Repentance is a term widely used in the Christian religion and is often used too lightly. In Tu Biblia Online we want to teach you what is repentance according to the Bible and what is its importance in Christianity.
In our religion, repentance plays a fundamental role, putting it almost on the same level as prayer and solidarity.
Biblical definition of repentance
Our objective as Christians is to follow God’s path, listening attentively to His Word and applying it to our lives. Even so, temptation lurks at every moment of our existence given our weakness as human beings. If you want to know more about temptation, we recommend you to read this article.
The origin of the word repentance comes from the Latin word poenitere, which means “to be penitent”. Thus, repentance implies the correction of an act in which one has acted wrongly.
Repentance, besides being a burden on the conscience, requires the will to change and fix what has been done wrong. In the Bible, the word repentance is translated from the Hebrew shub and means “to return to the right way”.
We all know that the right path is the one indicated by the Word of God, although it is often difficult to follow it due to our human condition. Repentance is the act of returning to the right path.
Difference between regret and remorse
As we have told you, repentance is the sum of the burden of conscience with the action of resolving what has been done wrong. In the event that everything remains within us, we must speak of remorse and not of repentance.
In the Bible, we find two very clear examples that explain the difference between these two words. In addition, they are located in a similar chronological position, so they will help us to clarify all our doubts more easily.
After Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus, he himself has an enormous burden on his conscience when he sees the heinous act he has committed. In doing so, he tries to return the coins he had earned by giving Jesus and ends his life. This example we have just seen is an example of remorse.
Judas feels very bad, but does not take any action to get back on the right path in his life and decides to end the suffering he has without seeking a rapprochement with God.
Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, when he saw that he had been condemned, was remorseful and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying to them:
-I have sinned by giving an innocent man to death.
But they answered him:
-What does it matter to us? That’s up to you!
Then Judas threw the coins in the temple, and went and hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:3-5)
On the other hand, when Peter denies knowing Jesus three times in a row, he realizes the barbarity he has committed, weeps inconsolably and asks God’s forgiveness for his actions. In addition, he then follows the path of Christ, becoming one of the most important biblical characters and considered the first pope of the Church. This is a clear case of repentance, which differs greatly from the previous one.
“Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered that the Lord had said to him, “Today, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.”
And Peter went out from there and wept bitterly.” (Luke 22:61-62)
Scriptures on repentance kjv
After looking at some of the biblical chapters on repentance, let’s focus on isolated verses that speak of repentance. You will see that they exist in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, and repentance was already important before the coming of Jesus Christ.
The first verse we show you, comes from Proverbs and gives us a very clear and concise sentence about the importance of repentance, let’s take a look at it:
“He who covers up his sins will not prosper;
But he who confesses them and turns away will obtain mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)
On the other hand, in the First Epistle of John, the apostle speaks already in its first chapter about repentance, being this a central theme in the whole text. We leave you here a verse that exemplifies it:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
As we can see, the Lord will forgive us when we repent and will never abandon us. We see this idea already in much earlier times, specifically in a verse from II Chronicles of the Old Testament:
“For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.” (2 Chronicles 30:9b)
Finally, Jesus urged his followers and those who listened to him to repent explicitly, and this is recorded on more than one occasion in the Gospels. As examples, we leave you with these two verses from Matthew and Mark:
“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)
“Saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
Examples of repentance in the Bible
In the Bible there are many chapters dedicated to explaining repentance in its Christian aspect. Most of them are parables enacted by Jesus to his followers that perfectly exemplify what our relationship with repentance should be.
In the following, we will look at a few of these chapters, analyzing the most important details of each of them.
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Jesus and Zacchaeus
As recounted in Luke 19:1-10, Jesus entered the city of Jericho and among the crowd, there appeared a rich man named Zacchaeus whom everyone accused of being a sinner. Jesus indicated to him that he would go and eat at his house to the amazement of the crowd.
At that moment, Zacchaeus cried out that he would give half of his goods to the needy and that if he had ever robbed anyone, he would pay them back four times over. And Jesus forgave him.
