Words That Have Lost Their Biblical Meaning: Repentance
- RD Montgomery
- 2 minutes ago
- 6 min read
One of the more common things I hear Christians doing is referring to repentance as if it is the same as confession. This confusion stems from our modern culture and even standard dictionary definitions. However, biblically, these two things are vastly different.
To understand the distinction, imagine a friend stopping by your home to borrow a coat for a camping trip. They step inside and find a disaster area: trash is overflowing, there are more dirty dishes than clean ones, laundry is piled on the floor, and the litter box has been neglected for too long. As you both dig for the coat, bugs even crawl on your friend. You apologize, which is like a confession; it is an acknowledgment that your home is not hospitable. However, if they return a week later and the house is still in shambles, you will need to apologize again. If you actually clean your home and replace bad habits with good ones to prevent the mess from happening again, that is more like repentance.
This distinction is rooted in the original languages of the Bible. Confession is derived from the Greek word homologeo, which literally means "to say the same thing." It is an agreement with God that a specific action was wrong, much like 1 John 1:9 describes: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us." It is a vital step of honesty, but it is primarily an admission of a past or present fact. Without moving beyond the admission, we risk staying in the "disaster area" of our habits, mistakenly believing that saying we are sorry is the same as making a change.
True repentance, however, is found in the Greek word metanoia, which signifies a "change of mind" or a total transformation of one's perspective. It is the internal shift that dictates future behavior. In Matthew 3:8, John the Baptist challenged his listeners to "bear fruit in keeping with repentance," making it clear that without a tangible change in direction, the mental shift hasn't truly occurred. While confession identifies the mess in the house, metanoia is the decision that the house can no longer remain in that condition. It is the "turning of the mind" that precedes the "turning of the life."
The Hebrew equivalent, shuv, adds a physical dimension to this change, meaning "to return" or "to turn back." This word emphasizes the active motion of walking toward God rather than just acknowledging you were walking away. The prophets frequently used this term to call the people back to their covenant, as seen in Ezekiel 18:30: "Repent (shuv) and turn away from all your transgressions." This illustrates that biblical repentance is a holistic event involving the mind, the heart, and the feet. It is the active process of cleaning the home and establishing new, healthy patterns of living.
Getting Stuck in Sin
Confusing repentance (something you do) with confession (something you say or admit) can leave a person stuck in a habitual sin.. Paul describes being stuck as warring with his flesh in Romans 7:15-25.
When we acknowledge the problem in our lives but fail to move toward true repentance, we usually fall into one of two opposite, yet equally destructive, traps: self-reliant striving or passive expectation. Both allow the disaster area of our habits to remain intact because neither involves a genuine biblical "turning."
1. The Trap of Self-Reliant Striving
This is the "white-knuckle" approach. It happens when you acknowledge the sin but believe the cleanup is entirely up to your own willpower. I describe it as trying to swim upstream. It might seem initially like I am making progress, but eventually I grow too tired and the current takes me back in the wrong direction. This is an example of incorrect repentance. I might be trying to turn from sin, but I am not turning to God; I am turning to myself.
This approach treats God like a judge waiting for you to clean up your act. This is often taught in legalistic environments.
This leads to a cycle of burnout and frustration, as human effort alone cannot produce the "new heart" promised in Scripture.
2. The Trap of Passive Expectation
On the other end of the spectrum is the "waiting room" mentality. This occurs when you expect God to unilaterally fix the problem or remove the temptation while you remain stationary. You might say, "I'm just waiting for God to take this desire away," as you continue to stand in the middle of the mess.
This is also an example of incorrect repentance. Here, you are turning to God but not turning from your sin.
While God provides the power for transformation, He does not bypass the human will. If you expect the house to be cleaned while you refuse to stop piling up dishes in the sink, you aren't practicing repentance; you are practicing avoidance. God empowers the "turn" (shuv), but He does not usually do the turning for you.
Sometimes in desperation a person may alternate between the two traps; I have done this in the past. This is because I was never taught what proper repentance really looks like.
Repentance Requires the Right Heart Position
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:14
What gets in the way of repentance is what the Bible calls being stiff-necked or double-minded. I sometimes refer to it as locking the front door to sin but leaving a window open. To put it plainly, you say you want the sin gone, but a part of you wants to keep doing it. If you want to keep doing it, you will voluntarily self-sabotage yourself. You do this by feeding sinful behaviors and willingly allowing yourself to be tempted. We live in a world that normalizes sins like getting drunk, sex outside of marriage, gossip, anger, pride, and hate. While we cannot escape these influences completely, we can stop willingly allowing them into our lives.
In Proverbs 5:8 Solomon is talking about adultery, and he tells his son to stay away from the promiscuous woman and not even go near her door. If someone wants to cheat on their spouse, they want to be tempted. They do things like supposedly innocently flirt with the co-worker, have long talks with the neighbor, catch up with the one who got away on social media, watch and listen to media that glorifies loose sexual boundaries, and enjoy listening to their single friends talk about their conquests. They may not be physically cheating yet but they are weakening their resolve/willpower by feeding their flesh.
Every sinful stronghold can be fed and as long as we do it, we have not completely turned from it. We have to close the window, clean our lives of all the influences, and have a heart posture that truly hates the sin.
Repentance Is Also Thirsting for More of Jesus
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:14
Turning to God is more than a declaration. It is a new lifestyle of replacing flesh-feeding influences with those that fill our lives with more of Jesus. This has to be more than a few hours a week at church, and doing a 10-minute devotion followed by a prayer. It is spending quality time with God. There are spiritual habits (aka spiritual disciplines) that can help us with this. Here is a post that details them:
When you have the right heart position that abhors sin and thirsts for righteousness you are in position for the Holy Spirit to do sanctifying work on your life. While you cannot defeat sin on your own, the Holy Spirit can.
The Result of Repentance is Sanctification
God does not want sin gone from your life for arbitrary reasons. He wants it gone from your life because it is bad for your physical, mental, and spiritual health. It negatively affects you and others.
When you cooperate and the Holy Spirit works on your heart it is more than what you stop doing; it is also about what you start doing. As you walk with the Spirit, you move from desiring dark, selfish fruits to selfless fruits that bring light and hope into a world of darkness. You will magnify Christ in new ways that were previously impossible.
Repentance is not a church word that should be ignored, and it should not be confused with confession. It is mandatory for salvation and growing to be more like Christ.
Scripture used or considered in the writing of, “Words That Have Lost Their Biblical Meaning: Repentance” By RD Montgomery. All Scripture used is in the ESV format unless otherwise specified.
2 Kings 22:1-20
2 Kings 23:1-27
2 Chronicles 7:14
Psalm 51:17
Proverbs 5:1-14
Proverbs 28:13
Isaiah 55:7
Lamentations 3:40
Ezekiel 18:21
Ezekiel 18:30
Joel 2:12-13
Matthew 3:2
Matthew 4:17
Mark 1:15
Luke 3:8
Luke 6:46
Luke 13:3
Luke 15:7
Acts 2:38
Acts 3:19
Acts 17:30
Acts 20:21
Romans 2:4
Romans 7:15-25
Romans 8:5
Romans 13:14
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
2 Corinthians 7:9-10
2 Corinthians 7:10
Galatians 5:16-24
Ephesians 4:31-32
2 Timothy 2:25
James 4:8
2 Peter 3:9
1 John 1:5-10
1 John 2:15-17
Revelation 2:5
#WalkintheTruth #Repentance #Confession #BiblicalMeaning #ChristianLiving #SpiritualGrowth #Theology #BibleStudy #Sin #Metanoia #Shuv
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