What is repentance?

Short answer

Repentance is a change of mind and heart about sin: seeing it as God does and turning from it to Him. It is more than regret, and it goes together with faith in Christ and with God's promise to forgive.

Many people hear “repentance” and think of beating yourself up, or of a gloomy ritual of penance. The Bible means something quite different, and much more hopeful. Repentance is the road home: the moment a person stops going their own way and turns back to God.

Repentance runs through the whole message of Jesus and His apostles. To see what it is, it helps to ask what it is not, then see how the Bible describes the heart that turns, and finally what God does in answer.

A change of mind that changes the direction

John the Baptist and Jesus began their preaching with the same word: “repent”. The New Geneva Study Bible explains that the call means to turn from sin, not merely to be sorry about it: a person is not only sorrowful but changed at the root, firmly resolving to live in obedience to God. It also notes that this echoes the prophets of the Old Testament, who called Israel to “turn back” to faithfulness. The notes add that repentance is not a gloomy severity or a set of penitential exercises.

John MacArthur says the same about John’s call in Matthew: it is not a mere change of thought or regret, but a full abandoning of sin whose fruit is righteousness.

Peter preached it in the same way after the healing of the lame man.

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Acts 3:19 · King James Version (1769)

Adam Clarke explains that repenting means a change of mind with a contrite heart for sins committed, and being converted means turning to God through Christ, believing on His name. The New Geneva Study Bible notes that in Peter’s preaching regret over sin and turning to God in faith are inseparable. That is why Jesus could call for repentance and faith in one breath (Mark 1:15). Repentance and faith are two sides of one turning. For the other side, see What is faith?.

Godly sorrow and worldly sorrow

Paul writes to the Corinthians about two kinds of sadness.

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
2 Cor 7:10 · King James Version (1769)

The Geneva Bible notes put the difference simply: godly sorrow comes not from fear of punishment but from knowing that we have offended God, our merciful Father, while the other sorrow only fears punishment, or grieves over lost goods, and ends in despair.

William MacDonald gives a sharp example: Judas. He regretted not the death of the Lord Jesus, which his sin brought about, but the terrible harvest he himself had reaped. MacArthur says worldly sorrow is the pangs of an unsanctified conscience, little more than the wounded pride of one caught in sin, and leads to shame, despair, self-pity and hopelessness. True repentance, he says, is a sorrow that the Holy Spirit produces, and it belongs at the heart of salvation. The New Geneva Study Bible adds that Judas was remorseful but did not turn from sin.

This is good news for anyone afraid that they do not feel sorry enough. The measure of repentance is not how bad you feel, but whether you are turning toward God.

Heaven rejoices

Jesus tells three stories about something lost and found, and gives them one point.

I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Luke 15:7 · King James Version (1769)

MacArthur notes that the joy here is God’s own, set against the grumbling of the Pharisees on earth. The phrase “who need no repentance” refers, as he puts it, to those who think themselves righteous. MacDonald is careful to say that the verse does not mean some people truly need no repentance: all are sinners, and all must repent in order to be saved.

The third story, the prodigal son, shows what repentance looks like in a person.

And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

Luke 15:17–20 · King James Version (1769)

MacArthur observes that the son’s sin brought him to bankruptcy and hunger, and then he came to his senses. He understood not only that his position was hopeless but also how serious his sin was against his father. The New Geneva Study Bible notes that the son was still far away when the father ran to meet him. God does not wait for us to clean ourselves up. The turn itself is met by a Father who has been watching the road. The whole story is told in What is the parable of the prodigal son about?.

Confession and forgiveness

What happens when we turn back? John gives the promise.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 · King James Version (1769)

John Wesley explains that God is faithful because He promised this by all His prophets, and just because, on the principle of atonement, once the debt is paid it is right to cancel the bond. The Geneva Bible notes that the beginning of salvation is acknowledging our wickedness and asking pardon from the One who freely forgives. MacDonald adds that true confession means naming our sins to God, taking His side against them, and leaving them.

Repentance, then, is not a payment that earns forgiveness. Forgiveness rests on what Christ did, and repentance is how we come to receive it. So if you are wondering where to begin, begin where the son began: admit it, turn, and go home.