Repent

[Bob Estey]

Jesus told us to repent (Matthew 4:17). Was he telling us to stop sinning, or was he just telling us to feel bad about it?

 

[amadeus]

Jesus told us to repent (Matthew 4:17). Was he telling us to stop sinning, or was he just telling us to feel bad about it?

"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt 4:17

"And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matt 4:19

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt 11:28-30

 

[Nancy]

Jesus told us to repent (Matthew 4:17). Was he telling us to stop sinning, or was he just telling us to feel bad about it?

Hello Bob,
Jesus said to most He healed "Now go, and SIN no more..." Repenting is being sorry AND turning in the other direction, away from sin, as soon as we start to find ourselves veering off course. Then, continue in His leading direction.
There is only ONE thing God truly will not abide...sin. We ain't perfect yet brother but, as long as we abide IN Him and follow the lead of The Spirit...we will stumble less and less and stop thinking so much on our sin and more on becoming more Christlike.
JMHO :)

 

[Hidden In Him]

Jesus told us to repent (Matthew 4:17). Was he telling us to stop sinning, or was he just telling us to feel bad about it?

There is an interesting thing to notice here however, and that is this. In most discussions on the subject we tend to think in terms of Christians needing to repent of particular sins - this sin, or that sin - something that has been plaguing them in particular - but the context in which the word is often used in the New Testament is more in the sense of turning from a lifestyle of sinfulness in general. That's the case here. Jesus was juxtapositioning being conformed to this world in one's lifestyle versus preparing for the coming kingdom of God, hence Paul's admonition, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds."

I say this because there are some who take things to the extreme and teach that anyone who has any sin in their life at all has not truly "repented" and is therefore not truly saved. We ought not ever excuse our sins, but at the same time we need to teach right doctrine, and John taught that if we as Christians sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the Old Testament writers talked about how God was quick to forgive sins, and they were not even living in the era of Grace. How much more so now.

Again, this is not to take away from the exhortation of the Holy Spirit to turn away from all sin, but if no one can get to Heaven unless they have been perfected then we are all lost, whether we think so or not.

 

[marks]

There is an interesting thing to notice here however, and that is this. In most discussions on the subject we tend to think in terms of Christians needing to repent of particular sins - this sin, or that sin - something that has been plaguing them in particular - but the context in which the word is often used in the New Testament is more in the sense of turning from a lifestyle of sinfulness in general. That's the case here. Jesus was juxtapositioning being conformed to this world in one's lifestyle versus preparing for the coming kingdom of God, hence Paul's admonition, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds."

I say this because there are some who take things to the extreme and teach that anyone who has any sin in their life at all has not truly "repented" and is therefore not truly saved. We ought not ever excuse our sins, but at the same time we need to teach right doctrine, and John taught that if we as Christians sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the Old Testament writers talked about how God was quick to forgive sins, and they were not even living in the era of Grace. How much more so now.

Again, this is not to take away from the exhortation of the Holy Spirit to turn away from all sin, but if no one can get to Heaven unless they have been perfected then we are all lost, whether we think so or not.

Yes, and the word itself - metanoia - means to have a new mind. We repudiate our old way of thinking, that we are OK, what we do is OK, and receive from God a new way of thinking, that God's way is right, and best, and we can do that, we want to do that.

Much love!

 

[Bob Estey]

"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt 4:17

"And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matt 4:19

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt 11:28-30

Yes, we do make things a lot easier on ourselves when we make a sincere effort to resist temptation, don't we?

 

[Bob Estey]

There is an interesting thing to notice here however, and that is this. In most discussions on the subject we tend to think in terms of Christians needing to repent of particular sins - this sin, or that sin - something that has been plaguing them in particular - but the context in which the word is often used in the New Testament is more in the sense of turning from a lifestyle of sinfulness in general. That's the case here. Jesus was juxtapositioning being conformed to this world in one's lifestyle versus preparing for the coming kingdom of God, hence Paul's admonition, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds."

I say this because there are some who take things to the extreme and teach that anyone who has any sin in their life at all has not truly "repented" and is therefore not truly saved. We ought not ever excuse our sins, but at the same time we need to teach right doctrine, and John taught that if we as Christians sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the Old Testament writers talked about how God was quick to forgive sins, and they were not even living in the era of Grace. How much more so now.

Again, this is not to take away from the exhortation of the Holy Spirit to turn away from all sin, but if no one can get to Heaven unless they have been perfected then we are all lost, whether we think so or not.

I believe it is sin that makes us unhappy. When at last we have repented of all our sin, nothing will be left to bother us.

 

[amadeus]

Yes, we do make things a lot easier on ourselves when we make a sincere effort to resist temptation, don't we?

Amen! If we do all that we can do sincerely, will not God take up the slack?

 

[ScottA]

Yes, and the word itself - metanoia - means to have a new mind. We repudiate our old way of thinking, that we are OK, what we do is OK, and receive from God a new way of thinking, that God's way is right, and best, and we can do that, we want to do that.

