What's That Stench? Part 3B: The Gift of Repentance

The previous post on repentance was offered as a preliminary caution about our tendency to make repentance overly-complicated, thereby further burdening an already guilt-laden, sin-sick soul.

But please don't over-interpret my point and assume that I am making little of repentance!  That is not my intention.  It IS my intention to make much of it, even in its simplest, most basic, "seed" form.  I suggest that, while repentance begins at a moment in time, it is an ongoing process.  We do well to recognize and encourage the penitent at whatever time, place or way that seed is planted and the process begins.

After spending the previous 5 months examining the biblical uses of "repent" in its various forms and contexts, listening and re-listening to sermons, and consulting mutliple orthodox confessions as well as theological authors whose interpretations I trust, I have finally drawn some conclusions about the meaning, nature and manifestations of repentance.  Some of these are confirmations of what I already thought I believed, but some of my perceptions were dismantled and replaced. 

First and foremost, repentance is not a work, but a grace.  Peter Leithart, in The Baptized Body, reminds us not to conceive of grace as some mystical force or energy that happens to us or within us (or that God does to us or in us), but gifts that God bestows on us as a manifestation of His favor.  So when I say repentance is a grace, I am really saying that it is gift of God to the sinner.  A gift is not initiated by the recipient, but by the giver.  

David alludes to the truth of God-initiated repentance in Psalm 23 when he says, "He restores my soul."  This translation, or maybe our familiarity with the phrase, tends to unintentionally downplay the initiating role of the Shepherd.  I have been told, by men infinitely more scholarly than myself and well-studied in biblical languages and literature, that the best translation is "He causes my soul to return/repent"...a translation which brings the Shepherd's action to the forefront! 

We also see this played out in the Parable of the Lost Sheep.  The sheep has wandered and may or may not yet be aware of the danger he is in, but it is The Shepherd who goes out, seeks, finds, and carries the lamb back to the fold!!  In this story, we learn that repentance is fundamentally not a coming back but being brought back...not a turning, but a being turned...and it begins the moment the Good Shepherd acts on our behalf.

In the Acts of the Apostles, we also find several references to God granting/gifting/gracing both Jews and Gentiles with repentance.  So, first and foremost, repentance is a GIFT OF GOD, INITIATED BY GOD.

As is often true in the Scriptures though, there is another side to this repentance coin...a tension...a "both/and" component.   Though it is clear that repentance is a God-initiated gift, it is also a command!  Which means...we have to DO something.  But what?

To be cont'...   Who knew I could be so verbose?