What is Repentance?

What is repentance to life?¹

Repentance to life is a saving grace (Acts 11:18), whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sins (Acts 2:37) and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ (Joel 2:13), does with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it to God (Jeremiah 31:18-19), with full purpose to strive after new obedience (Psalms 119:59).

What is the true repentance or conversion of man?²

It is the dying of the old nature and the coming to life of the new (Romans 6:1-11; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:5-10).

What is the dying of the old nature?³

It is to grieve with heartfelt sorrow that we have offended God by our sin, and more and more to hate it and flee from it (Psalms 51:3-4, 17; Joel 2:12-13; Romans 8:12-13; 2 Corinthians 7:10).

What is the coming to life of the new nature?⁴

It is a heartfelt joy in God through Christ (Psalms 51:8, 12; Isaiah 57:15; Romans 5:1; 14:17), and a love and delight to live according to the will of God in all good works (Romans 6:10-11; Galatians 2:20).

What does God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse due to us by reason of the transgression of the law?⁵

That we may escape the wrath and curse of God due to us by reason of the transgression of the law, he requires of us repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and the diligent use of the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of his mediation.

Footnotes

1. A Puritan Catechism (1855), Question 70.
2. Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Question 88.
3. Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Question 89.
4. Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Question 90.
5. Westminster Larger Catechism (1647), Question 153.