Much love!

@Bob Estey

Interestingly...Israel was told (in Hebrew) to "be sorry." But when Jesus came along and said the word repent (translated in Greek), it means "change."

I guess it was time. ;)

 

[shortangel]

repentance means to change your heart to ask God for forgiveness & to move in the right direction

 

[amigo de christo]

"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt 4:17

"And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matt 4:19

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt 11:28-30

We are never too old to learn or be reminded as i am sure you will agree .
Notice JESUS says and LEARN OF ME . LEARN OF ME . DID JESUS APPROVE OF SIN . NOPE .
TRUTH is HE warned several to go and sin no more lest something even worse comes upon you .
SO i say and say often and so i say again , LET US LEARN the JESUS OF SAID BIBLE and ensure we FOLLOW that JESUS .
Now lift those hands up and praise the glorious LORD .

 

[amigo de christo]

repentance means to change your heart to ask God for forgiveness & to move in the right direction

THE LORD indeed changes the hearts o the lambs . Yes indeed .

 

[amigo de christo]

@Bob Estey

Interestingly...Israel was told (in Hebrew) to "be sorry." But when Jesus came along and said the word repent (translated in Greek), it means "change."

I guess it was time. ;)

Well its both . As paul would also write to the church . THAT YE SORROWED TO REPENTANCE .
After a godly sort . SORROW worketh repentance unto salvation

 

[amigo de christo]

Yes, and the word itself - metanoia - means to have a new mind. We repudiate our old way of thinking, that we are OK, what we do is OK, and receive from God a new way of thinking, that God's way is right, and best, and we can do that, we want to do that.

Much love!

Wait till you hear this truth my friend . DId you know that over sixteen years ago i was drawn to Christ .
DID you know that it was actually GOD that put in my heart repentance and to hate sin and to love what is good .
WHEN i say ye are saved by grace , I MEAN IT . I woke up that morning the same old man
that loved sin and etc . BUT by the afternoon GOD had began a stirring in my heart that FLIPPED ME from one direction
into a total new direction . IT WAS GOD THAT DID THAT MY FRIEND . I DID NOT change me . HE DID .
I DID NOT PUT it into my heart to SEEK after GOD , HE DID . HE DID . NOW LIFT THOSE HANDS AND PRAISE THE LORD .
PS , HE ALSO is the one that puts it in my heart daily to warn FOLKS in error and to expose evil and false doctrines .
YEAH GOD WORKS THROUGH THE LAMBS . YEAH . GOD IS GLORIOUS and full of mercy , specially to a pig like me .
THE TRUTH is i have come to the all out conclusion , AND THAT BY GRACE , that the ONLY GOODNESS , RIGHTEOUS IN ME
IS THE SPIRIT . IT IS . NOW LIFT THOSE HANDS UP AND LET THE LORD BE PRAISED . BUT ALSO REMEMBER
to let a man warn out against the false hoods in these churches , cause the same SPIRIT that changed me
STILL WORKS IN ME TO WARN THE PEOPLES .

 

[amigo de christo]

NOW FLEE ROME and have no unity with her all inclusive dung pile false love religion of unity .

 

[Lambano]

repentance means to change your heart to ask God for forgiveness & to move in the right direction

Truth. It's the change of heart that's implied by both the Hebrew word and the Greek word. We focus so much on stopping the outward behavior, but the outward behavior is only a symptom of what needs to change inside.

 

[Lambano]

But, of course, "repentance" is always what the other guy needs to do.

 

[Taken]

Jesus told us to repent (Matthew 4:17). Was he telling us to stop sinning, or was he just telling us to feel bad about it?

Both.

However, I believe most people DO NOT “understand” what SIN is.

Whereas I believe SIN is the ‘one word’ result, applicable to “one manKIND of being”, that DOES NOT have a “committed relationship WITH God”. Period.

ManKind likes to make “SIN” about relationships between ManKind.
...It ISN’T!

~ IOW...SIN...not a newsflash, A Negative word, A Negative implication.

ManKind is a sneaky, cunning, tricky sort of thing...”IN THAT”, any other manKIND of thing, that disagrees with a man, the man being disagreed with has a pocket full of “negative accusations to hurl”...
...to simply deflect from WHY there IS a disagreement.
(EX: Hater, Bigot, Racist, Homophobe, Sinner ... have nothing to do with FACTS ... and everything to do with deflection.)

Was he telling us to stop sinning, or was he just telling us to feel bad about it?

Inanutshell...
Stop putting off, Hear, Learning, Getting to KNOW God.
Stop rejecting Having a Forever Committed Relationship WITH God.


Glory to God,
Taken

 

[amigo de christo]

 

[amigo de christo]

SING to the GLORIOUS LORD , SAVOIR and REDEEMER . Praise be to the glorious Lord . Let all praise Him let all thank Him .