REPENTANCE
AND FORGIVENESS
2Chronicles
If my people,
who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn
from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin
and will heal their land.
REPENTANCE –
The
Hebrew word naôhÖam, is a term which implies
difficulty in breathing, hence, “to pant,” “to sigh,” “to groan.” It came to mean “to lament” or “to grieve,”
and when the emotion was produced by the desire of good for others, it merged
into compassion and sympathy, and when prompted by a consideration of one’s own
character and deeds it means “to be remorseful,” “to repent.”
The term shuôbh,
“to turn” or “return”: is also used to express the Scriptural idea of
genuine repentance. This term is used extensively by the prophets, and makes
the idea of a radical change in one’s attitude toward sin and God, highly
important. It implies a conscious, moral separation, and a personal decision to
forsake sin and to enter into fellowship with God. It is employed extensively
with reference to man’s turning away from sin to righteousness.
The word epistreñphoô, “to
turn over,” “to turn upon,” “to turn unto”: is used to bring out more clearly the distinct change wrought in repentance.
It is employed quite frequently in Acts to
express the positive side of a change involved in New Testament repentance, or
to indicate the return to God.
The word is also used
-
to express the spiritual transition from sin to God (Acts
-
to strengthen the idea of faith (Acts
-
to complete and emphasize the change required by New Testament
repentance (Acts 26:20).
It is very difficult to
express the true idea of a change of thought with reference to sin when we
translate the New Testament “repentance” into other languages.
The Latin version translates
it to mean, “exercise penitence”.
However, “penitence” signifies pain, grief, distress, rather than a change of
thought and purpose. Thus, Latin Christianity has been corrupted by the harmful
error of presenting grief over sin rather than abandonment of sin as the
primary idea of New Testament repentance. It was easy to make the transition
from penitence to penance; consequently, the Romanists represent Jesus and the
apostles as urging people to do penance.
The
English word “repent” is derived
from the Latin, and inherits the fault of the Latin, making grief the principal idea and keeping it in the background, if not
altogether out of sight, the fundamental New Testament conception of a change
of mind with reference to sin.
But,
the exhortations of the prophets, of Jesus, and of the apostles show that the
change of mind is the dominant idea of the words employed, while the
accompanying grief and consequent reformation enter into one’s experience from
the very nature of the case.
Repentance
is that change of an individual’s mind, which leads him to turn from his evil
ways and live. The change created in repentance is so deep and radical that it
affects the whole spiritual nature and involves the entire personality.
The intellect
must function, the emotions must be aroused, and the will must act.
While
feeling is not the equivalent of repentance, it can be a powerful impulse to a
genuine turning from sin. The emotional attitude must be changed if New
Testament repentance is to be experienced.
There
is a type of grief that brings out repentance and another which plunges into
remorse.
There
is a godly sorrow and a sorrow of the world.
The
former brings life; the latter, death (Mt 27:3; Lk.
The
demand for repentance implies free will and individual responsibility.
[2Cor.
7:9, 10 NKJV]
Now I rejoice, not that you were
made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in
a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow
produces repentance leading to
salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
FORGIVENESS –
Forgiveness cannot take place unless there is repentance.
Repentance
is a necessary ingredient of the fully developed forgiveness.
God
does not forgive without repentance, nor is it required of man.
Forgiveness
is to restore the relationship, which was broken by sin and offense.
God’s
forgiveness is complete, when He forgives in response to true repentance; He
totally removes the sin and iniquity.
“Thou hast cast all my sins
behind thy back” (Isa 38:17)
“Thou wilt cast all their sins
into the depths of the sea” (Mic
“I will forgive their iniquity
and their sin will I remember no more” (Jer 31:34)
“I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions” (Isa 43:25)
“As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps 103:12).
Ideally,
this same result is desired in human forgiveness, but actually, the memory of
the sin remains with both parties as a barrier between them. Even when there is
a complete restoration of good relations, the former situation of division
cannot entirely be removed from memory. However, when God forgives, He restores
man to the condition of former favor.
We
as followers of Christ are to strive to attain this same attitude. Yet what
happens is we revert to our human side and remain estranged from our brothers
and sisters in Christ.
We must remember what the scripture says, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved,
put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing
with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against
another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
Last week – someone brought to my attention the
coincidence of our bulletin and the back page of the Live (our Pentecostal
Evangel insert)
– both of
these have to do with Forgiveness.
I want to close by sharing some of these thoughtful
lines.
“I can forgive,
but I cannot forget,” is only another way of saying, “I cannot forgive,”
Henry Ward
Beecher
Life has taught
me to forgive much, but to seek forgiveness still more.
Otto von
Bismarck
He who forgives
ends the quarrel.
African proverb
The noblest
revenge is to forgive.
Thomas Fuller
Forgiveness is the
fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
Mark Twain
Forgiveness is letting go of
the pain and accepting what has happened, because it will not change…
Forgiveness is dismissing the blame.
Forgiveness is looking at the pain, learning lessons it
has produced, and understanding what we have learned.
Forgiveness is starting over with the knowledge that we
have gained.
Judith Mammay
We win by tenderness; we conquer by forgiveness.
Frederick William Robertson