Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Bible Study Community!
Recently, I heard a really smart Pastor say something on TV that I wanted to share with you because he focused on a really important idea. Here is what he said: “The Bible is a spiritual book written by a Spiritual Person to be read by spiritual beings.” Just so we’re clear, the Spiritual Writer is the Holy Spirit and He wrote it to be read by His people. Unbelievers can’t understand it and a bunch of people who self-identify as Christians have trouble with it. That’s because it takes THE Teacher Himself speaking directly to each of us through His great work of Scripture to explain concepts that we need to learn in our process of transformation (Romans 12:1-2).
Considering who the author is, I’m of the opinion that the least we can do is study what He wrote so that we can understand it with as much accuracy as possible. And as we go along, we need to be flexible enough to consider ideas that contradict what we once thought to have been truth. To be sure, there are a lot of traditions in the Body of Christ that are being challenged by new insights in these Last Days because they aren’t grounded in Scripture. None of us knows all there is to know about the Word. Indeed, Scripture says that we only know things in part and that we won’t know it all until Jesus comes back (1 Corinthians 13:9-12). In the meantime, we’re supposed to be studying the Word so we can qualify as disciples of Christ and be about the work of His Kingdom (John 8:31-32).
Defining Repentance
With this in mind, this article focuses on our frequent misuse of the Bible word REPENT. Indeed, over the years I have heard this word misused in Christian conversations so many times they can’t be counted. And back in the day, I was probably one of the worst at the misusing. If I offend somebody, I’m supposed to go and “repent.” What does that mean? Is it an apology? Is it a request for forgiveness? Is it a promise to never conduct myself that way ever again? Is the recipient of my “repentance” required to do anything in order to comply with Christian tradition? The Truth is: the word “repent” in its biblical definition does NOT mean any of these things.
Okay then, how about the old standby: does “repent” mean to stop going in a particular direction and start going in the opposite direction? No, it does not: going in the opposite direction is the result of repentance. Does it mean to ask God to please forgive me for all my sins? No, it does not: He already forgave you because of what Jesus did on the Cross. All our sins have been paid for past, present and future two times over. On the other hand, if you had not “repented” at some point in your life, you could not have been born again!
Here is what we need to know: the Greek word behind the English word “repent” means simply to change one’s thinking. This is what the word actually means when it’s used in the Bible. Nevertheless, if you look up the definition of the English word “repent,” you will find many of those other meanings. Why is this important? It’s important because we have allowed the world to dilute the meaning of a very key requirement of a genuine conversion to Christianity.
God is Drawing People
As discussed in previous newsletters, we are all born into this world with a sin nature that we inherited from Adam. We didn’t do anything to deserve it, it just happened. Of course, God knows this and makes His grace available on an unmerited basis as well. Moreover, He uses Jesus to DRAW all people to His reconciliation. Here are the related scriptures so you can read them for yourself:
John 6:44 = “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 12:32 = “And I (Jesus), when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Here’s how it all fits together. From the moment we are born into this world, God is using Jesus to draw us to Himself. Because of our sin nature we resist His drawing. But He will continue drawing us until we stop resisting Jesus or for some folks until they have become so committed to their rebelliousness that He decides to give them over to “degrading passions” (Romans 1:26). So, there you were, living your life, resisting Jesus with your sin nature ruling you when one day you decided to stop resisting. He was drawing, you were resisting and then you got born again. It was your decision to make and what you did was “change your thinking.” You REPENTED: you changed your thinking from resisting to yielding and receiving. In fact, you had to change your thinking in order to be born again and allow the Holy Spirit to move into a new temple.
You did not have to show contrition to get born again. You did not have to show God how remorseful you were for all your sins in order to get born again. You did not have to clean yourself up in order to get born again. You didn’t have to DO anything! You simply had to change your thinking. All you had to do was repent in the biblical way.
A lot of people will read this newsletter and feel challenged because the misuse of this word is common in church circles. It may be hard for you to adjust, but understanding the Word of God with accuracy should be of the highest priority. It isn’t okay for Christians to be misusing key Bible words especially once they’ve heard the truth. Look these things up for yourself and check me out on it. Maybe it will “change your thinking!”
Click HERE for a FREE article: Why Some Christians Resist Covid Vaccination
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