How Does a Person Repent?
Below you will find chapter four of R.C. Sproul’s book, What Is Repentance?. Why have we shared it with you? Well, this chapter helps us understand that repentance is not something we muster up; it’s a work of God in us. Repentance is a gift, the Bible says. The Bible calls us to repent in many places, and it is our responsibility to respond to that call. But this article pulls back the curtain and shows us what the Bible teaches, that behind every genuine repentance is a miracle—God has brought someone who was spiritually dead to life. May this article either lead you to repent and put your trust in Jesus, and may he awaken your heart to know his grace as you read, or may it make you rejoice in the repentance he has already worked in your heart. Here’s R.C. Sproul’s reflection on the subject:
Regeneration and Repentance
Many centuries ago, Saint Augustine created a bit of controversy with a simple prayer. Augustine prayed, “Grant what Thou dost command, and command what Thou wilt.” Augustine’s famous theological sparring partner, Pelagius, was not pleased, and reacted quite negatively. He argued that if God commands something, reason would indicate that we are able, without any assistance from God, to do what he commands.
But Augustine recognized what Pelagius refused to admit—that we are fallen creatures, and since the fall, we are morally incapable of doing everything that God commands. The fall infects us all the way down to the level of our abilities. For example, God commands perfect obedience, and who among us is able to give that kind of obedience to God? God commands that we be holy in the same manner in which he is holy, but we are unholy; as fallen creatures we do not have the moral power for holiness within us. The Bible says we are under the power of sin, not just under the judgment of the law. Sin has a vise-like grip on our hearts. This is made plain when we as Christians battle specific sins over and over again.
One of the great themes of the New Testament is that God, in his grace, enables us to do what he commands. His primary command is to repent. This is the message of both John the Baptist and Jesus at the beginning of their ministries. Yet how can we repent if we are completely under the power of sin?
Genuine repentance is something that is worked in us by the Holy Spirit. It is a gracious activity by God. We have seen that conversion and repentance are inseparably linked. If we look carefully at the New Testament concept of faith, which is the supreme requirement for redemption, we learn that godly repentance is an integral part of faith. If a person has faith but not repentance, that person does not have authentic faith. That person does not possess the necessary ingredients for redemption; conversion is a result of faith and repentance.
The New Testament tells us that faith is a gift of God. Faith is not something produced by our own power, but it is wrought by the Holy Spirit. This is called “rebirth” or “regeneration.” If we asked one hundred Christians to answer this question, “Which comes first, regeneration or repentance?” I imagine that ninety out of a hundred would say repentance comes first. However, it doesn’t make sense that people who are dead in their sins and trespasses would incline themselves naturally to repentance. The New Testament teaches that God the Holy Spirit first quickens our souls, making us alive spiritually, and the fruit of this work is godly repentance and faith.
Consider Ephesians 2:1-2: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked” (ESV). Paul is addressing believers in Ephesus, and he’s reminding them of what God, in his grace, has done for them. Paul insists that if you’re a Christian, God has made you alive. When? When he resuscitated you. He raised you from the dead, not physically, but spiritually. You were dead in your state of sin. Paul is saying, “You used to be unconverted, and God has converted you. You used to be dead. God has resurrected you. God has made you alive to himself.”
Paul writes, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1-2 ESV). He’s describing the lifestyle of the unconverted and explains that that is where the Ephesians believers used to find themselves.
Most races, like a marathon, have a course that is defined by set boundaries. If you run the race, you have to follow the course. Paul is saying that all of us who are converted used to walk according to a certain course—the course of the world. We were unable to run any other race. This brings to mind Psalm 1:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1-4 ESV)
The difference between the blessed person and the ungodly person is that the blessed person walks according to the course of heaven and not according to the course of this world. Paul is emphasizing a similar sentiment in Ephesians. There is a marked contrast between the life of the converted person and the life of the unconverted person. The unconverted person is still dead spiritually, walking according to the course of this world.
Before we’re converted, we choose to do whatever Satan wants us to do. We’re allies in his kingdom, marching to his orders. We walk according to the values and the systems of this world, and we are obedient servants, indeed, slaves, of the prince of the power of the air, or, as Paul puts it, “the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2 ESV). Paul makes it clear that this was our collective past: “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3 ESV). Paul is saying that all of us, by nature, are children of wrath. All of us, by nature, are obedient disciples of Satan. No one is born a Christian. In order to become a disciple of Christ, you have to have a metanoia, a change of the mind that is reflected in repentance. We have to be raised from spiritual deadness.
However, Paul doesn’t leave us in the depths of despair. The next two words, “But God,” are two of the most glorious words in the entire Bible. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV). This is crucial. It’s not that he made us alive after we inclined ourselves to him. Paul makes reference to the chronology according to which God spiritually awakens dead people. Christians have been awakened by the rich mercy of God. When? While we were dead in trespasses. Paul is teaching that conversion is a transition from spiritual death to spiritual life. It’s a work that only God can do, and he does it for us when we are completely helpless. If you are a converted person, you were converted not because of your own inherent righteousness. You were converted because God converted you.
Paul goes on: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:4-8 ESV). What is the antecedent of the word “this” in the last sentence of this glorious text? In the structure of the text, there’s only one thing to which “this” can refer: the entire previous phrase in the text. The “this” refers not just to “grace” or “saved” but also to “faith.” By grace have you been saved through faith, and this faith is not something you conjured up all by yourself. Rather, it is a gift of God.
Paul next says that our faith is “not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:9 ESV). We can never boast about conversion, because conversion is all God’s work. If there’s any question, Paul continues by saying, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10 ESV). We are not re-created by ourselves and by our good works. We are the craftsmanship of Christ. Christ has shaped us and molded us for good works. Our good works are the fruit of conversion.
Are you a converted person? The race of life that you are running follows a definite course. Which course is it? Are you running the race of God, or are you following the course of this world? Is your heart’s delight to please God? Is there evidence that you are being molded, crafted, and shaped by Christ? Or do you remain cold of heart toward the things of God and estranged from Christ? Are you one of those people who say, “Well, you may find something meaningful in the Christian religion, and Christ may be a crutch for you, but I don’t need Christ”? If you’re saying that, what you mean is: “I don’t want him. I have no place for him in my life. I want to craft my own soul and carve my own destiny.” These are the signs of an unconverted person. They are the marks of spiritual death.
But there is no greater blessing than to be shaped, molded, and crafted by the gentle working of Christ. That is why Augustine prayed the way he did: “Grant what Thou dost command, and command what Thou wilt.” If you know you should repent, but you can’t produce feelings of repentance in yourself, pray that God would work repentance in you, because the only one who can produce genuine repentance in your soul is God. God convicts us of sin. God awakens us to our guilt. If God crushes us in godly sorrow, it is an act of sheer grace. It’s his act of mercy to bring us to faith and conversion.