love, not harsh legalism. The call to repentance is a call to stop fighting God and to receive his mercy.

Repentance is prompted by God's kindness and the law's conviction

Spurgeon teaches that God took the initiative in redemption, entreating man to be reconciled rather than waiting for man to ask for mercy (Romans 5:8). Man never asked that he might be pardoned, but God pardons him, and then turns round and cries, “Return unto me, backsliding children of men, and I will have mercy upon you Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Love's Commendation”

The assurance of forgiveness through Christ's death melts the believer's heart and leads to repentance (Romans 5:6). Mercy and free forgiveness win the heart more effectively than punishment and threats. God deals with sinners by offering free forgiveness rather than only threatening punishment, and this kindness leads to repentance (Romans 5:6; Isaiah 1:18). The influence of divine love, applied by the Spirit, conquers hardened hearts and opens them to grace (Romans 5:6; Isaiah 44:22).

At the same time, the law has a necessary preparatory role. Henry explains that the law is necessary to discover sin; we come to know sin by comparing our hearts and lives with the law, just as a straight edge reveals what is crooked (Romans 7:7). The law is of excellent use: it is a lamp and light that converts the soul, opens the eyes, and prepares a people for the Lord (Romans 7:9). A soul advanced this far by the law is on the way toward liberty by Christ, though many stop there and never come to Christ (Romans 7:24).

Henry also notes that at conversion, the Spirit often first brings conviction of sin and wrath, producing a spirit of bondage, but this is not the permanent state of God's children (Romans 8:15). The threat of damnation for unbelief is used by God to drive sinners to let go of their false trusts and believe on Christ (Romans 3:24). Spurgeon agrees that sinners who believe they are heading to hell should stop and consider their danger while they still have opportunity. The law wounds, but the gospel heals. Conviction of sin is not repentance itself, but it is often the path by which sinners are brought to true repentance and faith.

Repentance continues in the Christian life

Edwards argues that believers who have fallen into sin should seek deliverance from deserved punishment by repenting and coming to Christ in faith now. In the order of nature, pardon follows the crime and follows the acts of repentance and faith that respect that particular crime. David's forgiveness of later sins, spoken of in Psalm 32 and cited by Paul in Romans 4, is an instance of justification by faith that followed David's later repentance and faith (Psalms 32:1–2; Romans 4:6–8). The pardon David received for his sin in the matter of Uriah was the same release from eternal punishment that Nathan announced to him (2 Samuel 12:13; Psalms 32:1–2).

Future faith and repentance are made certain by God's promise, so that the continuing principle in the heart has actual repentance and faith in its nature and tendency. Forgiveness of sin in justification is inseparably connected with a forgiving spirit in the justified person (Matthew 6:14–15). The justified believer is not free from the ongoing need to repent; rather, justification establishes a life marked by continual turning from sin and returning to Christ.

Spurgeon makes the same point pastorally. The backslider is called to return to the Lord, who promises to blot out transgressions and not remember sins (Romans 5:1). God welcomes returning sinners with full restoration, like the father receiving the prodigal son. Christians should come to Christ daily as sinners, resting entirely on Him as their only hope. Self-despair over one's own powerlessness is the nearest way to faith, because it throws a man upon his God (Romans 4:19–21). Sinners are to come to God as they are, wretched and self-condemned, casting themselves on God's mercy revealed in Christ's death.

Henry adds that being under grace rather than law is a strong motive against sinning, because grace accepts the willing mind, leaves room for repentance, and promises pardon upon repentance (Romans 6:14). Being delivered from the law is an encouragement to holiness because believers are under grace, which promises strength to obey and pardon upon repentance when they fall short (Romans 7:6). Only those who turn from their sins have an interest in Christ as Redeemer, and no one can turn from sin except by the strength of Christ's grace (Romans 11:26).

Henry also warns that seducers commonly target those who are newly convicted of sin and beginning to seek God, because they are most impressionable (Romans 16:18–19). This is a sober reminder that the path of repentance requires sound teaching and the fellowship of the church, not isolation. God intended his favour to the Gentiles to provoke the Jews to jealousy and emulation, stirring them to embrace the gospel (Romans 11:11, Romans 11:14). Repentance is not a private achievement but a response to God's public, saving work in Christ, and it flourishes in the community of faith.