I like to think of repentance like rain on a parched land. Sometimes rain will downpour, other times it comes as gentle rain, steadily and slowly. We know it has rained by the signs of life. In the soil of true repentance, life will spring out from the ground. Genuine repentance shows itself with fruit in keeping with repentance.
Understanding the nature of true repentance is key if we are to be ambassadors for Christ, calling people to life and flourishing. But be warned! There is a faux repentance or worldly guilt that poses as geniune repentance. If we are to be true peacemakers, we need to know the difference between true repentance and false repentance, the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. We need to be able to spot counterfeit repentance in order to call sinners to repentance and not be defrauded.
Hidden in churches are those who have a form of godliness but deny its power. If Christians are to love well, we should not be defrauded by those that can use the language of grace and forgiveness but in reality are lovers of self, proud, arrogant, without self-control, and abusive. These men are disqualified from the faith (2 Timothy 3:1-9).
In 2 Corinthians 7:10-11, Paul explains that godly grief leads to salvation and life whereas worldly grief produces death. For an example of worldly guilt, look at Judas Iscariot who felt a type of sorrow for betraying Jesus, who then went out and hung himself. Contrast that with Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus rightly understood his guilt and in the soil of his repentance, he wanted to pay back those he had defrauded (Luke 19:1-10). In response to Zacchaeus’s repentance, Jesus tells him, “Today salvation has come to this house.”
Like Zacchaeus, a repentant sinner will be an agent of life and restoration, breathing in the grace of God and breathing out grace to others, making restitution for sin and owning his debt. He will earnestly want to make things right with those he hurt or violated and clear his outstanding debt. He will hate his sin and find it filthy and odious. He will take responsibility, not excuse or minimize his sin.
Christians should be cautious that many may even proclaim their repentance with tears. Still, we should not be fooled to equate tears with repentance. Esau found no opportunity to repent, though he sought it with tears (Hebrews 12:15-17). Worldly sorrow is focused on appearances and is primarily concerned about the consequences of sin, annoyed at the sting of sin but not having a Godward focus. And boy does sin sting! Who wouldn’t be upset at the loss of status and comfort?
Godly grief however sees sin as primarily an offense against a holy God (Psalm 51:4). The Westminster Larger Catechism explains that repentance unto life is a saving grace brought by the Holy Spirit and Word of God.
WLC 76: What is repentance unto life?
Answer: 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.
When one sees the beauty of true repentance, seeing the counterfeit should alarm us.
Among the saved, true repentance will have an aroma of life and a beautiful fragrance. I think of the times I have cried tears of joy after hearing a testimony at church (2 Corinthians 2:15-16). When Martin Luther said in the first of his 95 Theses that the whole of the Christian life is to be one of repentance, he meant that our consecrated lives would be a pleasing aroma unto the Lord.
False repentance on the other hand is a poor public testimony that has a putrid odor, an odor of death.
Romans 12:9 says it this way, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” Just as we are called to hate sin, we should hate false repentance and abuse that hides in the church. We should hate when churches exhibit cheap grace and abusers get away with their oppression.
Recently, I saw a showcase of false repentance in the news. On May 22nd, Pastor John Lowe of New Life Church in Illinois caught the public eye. At the end of a Sunday service altar call, he let his congregation know that he needed their forgiveness. But his display was really a showcase of false repentance. He minimized his sin, calling it adultery from 20 years ago, but he didn’t disclose that he had used his position of authority as a pastor to have sex with a 16 year-old (spiritual and sexual abuse). He then used the weapon of forgiveness to manipulate the congregation and avoid consequences of sin. If you listen to the pastor’s speech, it is easy to get pulled into wanting to show Pastor Lowe “grace” if you only hear his side of the story. The congregation even gave the pastor a standing ovation after his speech. (In this video analysis, Pastor Tom Pryde of the Psalm 82 Initiative shows us how to spot the warning signs in Pastor John Lowe’s false repentance.)
But even if the right words are given, genuine repentance is demonstrated over time with consistent actions. Tom Pryde notes in his article on recognizing a repentant abuser that “[i]t is a tragic, and potentially deadly, error to accept worldly sorrow as if it is genuine repentance. It is a severe cruelty to pressure the one who has been harmed to treat worldly sorrow as if it is genuine repentance.” As peacemakers, we should be cautious about encouraging someone to walk through a transaction of forgiveness without taking the time to discern the nature of the guilty party’s repentance.
May the Lord help us to bear fruit in keeping with repentance and to be discerning with abuse in the church. May our lives be marked by a pleasing aroma to the Lord as we walk in obedience to him.
2 Corinthians 7:10-11: For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 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.
