Page 38 - Biblical Counseling I Textbook

• Love motivates believers (John 14:15; 1 Cor. 13:4-7; 2 Cor. 5:14).

Remember the expulsive power of a new affection.

Understanding repentance
What is repentance?
μετανοέω (metanoeo)
“Meta” = Change (e.g. metamorphosis)
“noeo” = mind or thinking (heart)

What we think is intimately connected to what we believe, perhaps even inseparably linked. Since we live in a
fundamentally broken world, we are immersed from birth in a sea of lies. We are soaked in these lies, and they
penetrate our souls and permeate our hearts. Our lives become conformed to these lies and are shaped by them
(cf. Romans 12:2).

When we are exposed to the truth, we are faced with the choice of holding on to the old lies that have
befriended us or discarding them in favor of the truth. When we “change our minds” from the lie to the truth,
we are repenting. This repentance or change of mind produces a corresponding change of life direction. This is
why repentance is so closely associated with a turning from sin to godliness. The change of mind that we call
repentance is so vitally connected to the change in behavior that we can consider them as one thing. But we
must remember that, because repentance is fundamentally a change of mind, calling a person to repentance will
necessarily include telling them the truth.

Who needs to repent?
• Unbelievers must repent concerning their sin and unbelief in Christ (Mark 1:4-5; Acts 2:38).
The unbeliever must fundamentally change his mind concerning who God is, who he is in
comparison, who Christ is and what Christ did on his behalf, and what he then must do in response.

• Believers must repent concerning their continuing unbelief and sin (Mark 1:4-5; 2 Cor. 7:9; Rev. 2:5).
Believer are not given an entirely new mind when converted. Romans 12:2 makes clear that
conformity to the world is a reality and that each believer needs a transformation that comes
through the renewal of the mind. Since this is so, every believer will be continually challenged with
truths that confront the lies that have so thoroughly penetrated their minds. This process of
transformation through renewal is a process of ongoing repentance, that is, ongoing change of
mind.

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