Repentance and Forgiveness a Gift from God

Repentance, a Gift from God

We must thank God for His grace and goodness leading us to repentance (Rom 2:4). Saving repentance must come from God alone, neither by miracles nor by punishment. God’s Word confirms, “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31), and “When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18), and “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Tim 2:25). Seeing this truth, we shall give God all the glory and praise when a sinner repents as “joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:7). We should not take God’s grace for granted, but repent right away when the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins. It was too late for Esau, who despised God’s blessings, “For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears” (Heb 12:17).

Forgiveness, a Gift from God

Next, God does not only give repentance but also forgiveness of sins. The term forgiveness, in Greek aphesis, has 17 occurrences, the KJV translates as “remission” nine times, “forgiveness” six times, “deliverance” once, and “liberty” once. Of 17 times, it is used together with the term sins 12 times, “forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31; 13:38, et al) or “remission of sins” (Matt 26:28; Luke 24:47, et al). Our Lord Jesus says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance (aphesis) to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty (aphesis)  them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18). Then, we must thank God that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has authority to forgive us our sins as well as to deliver us from the power of sin, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin… If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 6:34, 36), and “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 7:24-25).