Sunday, May 07, 2006

Repentance, Not Remorse

Our relationship with God, our Father, is by Jesus Christ alone. This fact frees us from any reliance upon our own efforts to please God; relying only upon His efforts in Christ. In addition, the solitary, yet inclusive, passage to God by Christ grants us freedom from each of our deeds; those which are openly inconsistent with the Divine Life as well as those good ones by which we believe to somehow earn entrance into His favor.

It is clear then, that neither good nor evil deeds can serve to include, or exclude us from contacting God, because all passage and release to Him has forever been secured by Christ. What then of repentance?!, may be the first question for some. After all, we must confess and turn from our sin and return to God. Right? Shockingly, . . .wrong. But that is a short answer that begs to be explained.

To most people of the Christian religion, repentance has been presented as a clouded mixture of remorse, guilt, self-condemnation, fear of consequence, renunciation of sinful habits, and the pledge before God's all-seeing, sin-searching eyes, to never do that again. This is, in general, what we believe repentance to be, because that is what we have been taught; never looking into the matter for ourselves. Here, I must pause to make a side-note concerning confirmation of teaching.

When I speak of looking into a thing, I do not propose cynicism, nor would ever instruct or suggest for any other person to be so minded. Instead, what is meant is for one to look for the witnesses of the Spirit and, as much as can be, of scripture, concerning doctrines as they are presented. We do not ever purpose to discredit any person or teaching, rather the intent is that of finding a witness for all teaching for agreement's sake. This is a good and noble practice that will edify and further cooperate with the work of God's word in our inner-man.

Having said this, looking into a matter may reveal a particular teaching as false or flawed, in which case it must be rejected and clarification sought for within the context of love, which in itself will hold deception in check.

This is the duty of all who are called disciples and especially of those called elders. These are they who are spiritually matured, though not necessarily the most knowledgeable or well-versed saints. For there are many knowledgeable sorts in the church, knowing many facts and items, whose hunger for such is insatiable. These knowledgeable ones, if they are not spiritual first, will be easily and eminently swayed toward assimilating knowledge, as did Eve, in an effort to become God-like rather than to simply be the expression of God in the earth. It is in this mind, that we must look into repentance.

In light of the first apostolic message in Acts Chapter 2, we find the precedent established for new covenant repentance. For when Peter's words, by the empowerment of the Holy Ghost, had convicted those hearing them of the identity of Jesus Christ, they were instructed first to repent.

Noting the context and nature of the participants in this exchange, it is clear that repentance was demonstrated as being action-provoking thought set right. This is not intended to be a dogmatic definition, but one to help in understanding that while they may have felt remorse for their treatment of Christ, remorse is not a component of repentance. Their change of thought, their repentance, was brought about by a revelation of Christ's identity, not by evoking in them a sense of blood-guilt.

In reading Peter's discourse, we see it to be a revealing of Christ and not of sin, godlessness, guilt or evil. Change can only come by revealing Christ in inspired declaration. Preaching hell, sin, and condemnation may evoke a response to those things, but not to Christ, for we will have only given him, at best, a secondary position in relation to other things. Let us ever seprate him from anything secondary.

He is preeminent and most high, whose Father will not tolerate the tabernacles of good and evil to share the mountain top with His Son who is the one, solitary, and true tent of meeting.

We will not meet God in the tent of good works, nor in that of guilt over evil deeds. God can only be encountered in the person of Christ. In him man is met not by God the Father, but by our Father, who happens to be God. Our Father does not desire to be our Venerated Ruler, but, rather, our relative. To this, how can one scarcely do other than to turn to God, not of fear, but for a Father?