What is Repentance?

If sin is separation from God, then repentance is returning to God. God says: “Return to me and I will return to you” (Malachi 3:8). When the prodigal son repented, he returned to his father (Luke 15:18–20). True repentance is a human longing for the origin from which we were taken. It is the desire of a heart that strayed from God, and finally felt it could go no further away.

Our Lord Jesus offers forgiveness and acceptance, illustrating His Divine Love and redemption.

For just as sin is conflict with God, so repentance is reconciliation with God. This is what our teacher Saint Paul stated about his apostolic work, saying: “Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading by us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). But repentance is not confined to reconciliation. Through repentance, God returns and dwells in the human heart, transforming it into a heaven. As for the unrepentant, how can God dwell in their hearts while sin is dwelling therein? As the Bible says: “What communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).

Repentance is also a spiritual awakening. The sinful person is unaware of his state. The Bible says to him, “That now it is high time to awake out of sleep” (Romans 13:11). In this context, repentance is the return of a person to himself. Or, put another way, it is the return of a person to his or her original sensitivity, the return of the heart to its fervor, and the return of the conscience to its work. It is justly said about the prodigal son upon his repentance: “He came to himself” (Luke 15:17). He returned to alertness, to correct thinking, and to a spiritual understanding.

For as sin is regarded as spiritual death, the Bible says about sinners that they are “dead in trespasses” (Ephesians 2:5). Repentance, then, is a transfer from death to life, according to the expression of Saint John the Evangelist (1 John 3:14). Saint Paul the Apostle says about this: “Awake, you who sleep; arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5:14). Saint James the Apostle confirms the same interpretation when he says: “He who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20).

Prayer in an Orthodox Church

Repentance is resurrection for the spirit because the death of the spirit is separation from God. As Saint Augustine said: “Repentance is a new pure heart, which God gives to the sinners to love Him with.” It is a divine act performed by God inside the person, according to His divine promise: “I shall sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be cleansed from all your uncleanness... I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you... I shall... cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:25–27).

Repentance is freedom from the slavery of sin and the devil. It is also freedom from the most sinful habits and from running after lusts. It is impossible for us to partake of this freedom without the work of the Lord in us. Therefore, the Bible says: “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). It is true freedom because “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). We receive this freedom if, by repentance, we stand firm in the truth—we do not receive it through vanity. “And the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

Not every forsaking of sin is considered repentance. Repentance is the forsaking of sin because of the love of God and the love of righteousness. Other reasons for forsaking sin include fear, embarrassment, inability, preoccupation (with the remainder of love for this sin in the heart), or the consequences of unsuitable situations. These reasons are not considered repentance. True repentance is the discarding of sin practically, mentally, and from the heart, which springs out of love for God, His commandments, and His kingdom, and the care of the repentant person for his or her lot in eternity.

True repentance is forsaking sin without return. This has been the story of many saints who have repented, including Saint Augustine, Saint Moses the Black, Saint Mary of Egypt, Pelagia, Thais, and Sarah. Repentance is found in the lives of all these and others. It is a turning toward God, continued throughout life, without a return to sin. This reminds us of the saying of Saint Bishoy: “I do not remember that the devil has tempted me into the same sin twice.” It is possible that the first sin was a result of ignorance, negligence, weakness, or lack of awareness of the tricks of the devil, or lack of cautiousness. But after repentance and awakening, there is strictness in living and a caution of sin.

Repentance is a cry from the conscience and a revolt against the past. It is repulsion from sin, great regret, and rejection of the old state with embarrassment and shame. Hence, repentance is often called “a daring judge.”

Repentance is a complete change in a person’s life, not a temporary emotion. It is a real and fundamental change felt by the person, as well as by everyone that deals with him. His thoughts change, as well as his principles and values, his outlook on life and his manner of speech, his habits and dealings with people, and most importantly, his dealings with God.

Repentance is the golden key that opens the door to the kingdom of heaven. Or rather, it is the true door that leads to heaven because without repentance, God does not reign in our hearts. Repentance is the oil in the lampstands of the virgins, granting them the right to enter into the wedding feast (Matthew 25).

Repentance is God’s outstretched hand, seeking reconciliation with you. It is a chance to turn a new page, which God opens in His relationship with you by forgiving you for the past. He shall wash you, and you shall be whiter than snow (Psalm 50 [51]). It is a chance to build up hope and rid yourself of despair.

However, repentance is not the objective of the spiritual life, but merely the beginning of a long journey toward the life of purity. Repentance is the beginning of the relationship with God. It is the beginning of a long path whose aim is holiness and perfection. One may therefore ask how the person who has not begun to repent until now can reach the end. How will the person who delays the first step until his elderly years, or until the hour of death, achieve the Lord’s saying: “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48)