Repentance is without doubt the hardest step one takes in reaching heaven. It is a change of one's mind or will in regard to sin. It involves bringing the mind under subjection to God's will. In order to go to heaven, one must humble himself as did Samuel and say,"Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth" (I Sam. 3:9-10).
In Matthew 21:28-29, we have the story of the husbandman who said to his sons, "Go work today in my vineyard." One of them said, "I will not: but afterward he repented, and went."
In the book of Jonah, we read where Jonah, in preaching to the people of Nineveh, called on them to "turn every one from his evil way...and God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way" (Jonah 3:9-10).
If a Christian has the attitude of: "Speak, Lord, they servant heareth," he will turn from every sinful way.
According to the New Testament, only three classes of people have a God given right to be married: (1) Those who have never been married (I Cor. 7:2). (2) Those whose mate has died (Rom. 7:1-6. (3) Those who had a scriptural mate but has put that mate away because of that mate's fornication (Matt. 19:9). I am aware of no others.
Some think that if a marriage is legal, then it must be scriptural. But, Matt. 19:9 plainly shows this to be false. If a man puts away his wife and marries another, the Lord calls the new marriage adultery. If a man puts away his wife because of her fornication, his new marriage (if to a scriptural candidate) would not be adultery If a man puts his wife away for fornication and then someone marries her, the second marriage is called adultery. Legal definitions might not be the same as scriptural definitions. Society may pronounce a couple married. The Bible may call such a marriage "adultery."
The term "committeth adultery" in Matt. 19:9, is in the Greek language a present tense, and means to keep on committing adultery. As long as a couple live together unscripturally, they live in an adulterous marriage. Paul said fornication (all illicit sex) is one of the things those at Colosse at one time had "lived in" (Col. 3:5-7). But they had ceased that sinful life. They had repented.
What did repentance and baptism mean to the Corinthians who had been practicing adultery, homosexuality, thievery, etc. (I Cor. 6:9-10)? It meant they stopped living in an adulterous situation! It meant they stopped living in a homosexual relationship! It meant they stopped stealing! Repentance, by definition, would demand such! And those who continue to live in such relationships have not really repented!
Repentance was never designed to change a sinful practice into an acceptable one.
John the Baptist was not asking Herod to simply acknowledge his sin, say I am sorry, ask for forgiveness, and then go on living with Herodias! Herod had married her (Mark 6:17). What did repentance demand? That they break up their marriage! Why? "It is not lawful for thee to have her" (Matt. 14:4). "Repent" or "perish" (Luke 13:3).
"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God..." (I Pet. 4:11).
Don H. Noblin
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