Discover what repentance is.

1. WHAT DOES THE
BIBLE TEACH ABOUT REPENTANCE?
“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”
(Luke 5:32, NIV, emphasis mine).
Introduction
ome people say that when Jesus asks people to repent,
it simply shows that they are capable of repenting.
However, is man’s capability God’s controllability?
Must people repent first before they can heed Christ’s invitation
to do so?
What is Repentance?
Repentance is a crucial step that everyone should do.
However, fail to understand the true nature of repentance will
surely ruin the way we look at Christ and the salvation that He
offered. In fact, not only a few, but many fail to understand its
true nature.1
To define, repentance is a sorrow for and a turning away
from sin. In fact, “We shall not renounce sin unless we see its
sinfulness; until we turn away from it in heart, there will be no
real change in the life.”2
Man’s Post-Fall Status
Man, after the Fall, is incapable of a right relationship with
God. God “saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had
become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his [man’s]
heart was only evil all the time” (Gen 6:5, NIV). “All of us have
become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are
like filthy rags” (Isa 64:6, NIV).
Because man is incapable of a right relationship with God
after the Fall, God devised a plan—the restorationof the broken
1
See Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (1892; repr.,MountainView, CA: Pacific Press, 1956), 23.
2
Ibid.
relationship. It was not to reinstate Adam to his pre-fall status
but, rather, to gradually restore God’s damaged image in man.
Adam’s pre-Fall status was not restoredafter he sinned.
Instead, God says to him, “Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It
will provide thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the
plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your
food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken;
for dust you are and to dust you will return” (Gen 3:17-19, NIV).
Clearly, the above statement is not Adam’s pre-Fall status
but his post-Fall status. Paul says that “death reigned from the
time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not
sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of
the one to come” (Rom 5:14, NIV). It was Satan who led Adam
to sin. In fact, God “would not communicate with him [Adam]
after he had sinned as he did when he was without sin.”3
The Needof Christ
Adam was given communion that was direct, free, and happy
with His Creator. The Fall disrupted it. After his transgression,
God would communicate to man through Christ and angels.
Christ became Adam’s instructor as well as his mediator to God.4
The plan of salvation was not Adam-centered but, rather,
Christ-centered. Adam is already incapable of restoring his pre-
Fall status with God. However, Christ is the only One capable of
restoring the separation caused by transgression.5 Christ
“presented Himself as surety for the human race, with just as
much power to avert the doom pronounced upon the guilty as
when He died upon the cross of Calvary.”6
While it is true that God saved Adam after his fall, He only
saved Adam but did not reinstate him to his pre-Fall status. In
fact, all who do not continue to sin are no longer called Adam’s
3
Ellen G. White, Conflict and Courage (Washington, DC: ReviewandHerald, 1970),20.
4
Ibid.
5
Ellen G. White, Confrontation(Washington, D C: ReviewandHerald, 1970), 20.
6
Ellen G. White, God’s Amazing Grace (Washington, DC: ReviewandHerald, 1973), 23.
S

2. descendants but, rather, born of God (1 John 5:18). The one born
of God does not continue to sin (3:9), knows God (13:9), believes
that Jesus is the Christ (5:1), and overcomes the world (v. 4).
The Adamic race has “broken the covenant—they were
unfaithful” to God (Hos 6:7, NIV). Paul says, “For as in Adam
all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22, NIV).
Thus, salvation is not about Adam—it is all about Christ—the
second Adam.
The Call to Repentance
Christ says, “I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32, NIV). Repentance is a call.
The Greek word for call means to invite or to bid. If that is the
case, then repentance is man’s choice. E. G. White says
something very crucial of the nature of repentance. She says,
“The Bible does not teach that the sinner must repent before he
can heed the invitation of Christ.”7 Thus, repentance is a
response of the call—an event prior to heeding to it. God is only
inviting us what type of choices we should make prior to heeding
to the invitation of Christ.
Because God calls us to repent, then we should answer the
call. Peter says, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to
perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9, NIV). We
should heed first Christ’s invitation before we can repent. The
role of the Holy Spirit is to awaken our conscience.8
God gives us the chance, time, and influence to repent.
However, we must do the actual repenting (Ezek 18:30-32;Acts
17:30). We choose to repent but under the influence of the Holy
Spirit. We only respond to God’s call. God calls but we answer.
It is never mentioned in the Bible that repentance God’s
choice. If God is in charge of our choice then why people are
sinning? Why is it that God is not wanting anyone to perish?
Man can only make a good choice if he “surrenders to Christ,” —
7
White, Steps, 26.
8
Ibid.
the time when “the mind is brought under the control of the
law.”9
Capable of repenting does not mean that someone is
controlled to repent. Because capability is not controllability,
Jesus denounced “the cities in which most of his miracles had
been performed, because they did not repent” (Matt 11:20, NIV).
Conclusion
To conclude, repentance is a call and man’s part is to
respond. It only happens after we hear Christ’s invitation to do
so. Through the Holy Spirit our minds are awaken to conformity
with God’s law. By then, man is capable of repenting. However,
man’s capability is not God’s controllability. The only thing that
He cannot do is to control man to repent. God would be no
longer the God of love if He does it to you.
Appeal
God calls us to repent. Why not respond His call and grab
this freedom now?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cristopher V. Luaya teaches theology at Northern Luzon Adventist College. He
graduated with a Bachelor of Theology degree from Central Philippine Adventist
College (2004) and a Masterof Arts in Religion, major in church history, from the
Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies (2013) where he successfully
defended his thesis on ecumenism. His first book is Understanding the Book of
Daniel: An Introduction published by South Philippine Adventist College in 2015.
Aside from teaching, he is the current pastorof NLAC Church. He and his wife
Alvie are blessed with two growing kids, Chris Alwyne and Hailey Nicole.
9
Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing (1905; repr.,MountainView, CA: Pacific Press, 1942),
131.