The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ was intended to straighten the path of those who had gone astray. This requires repentance, like that of Zacchaeus, who completely changed his life to follow the message of Jesus.
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Parable of the Prodigal Son
In this parable narrated in Luke 15:11-32, the youngest son of a family decides to ask his father for his share of the goods and leave home. While away, he loses all his money and, repentant, returns home. There he recites one of the best known repentance verses in the Bible:
“And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” (Luke 15:21)
Then the father made a great feast in his honor, since for him, his son had died when he left home to squander his goods. Now he had come back to life.
The boy’s brother felt somewhat envious, for he had always stood by his father’s side without such feasts and praise. Wisely the father replied that he was aware of it and that everything he had was also his; but that repentance was an act to be celebrated to a great extent.
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Parable of the lost sheep
This parable is found in the same chapter as the previous one, but a few verses earlier, Luke 15:3-7.
The reason for this fragment is very similar to the previous one, the importance of repentance in Christianity. The brief story is nicely summarized in verse 4:
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4)
Recovering the good behavior of someone who is being lost and moving away from the Lord is paramount. We have to show the Word of God to enlighten those who do not know it or who, even knowing it, fall into temptation and make mistakes.
If there is repentance, God will forgive us and so should the rest of the Christians involved.
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Parable of the lost coin
The three verses that compose this parable have a clear correspondence with the previous fragment. The text you can find in Luke 15:8-10, tells how a woman who loses a coin looks for it, even though she has others and is not short of money.
The Lord’s house is as big as the whole of humanity and no one is ever left over. Those who want to know the beautiful message of Christ are welcome to enter and those who repent of having fallen away should be received with great joy and gladness.
Prayer of repentance
If you feel sorry for a specific act, we recommend you to pray a prayer of repentance that will help you to take action and repair the possible damage you have caused.
To make it easier for you to pray, we share an example in text and another one in audio. It is important that when you go to pray, you are in a quiet place, free of distractions and that you do this action with total sincerity and an open heart to God.
Prayer of repentance in text:
Lord God, eternal and omnipotent Father, we acknowledge and confess before your holy Majesty that we are poor sinners,
born in iniquity, inclined to evil and unable of ourselves to practice good. We confess that we have daily and in various ways broken your holy commandments, and thus deserve, by your just sentence, condemnation and death.
But, O Lord, we feel a lively sorrow for having offended you and we condemn ourselves and our transgressions with true repentance, we turn to your grace and we beseech you to help us in our misery.
Have mercy on us, O God of all goodness, merciful Father, and forgive us our sins, for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Savior.
Grant us and increase in us daily the graces of your holy spirit, so that, always recognizing our faults, we may repent and renounce them with our whole heart and bear fruits of righteousness and holiness that are pleasing to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. “
Video prayer of repentance:
Regret in art
Now that you have seen the great importance of repentance in our lives, you will not be surprised to know that many Christian artists dedicated their works to this theme.
We will now show you a few of them so that you can admire them and get to know them a little better.
The first painting we show you represents one of the biblical moments we have told you about in this article, namely Peter’s repentance after denying Jesus.
In addition, we put it next to a painting depicting Judas’ remorse, so that you can see the contrast of brightness and colors between the representation of repentance and remorse.
The first painting is entitled “The Tears of Peter” and was painted by El Greco. The second is by Nikolai Ge and is entitled “Judas”.
Regarding the parable of the prodigal son, you should know that it has a great popularity in the general culture, and is the subject of two great pictorial works that we show you below. The first image is the creation of Rembrandt and is entitled “The Return of the Prodigal Son”, while the second image is by Hans Thoma and is entitled “The Prodigal Son”.
Repentance is part of our Christian lives and in fact, there is no Christianity without repentance. To err is human and will often happen, so if we firmly believe in the Lord, we will also often repent.
In this article we want to show you how repentance is treated in the Bible by analyzing some of the most important chapters on this subject, looking at the verses where this word appears and finally admiring works of art that have been elaborated over the centuries.
We hope we have clarified your doubts and that the difference between regret and remorse has been made clear to you. If you are still hungry for more articles, feel free to browse our website!