3 Levels of Repentance & Faith

In Christianity, repentance and faith are, for the most part, tied together. As I read Scripture and meditate on the meaning of these two simple words, I see that there may in fact be three levels of repentance and three levels or regions of faith. The disciples cried, “Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). In Romans, Paul says that faith is a gift that God gives in varied amounts (12:3). Peter expands this thought in his second letter when he says that other ingredients can be added to faith to produce a beautiful recipe that, when you increase the amounts, can make you more effective and productive in your relationship with Jesus (2 Peter 1:5-8). Often in Russia, I hear people say, “I repent; I repent everyday.” I’ve heard smokers, for example, say, “I have no problem quitting cigarettes; I quit everyday.” The Greek word for repent is metanoia, which means “a change of mind.” So, is it possible to change your mind everyday? And if so, is this what brings eternal salvation? Is repentance just a one-time event in each person’s life, or is it a lifestyle that is characterized by a constant change, a constant turning away and turning toward? As already mentioned, the Bible places a deep connection between “repent” and “believe.” So, what do we make of this connection, and on what level is true salvation found? On what level as Christians do we find our growth and maturity?

First, there is repentance. Theologians have argued whether a man has the natural ability to repent in and of himself. Some say only God can grant repentance (Acts 5:31; 11:18). If this is true, repentance is a wonderful gift! 1) But the Bible also speaks of a type of repentance that anyone can perform. In the original language, it is called metamellomai. This is what Judas did after he betrayed Jesus (Matt. 27:3). Interestingly, the King James Version called this repentance, while newer translations more fully explain this as remorse or regret. He had a change of heart, or a change in what he cared about. It was an emotional response to his own actions. Often in our lives, there is an emotional response to some stimulus that causes us to feel like we want things changed. Maybe it is at a highly-charged evangelistic meeting that we feel a need to respond. Maybe there is a deeply traumatic event in our lives that cause us to feel like we want it all changed, and this feeling initiates our move toward hearing God’s call to truly repent and believe. But in and of itself, this remorse, no matter how deep, is not what the Bible connects with saving faith.

2) The event that we mark as “the change” is called metanoia, or a change of mind. It is what, when combined with faith in the message about Jesus’ death on our behalf, initiates God’s hand in our lives to save us (Mark 1:15). Some people wonder when that moment occurs–how young a believer can be. Some have made professions of faith when they were small children. Others publicly state their trust in Christ as adults or even on their deathbed. What we know is that the Bible talks about a specific moment in a person’s life when he changed his mind about life and placed his trust in God’s plan for his life. This is repentance. But how much has to be understood to repent? Can it occur more than once in life? And if so, at what point do we call the moment of salvation? Unfortunately, these questions tend to slice and dice at what the Bible never intended. The Bible simply says, “change your mind and start believing” (Mark 1:15).

3) There is another level of repentance for Christians (Rev. 2:5; 2:16; 2:22; 3:3; 3:19). The original word employed here is also metanoia, or a change of mind, but the recipe changes slightly. It already assumes salvation, since this is for the church. This would be a lifestyle of ongoing repentance. It is at this point that it would be ok to say “I repent everyday.” This is a repentance that produces a life of fruitfulness (Luke 3:8) and is proven by good works (Acts 26:20). If Jesus told his disciples that they needed to deny themselves and be crucified daily (Luke 9:23) and if the Apostle Paul could say, “I die everyday” (I Cor. 15:31), then we ought to be able to make this same kind of daily change of mind. It is here where repentance is combined with good works that God already prepared for us to do daily. It is not laying anew a foundation of repentance from dead works, but a lifestyle built on daily sacrifice, daily repentance of ourselves, a daily emptying of our selves (kenosis), and turning toward God.

Secondly, there is faith.

Faith is an interesting concept. Some people use the term to describe religion- people of different faiths. But the Bible uses the term not about religion but about belief. It is used about 550 times in the New Testament as some form of pistis, the original Greek word. Just how much faith is needed to get saved?

1) I’ve met some people who believe “about” God. They believe that God exists. Some even believe that He created the world. This is a type of faith– to believe in the existence of something. James 2:19 commends folks for having this kind of faith, but it says that it’s not enough for salvation. I can pick up the phone book and look up a name of someone I don’t know. I can have faith that such a person exists, but unless I give them a phone call, I really can only say that I believe the fact that there is someone by that name. Actually it doesn’t establish the contact I need with that person just knowing his phone number. Just to believe God exists is good, but not enough. I’d call this “knowing” faith.

2) Then there is a faith that means to believe “in” – to put your hope on; belief in a future event- a trust that it might happen. Perhaps the most quoted verse in the Bible is John 3:16. It says that God gave His only Son to those who would believe “in” Him so that they could have eternal life. This is not the same as belief about. Our English language fails us here- some might say, I believe in Santa Claus or I believe in the tooth fairy, or I believe in UFOs; but this doesn’t mean putting your trust in those things for your salvation. It is at this point, this tiny spark of faith, this tiny mustard-seed size of faith that opens the door to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord. The problem with many believers is that they’ve made that initial step toward Christ and have trusted His death as the payment for their sins, but they’ve never gone beyond to allow that faith to grow. Let’s call this “saving” faith.

3) So then there is belief “on” – to have a relationship with someone that matures. I placed my faith in my wife on the day we were married, but I also daily put my trust in her that our relationship will continue to grow. Paul told the Colossians to “continue in their faith” (1:23) and to be “rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith” (2:7). It was the Lord’s apostles who cried out, “Lord, increase our faith.” (Luke 17:5). This kind of growing faith, when tested and tried, produces maturity (James 1:3). It is this kind of maturing faith that produces good works (James 2:20). Jesus desires a “growing” faith, not one that is dying.

So, let’s review. If there are 3 levels of repentance, how have you repented? Are you simply sorry that things are turning out the way they are? Or are you willing to turn to Jesus for the deeper cure? If you’ve turned to him, are you still living today with a changed mind about your life or do you need to repent some more?

If there are 3 levels of faith, how do you believe? Do you just believe that God exists? Or are you putting your hope in Jesus to save you in the end? And if you’ve started believing, is your faith growing by being tested?

In the end, these 2 words speak a lot to our condition before God. Depending on our level of repentance and our level of faith, we are what we are before Him.

Buck Burch - July 24, 2009