Repentance is a word we often fail to understand, even in Christian circles. We usually think of it when there is a sin we are committing that we need to confess and abandon. The word “repentance” that Paul used (ueravoÉw in Greek) very simply means to change one’s mind. That is how the word was used outside Christian circles. Plato used it in 500 B. C. in Euthydemus. He said, “I reconsidered” what he had said earlier and changed his mind² to say something different. But for Paul, I think it meant something more. When most people hear the word “repent” today, I don’t think they think in Plato’s terms. It’s not likely that they think in terms of looking at the menu of life, changing their minds and picking something else. Most of us see repentance as an action that ends an episode of bad behavior. Many Christians rightly associate it with their conversion, when they confessed their sin in repentance and trusted Chris in faith for salvation. But if they see repentance as something needed only when they first became Christians, they have missed something important about the rest of their walk with Christ. Just as we can wrongly think of “grace and “the gospel as things we needed at the beginning of our Christian life but not as much later on, so we can wrongly see repentance as something we needed it in the past and not now.
This is an excerpt from the book Good Mood Bad Mood by Charles D. Hodges. If you would like to buy this book please click here.