What Is Repentance?
In the Bible, repentance is not merely a feeling of regret but a decision to change direction: turning away from sin and toward God. The Old Testament prophets repeatedly call the people to 'return', a call that covers both a change of behavior and a change of heart. In the New Testament, the preaching of John the Baptist and of Jesus opens with a call to repent, and in the apostles' sermons repentance is presented as the first response to the gospel. Scripture describes repentance not as gloomy self-condemnation but as a turning that ends in joy: in the parable of the lost son, the return home is met with the father's embrace, and heaven is said to rejoice. The visible fruit of repentance is also stressed; what is expected is a turning that shows itself in life, not in words alone. Repentance thus stands, together with faith, at the beginning and throughout the whole of Christian life.