Summary Comments on Repentance

Martin Luther, in the very first of his Ninety-Five Theses, wrote, "Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance." The Confession does a pretty fair job of fleshing that statement out. Repentance is a somewhat neglected subject in American evangelicalism, at least in my experience (personal and otherwise). We seem to be more comfortable in and with our sins than we really ought. There is such a thing as excessive introspection--Luther himself was guilty of it, to the exasperation of his superiors during his monastic years. Yet it was the intense realization of his utter sinfulness before God that eventually drove him to the foot of the cross and the brilliant realization that the gospel really is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16-17). Blessed is the man to whom God has given true repentance. Doubly blessed is the man who realizes the fruit of repentance.

Tomorrow: The start of good works.