REPENTANCE
This is not about the KJB specifically, but it's some excellent stuff from Chip Pardi on a very important topic:
REPENTANCE DEFINED BIBLICALLY
What repentance is NOT:
• It is NOT sorrow
• It is NOT turning
• It is NOT a work
• It is NOT an action
• It is NOT something that must always result in an action
• It is NOT turning from sin
• It is NOT a willingness to turn from sin
• It is NOT changing your ways
• It is NOT a hallowed term that only applies to salvation
• It is NOT a hallowed term that only applies to sin
What repentance IS:
• Biblical Repentance is a change of mind.
Nothing More. Nothing Less.
Sorrow can LEAD to repentance.
If sorrow leads to repentance, then sorrow is a separate thing from repentance -
"...that ye sorrowed to repentance...godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation..." 2 Cor 7:9,10
REPENTANCE IS NOT TURNING
Sometimes turning happens BEFORE a person repents
Jeremiah 31:18, 19 -
“ I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.”
“turn me and I shall be turned”
Ephraim needed to be turned before he would repent.
“AFTER that I was turned I repented”
AFTER Ephraim was turned, THEN he repented.
Sometimes turning comes AFTER repentance -
Ex 13:17 -
"Lest.. the people repent (change their mind) when they see war and they return (turning) to Egypt.."
1. they see war
2. they change their mind about leaving Egypt
3. They return to Egypt
The turning of the Israelites would come AFTER the repentance.
Some will point to parallel scripture to show repentance and turning are the same thing -
1 Kings 8:47 KJV
Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;
2 Chronicles 6:37 KJV
Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly;
There are three phrases that don’t match -
repent/turn
Make supplication/pray
Done perversely/done amiss
Supplication is asking or begging for something.
Making supplication can be done during prayer but it is not a synonym for prayer.
Doing perversely and amiss are not the same thing.
Perverse is a deliberate twisting. Amiss is to simply be wrong and miss the mark.
They can relate to one another but they are not the same.
Neither are repent or turning the same thing.
Some even try to disprove the Biblical definition of repentance as a change of mind by showing that the Bible uses both the phrase “change of mind” and “repent.”
If both phrases are used in scripture, they must be different things.
Then they’ll turn around and say that the Bible’s use of the two different phrases “turning” and “repenting” ARE the same thing.
The inconsistencies of those that want to complicate Biblical repentance are truly astounding.
Here's another prooftext used to try and prove that repentance is turning -
“Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” - Acts 20:21
Acts 20:21 says repentance TOWARD God.
Therefore, repentance must mean turning.
However, the rest of the verse says “faith TOWARD our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Does faith mean turning also?
The verse is more relational than directional.
Repentance IN RELATION TO God.
Faith IN RELATION TO our Lord Jesus Christ.
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REPENTANCE IS NOT AN ACTION NOR DOES IT ALWAYS RESULT IN ACTION
2 Corinthians 7:8 -
“For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.”
Paul repented that he sent a letter to the Corinthians, but then did not repent. Repentance took place, but no action whatsoever took place.
REPENTANCE IS A CHANGE OF MIND
Repentance can be found from Genesis to Revelation. Repentance happens before the law, after the law, Old Testament, New Testament, before a person is saved and after he is saved, in the age of grace and in the Tribulation.
Repentance is done by the lost, the saved, and God Himself.
You'll be hard pressed to find anyone in scripture that repents as much as the Lord does.
Genesis 6:6-7; 1 Samuel 15:11; Exodus 32:12-14; 2 Samuel 24:16; 1 Chronicles 21:15; Psalm 106:45; Jeremiah 18:8; 26:3, 13, 19; 42:10; Joel 2:13-14; Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:9-10; 4:2
There is one definition that matches every single time repentance appears in scripture.
There is only one definition where you don't have to cherry-pick select verses to make repentance mean what you want.
The one simple straight forward and scriptural definition of repentance is a change of mind.
Scripturally, repentance is nothing more and nothing less than that.
Anyone who fights against the simple definition of repentance being a change of mind ultimately ends up turning repentance into a deed in some way, shape or form.
If repentance is going to bring salvation then it must lead to faith, but it doesn't have to lead to faith and it doesn't have to bring salvation to be repentance.
A person can repent, but not get saved (Matt 27:3). A person can repent and get saved. A person can repent after salvation. A person can repent and act upon it. A person can repent and not act upon it.
