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What is repentance unto life?
A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby, out of the sight and sense, not only of the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, and upon the apprehension of God's mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, he so grieves for and hates his sins, as that he turns from them all to God, purposing and endeavoring constantly to walk with him in all the ways of new obedience.
1 Kings 8:47–48
47 yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ 48 if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name,
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Psalm 32:5
5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Psalm 51:1–4
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
Psalm 119:57–64
57 The LORD is my portion;
I promise to keep your words.
58 I entreat your favor with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to your promise.
59 When I think on my ways,
I turn my feet to your testimonies;
60 I hasten and do not delay
to keep your commandments.
61 Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,
I do not forget your law.
62 At midnight I rise to praise you,
because of your righteous rules.
63 I am a companion of all who fear you,
of those who keep your precepts.
64 The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love;
teach me your statutes!
Isaiah 30:22
22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”
Jeremiah 31:18–19
18 I have heard Ephraim grieving,
‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
like an untrained calf;
bring me back that I may be restored,
for you are the LORD my God.
19 For after I had turned away, I relented,
and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
Ezekiel 14:6
6 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Ezekiel 18:28–32
28 Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?
30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”
Ezekiel 36:31
31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.
Hosea 2:6–7
6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say,
‘I will go and return to my first husband,
for it was better for me then than now.’
Joel 2:12–13
12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
Zechariah 12:10
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
Matthew 3:8
8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
Luke 1:6
6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
Luke 15:7–10
7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Luke 15:17–18
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.
Acts 2:37
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Acts 11:18–21
18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
Acts 26:18
18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
2 Corinthians 7:10
10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
2 Corinthians 7:11
11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.
Philippians 3:7–8
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
1 Thessalonians 1:9
9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
2 Timothy 2:25
25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
Welcome to the Reformed Standard. I'm Tony, let's get started. Question 76 of the Westminster Larger Catechism reads: What is repentance unto life? And the answer is: Repentance unto life is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby, out of the sight and sense, not only of the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, and upon the apprehension of God's mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, he so grieves for and hates his sins, as that he turns from them all to God, purposing and endeavoring constantly to walk with him in all the ways of new obedience.
This question here is kind of a sort of a clarification point or or a further explanation point of a statement made in question 75 and then question 75 we talked about how sanctification is the the the mortification and the vilification of the Christian after they have been justified and adopted in the logical order of salvation. And so one of the ways that that's brought about here is that the seeds of repentance unto life are granted in our sanctification, and then then stirred and increased and strengthened to life. And so here what we see there's a few significant points and again, this is this is key and in my mind settles the question as to whether or not the reformed Presbyterian position the Westminster position is That repentance follows justification in the auto salute This is that repentance unto life, as a saving grace is made distinct here is distinguished from penitence or from contrition. Right. So in in Calvin and in the earlier reformed tradition, the word repentance is used to apply both to sort of the awareness of sin the awareness of one's fall in a state prior to justification, as well as to the, the turning away from sin, the active vilification and mortification the active putting to death is sin nature that happens after justification. And so so Calvin calls that repentance in both cases, but he distinguishes between illegal contrition repentance, and then this life giving
vivifying repentance after justification. And so here it describes what this repentance is. So it's not only Out of the sight, sense of sight and center, it's out of the site and sense of sin, but not only the danger. And so this is not simply a recognition that we are enemies of God and need to be made, made his people, but it's also a recognition of the filth, Enos and odious of sin. And so it's not just the understanding of our fallen state, but it's an understanding of and a recognition of how that sets us at odds with God. And here's where I think it's key that this repentance unto life is not just, it's not just an acknowledgement of God's mercy, but it's an apprehension of it. So once, once God's mercy the knowledge of God's mercy has become ours, and we recognize that God's mercy is in Christ to us as Pennington sinners, that we grieve and hate our sin. And not only do we grieve and hate our sin, but we turn from our sin And we purpose and endeavor to walk with God in new in ways of new obedience. And so the question we have to ask when we're talking about repentance unto life and whether it is prior to justification adoption or whether it follows justification adoption, is this is is does it accurately describes someone who has not been justified and adopted in Christ to say that they purpose to constantly an endeavor, not just purpose, but endeavor to constantly walk in ways of new obedience? And the answer, of course, is no, because we we know that those who have not been justified those who have not been adopted by Christ, or in Christ, rather, we know that they do not begin to be made holy and begin to walk in new obedience prior to that justification and adoption. And of course, we're talking about logical priority, not chronological a priority. But in order to believe that someone is someone must repent logically prior to being justified. Which is the position that john MacArthur and others in the Lordship teaching camp take, as well as many in the reformed camp that I honestly think just don't quite understand this. We have to articulate and assert that those who have not yet been brought to a justifying faith those who have not yet been made children of God, that somehow they begin to walk in ways of obedience that those who are still illegally at odds with God, those who have not been reconciled to him, those for whom the Holy Spirit has not in dwelt, that they begin to walk in new ways of obedience logically prior to all of those things, which is just contrary to everything else that we believe about how it's possible for a person to have any sort of obedience in Christ. And then the fact that we say the obedience is in Christ is another element of that. So we would have to, we would have to say that somehow God reverses total depravity and allows someone to begin to do things that are Spiritually good prior to justify them prior to adopting them prior to the Holy Spirit in dwelling them in order to believe the position that MacArthur and others put forward. So I think, you know, we'll talk a little bit more in question 77 about the difference between justification and sanctification. But it's important for us to remember at this stage in the Catechism, that God justifies us, he adopts us. And then he sanctified us all in a moment and that sanctification progresses throughout our life. And as it progresses through our life and we dive more into sin and more, rise more until to holiness. That in that we purpose to endeavor to walk in ways with obedience as we grieve and hate our sin in repentance unto life.