Atonement Series: Repentance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KodeDG2r7AE

Up to this point, we learned about God’s original intention for His creation, the fall, sin, grace as God’s divine assistance, and regeneration as God’s renewal process, allowing man to respond and align with His calling. This brings us to repentance. Now, there are some schools of thought where faith comes before repentance, which I do believe can occur. This is because God can do whatever He wants, and I do not have a monopoly on truth. If He wants to give faith first, He can; He knows what’s best for each situation for the billions of people that have existed throughout all of history. There is also the truth that repentance and faith are both necessary and, for the Christian, may very well occur at the same time.

However, today, as with all the elements of atonement, we’re slowing things down a bit. Here, I will suggest and show that generally, and scripturally, repentance comes before faith. Again, if you believe differently that is fine. In demonstrating this, we will also learn what repentance is and how the account of Lazarus helps us with this understanding. Now, I know that for most of us, this is a trivial thing: repentance, then faith; faith, then repentance—and that’s fine. However, reason why we are doing this is to understand atonement as something completely accomplished by God. And when we understand that repentance occurs first, we also gain the understanding and realize that atonement is completely and solely the work of Christ.

And yes, I know I’m being redundant here, I just really want us to understand this.

Alright, so let us visit some scriptures. But before we do, it’s important to note that when scripture mentions repentance and faith, repentance always comes before faith. This is also why I believe it happens this way. So today, we’re going to learn why.

Mark 1:14-15 (ESV): “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”

Acts 20:21 (ESV): “Testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 6:1 (ESV): “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.”

2 Timothy 2:25: “Correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth [faith].”

From these passages, we see that the idea is repentance precedes faith. But why?

Define Repentance

Okay, first let’s define repentance. We haven’t done that yet.

Repentance is changing how you act and think about sin due to remorse and godly sorrow, then turning to God—choosing to do it God’s way. In short, it’s turning away from self and turning to God. In our teaching on sin, we learned that sin was a perversion of the will and an act against God’s divine order. It is the practice of turning away from our Creator and turning to the created. Now we’re learning that repentance is the opposite of this.

The New Testament Greek word for repentance is “metanoia,” which means a changing of one’s mind. In psychology, we use this term to communicate a fundamental change in a person’s personality—typically, the breaking down of one personality and the reconstruction of another. I think this understanding really captures the essence of what repentance is.

John Stott, from his book Basic Christianity, puts it this way: "Repentance is a definite turning away from every thought, word, deed, and habit that we know to be wrong. It is a deliberate rejection of the old life in its entirety. It is ceasing to do wrong and learning to do right. It is a change of mind about sin—a reversal of direction. Repentance and faith belong together. The right response to Christ is neither repentance without faith nor faith without repentance, but both. Repentance is a change of mind, and faith is a change of trust. Repentance is the desire to be rid of sin, and faith is the desire to be right with God. Repentance is knowing that we have done wrong, and faith is knowing that Christ has made it right.”

I love that he explains repentance and faith together, again, because it can be like splitting hairs sometimes when trying to understand these constructs. However, his point on repentance echoes the deconstruction and reconstruction of changes that occur in an individual—the deconstruction of the old and the reconstruction of the new. In short, repentance is the complete deconstruction of the old psyche and reconstruction of the new psyche all initiated and governed by God.

Lazarus

Now on to Lazarus! Let’s see how Lazarus reveals these truths.

The point we will make is that Lazarus, being physically dead, could not believe because he was incapable of any action in his dead state. This mirrors the idea of spiritual death—those who are dead in sin are incapable of any action or any faith because they are separated from the life of God. Just as Lazarus could not physically walk out of the tomb or respond to Jesus' call until Jesus acted first, a person who is spiritually dead in sin cannot come to faith until Christ first acts.

Before Lazarus could walk out of the tomb, he needed to be brought to life by Jesus. Similarly, before a person can walk out of their sin, they need to be brought back to life. This is what we talked about in prior teaching—regeneration. But after being brought back to life, it is only then that Lazarus is aware that he has died, is bound, and is in a tomb. For us, after being regenerated, it is only then that one is aware of their depravity. It is during this state that one is brought to repentance, acknowledging one’s sin and turning from it. In a way, it’s the spiritual “awakening” that precedes faith, allowing the person to respond to and trust in God’s grace.

See, when Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,” He is addressing the spiritual death of humanity, not just physical death. Faith in Jesus brings new life, but for faith to take root, a person must first be awakened to their need for that life—which is where repentance comes in, and repentance brings awareness of spiritual death.

For a person to believe in Jesus as the resurrection and the life, they first need to recognize that they are spiritually dead without Him. Repentance, in this sense, is that recognition of death—realizing that without God, they are lost, much like Lazarus in the tomb. Only when a person sees the reality of their sin and spiritual death can they turn to Christ in faith.

Even Martha’s confession in John 11:27 reveals this. Martha is recorded as saying, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” When Martha says this, she demonstrates that faith follows repentance. The fact that Martha is grieving reveals that she has already acknowledged the broken state of the world, where there is sin, disease, and death, and she expresses her faith in Jesus as the Messiah. Her recognition of Jesus’ authority and power is an example of how repentance (acknowledging the reality of death and sin) leads to a confession of faith. So, are you seeing how this is working?

In the same way that Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, repentance is about God calling all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). This call is an invitation to faith—faith in Jesus! A faith that is built on the acknowledgment of our depravity. So, in short, repentance occurs first because it is the act of awakening to the reality of sin, death, and our depravity, just as Lazarus had to be brought to life before he could respond to Jesus. Once that awakening occurs, faith can follow—just as Lazarus, once alive, could then hear and respond in faith, though he was still covered in his grave clothes, to the voice of Jesus.

As we reflect on Lazarus and the process of repentance, we must remember God is the prime actor in our repentance because it is He who, through the atonement, has made the way for us to turn back to Him. On our own, we are incapable of coming to God. Just as Lazarus had no power to bring himself back to life, we have no power to initiate repentance apart from God's action. The Apostle Paul speaks to this in Romans 5:8, where he writes, "But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." This verse highlights that the atonement was accomplished without any merit on our part; it was solely God's initiative.

God not only provides the grace necessary for repentance but also actively calls us to repentance, as He did Lazarus out of the tomb. In Acts 5:31, Peter testifies that God "exalted Him [Jesus] at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." Notice how repentance itself is a gift, something God grants as part of His saving work. Repentance, then, is not a human initiative but a divine gift made possible through the atonement.