What Is Repentance?
Overview
All people have sinned and broken God’s law. None of us are good (Rom. 3:10). And as a result of our sin, God commands us to repent. But what does repentance look like? In this booklet, Dr. R.C. Sproul looks at several people in the Bible and how they give us a model of repentance. Dr. Sproul explains that true repentance is not simply a religious ritual or the resolve to do better next time. Rather, it’s a spiritual conversion in which we turn from our sin and to God in faith.
For more from Dr. Sproul, check out the Crossway R.C. Sproul Collection (6 vols.).
Top Highlights
“In order for one to become a Christian, something has to happen by which that person is radically changed. This is linked to the biblical concept of metanoia, that change of mind that is not merely an intellectual adjustment of a concept but the turning around of one’s entire life. To the prophet, repentance is not merely a religious ritual, but is integral to conversion of the soul. It means a change of one’s entire being.” (Page 15)
“The root noia is the verb form of the noun that we find frequently in the Bible as nous. This is simply the Greek word for ‘mind.’ In its simplest form, the term metanoia has to do with ‘the mind afterward,’ or, as we might say, ‘an afterthought.’ In the Greek language, it came to mean ‘a significant changing of one’s mind.’” (Page 3)
“The word repentance comes from a Greek word metanoia. The prefix meta can mean ‘with,’ ‘beside,’ or ‘after.’” (Page 2)
“The central concept of repentance in the Old Testament can be captured in one word: conversion” (Page 15)
“in the most rudimentary sense, the concept of repentance in the Bible means ‘to change one’s mind.’” (Page 3)
- Title: What Is Repentance?
- Author: R. C. Sproul
- Edition: First edition
- Series: The Crucial Questions Series
- Volume: 18
- Publishers: Reformation Trust, Ligonier Ministries
- Print Publication Date: 2014
- Logos Release Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Repentance › Christianity
- ISBNs: 9781567693720, 1567693725
- Resource ID: LLS:WHATISREPENTANCE
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T03:44:06Z
R. C. Sproul (1939– 2017) was a respected teacher, theologian, pastor. He was the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries where he served as executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
Sproul held degrees from Westminster College, Pittsburgh-Xenia Theological Seminary, Free University of Amsterdam, and Whitefield Theological Seminary. He taught at several colleges and seminaries including Reformed Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary. He served as senior minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, in Sanford, Florida. Sproul’s teaching can be heard daily on the ‘Renewing Your Mind’ radio broadcast which plays in over 40 countries.
Sproul wrote over 70 books and articles including the classic The Holiness of God and several theological articles in Tabletalk magazine.
