Repentance is the acceptance of being found...or found out!

Pastor-Teacher
John Farley
Wednesday,
June 2, 2010

Repentance is the acceptance of being found...or found out!

Repentance - metanoia - in the New Testament means a change of mind for the better.

Heb 4:12
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Holy Spirit probes the deep things of God (1Co 2:10). The word of God probes the deep things inside us (Heb 4:12).

The word of God cuts to the heart of the matter: we still think wrong after salvation.

The truth is usually not what we had in mind - literally! -when we first hear it.

We stop relying on our decisions, our resolutions, our mental effort - and we start relying on the truth itself to set us free.

A change of attitude toward doctrine is the basis of reversion recovery, Rom 2:4-5; Rev 3:19, 2Ti 2:25.

Like the shepherd in the wilderness, the grace of God aggressively seeks out the lost one to save and, later, to restore him or her.

Psa 23:3
He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

Grace provided and demonstrated first by God leads to repentance in the heart of a man afterwards.

The verb in verse 25 for “may grant” is in the aorist active subjunctive of didomi meaning “to give”.

to give something to some one -- in various senses
1. of one's own accord to give one something, to his advantage; to bestow, give as a gift: Mat 4:9

2. to grant, give to one asking, let have: Mat 12:39

3. to supply, furnish, necessary things: Mat 6:11

4. to give over, deliver,

a. to reach out, extend, present: as Mat 14:19

c. to give to one’s care, entrust, commit
 

didomi is a grace verb!

Here we have didomi followed by a noun - metanoia - that means an action or an effect (repentance), and the noun denotes something to be done by him to whom it is said to be given.

Here in 2Ti 2:25 the noun in question is the accusative of metanoia. Repentance is “done” by the one to whom God gives the conditions and the ability to proceed.

According to Thayer, the Greek construction we have here should be translated “to cause to”:

“If perhaps God may cause them to repent, thereby resulting in a precise and correct experiential knowledge (epignosis) of the truth or doctrine”.

This change of mind, in respect to a revealed truth from the word of God, is called in 2Ti 2:25 “repentance”. The grace of God provides the conditions necessary for it to occur.

God’s plan throughout all the ages is that He might be glorified by the grace that He dispenses to undeserving creatures.

the lost sheep, LUK 15:4-7,
the lost coin, LUK 15:8-10,
the lost sons, LUK 15:11-32.

In the Bible, a parable is a comparison between a familiar fact and a spiritual truth.

The central truth of the parable is the joy God has over the change in status of a believer from lost to found, from “dead” to “alive”. Or in a word, “restoration” or what our Lord calls in verse 7 “repentance”.

The first type of repentance is a synonym for faith in connection with salvation. A change in mental attitude about the person and work of Christ equals repentance in connection with salvation.

The second type of repentance is rebound, changing our thinking to agree with God’s verdict concerning our sins. We embrace the experiential forgiveness God freely provides.

The third type of repentance in the Church age believer’s life is the turning away from human viewpoint (lies, evil) and turning toward divine viewpoint (grace and truth), resulting in living a new life of fellowship with the Trinity.