Repentance the Whole Life Long

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. PSALM 51:10

Luther’s first thesis, nailed to the church door in 1517, said that when our Lord Jesus Christ called us to repent, He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. Calvin agreed completely, and in Institutes 3.3 he set out what that means. Repentance is not a single moment at the start of the Christian life, nor a sacrament to be performed when conscience troubles us. It is the shape of the whole life of a believer, from conversion to the grave.

Repentance flows from faith

Calvin makes a point here that surprised some of his readers. Repentance, he says, does not come before faith, as if we had to reform ourselves before we could believe. It is born of faith (Institutes 3.3.1). Of course the preaching of repentance and the preaching of faith go together, and a sinner is often first awakened by fear of judgement. But true repentance — a heart turned to God in love — is possible only for the one who already knows that God is merciful. No one can seriously turn to God unless he knows God to be gracious.

But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. PSALM 130:4

This protects repentance from becoming a work by which we try to earn forgiveness. We do not repent in order to make God kind. We repent because He is kind.

Dying and rising

Calvin defines repentance as the true turning of our life to God, a turning that arises from a sincere and earnest fear of Him, and that consists in the mortifying of our flesh and the old man, and the quickening of the Spirit (Institutes 3.3.5). Mortification and vivification — a dying and a coming alive. Both come from our participation in Christ. Because we are united to Him in His death, the old self is put to death; because we are united to Him in His resurrection, we are raised to newness of life.

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. ROMANS 6:6

Calvin’s word for the goal of this is regeneration, the restoring of the image of God in us that was defaced by sin. It does not happen in a moment, or a day, or a year. God wipes out the corruption of the flesh little by little, and cleanses His children throughout their whole lives.

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 CORINTHIANS 3:18

Sin remains, but does not reign

This leads to one of Calvin’s most realistic teachings. Believers are not made perfect in this life. Sin remains in them, and it is still truly sin, not merely weakness. There will always be a battle. But sin no longer reigns. It dwells in the believer, but it no longer has dominion (Institutes 3.3.10–11).

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. GALATIANS 5:17

This saves the Christian from two dangers. It saves him from despair when he finds sin still in himself, because he knows this is the normal condition of a believer on earth. And it saves him from complacency, because he knows that every remaining sin must be fought.

The fruits of repentance

What does repentance look like in practice? Calvin answers that its fruits are the duties of love and holiness towards God and our neighbour, and a sincere purity of life. He was suspicious of outward shows — fasting, weeping, penances — when they were taken as the substance of repentance rather than its signs. The inward turning of the heart is what God looks for.

And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. JOEL 2:13

Much of Institutes 3.4 and 3.5 is taken up with a long argument against the medieval system of penance: private confession to a priest as necessary for forgiveness, satisfactions to be paid for sins, indulgences and purgatory. Calvin’s objection was that all of these, in their different ways, made forgiveness depend on something other than the finished work of Christ. His polemic is heated, and a modern reader need not share its tone. But his central concern is pastoral: a troubled sinner must be sent straight to Christ, not to a list of tasks.

He did not despise confession. He thought it good to confess our sins to God first, and also, when it helps, to a pastor or a fellow believer, for counsel and comfort, and to confess openly when we have wronged someone or given public offence. What he opposed was making it a law and a condition of pardon.

The law as a guide

Here the third use of the law, mentioned earlier in this book, comes into its own. For the believer, Calvin says, the law is no longer a curse. It is the best instrument for learning daily what the will of the Lord is. And it is a spur to a sluggish heart, as a whip to an idle and balky ass, as he rather unflatteringly puts it (Institutes 2.7.12). The believer delights in the law because it shows him how to please the God who has saved him.

O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. PSALM 119:97

Calvin preached the same thing in his sermon on All Scripture. The Scripture, he says, is profitable for correction as well as doctrine. It is not enough for us to be shown what is good; we are so cold that we hardly notice it, and God must stir us up. We must be willing to be reproved, and not look for a teacher who will only flatter us.

A gentle word

Calvin’s teaching on repentance is bracing, and it can be heard as endless self-examination. It is worth remembering that he intended it as good news. The same Spirit who shows us our sin is the Spirit of adoption. The dying is always for the sake of the rising. A Christian who repents daily is not a Christian in constant fear, but one who returns daily to a Father who is always glad to receive him.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 JOHN 1:9

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Consider whether you think of repentance as a single event in your past or as the daily shape of your life.

2. Name one sin that remains in you. Refuse either to excuse it or to despair over it, and bring it to Christ today.

3. Look for one fruit of repentance you could practise this week — an apology, a restoration, an act of generosity.

4. Read Psalm 119:97–104 and ask God to give you delight in His law as a guide, not a burden.

5. If you have been examining yourself anxiously, turn your eyes from your progress to the mercy of God that makes repentance possible.

A PRAYER

Merciful Father, You are gracious and slow to anger, and it is Your kindness that turns me back to You.

Put to death in me the old self that still clings, and raise me daily to newness of life in Christ.

Let sin never reign in me again, and give me courage to fight what remains.

Teach me to love Your law, to welcome correction, and to return to You every day with a glad and humble heart. Amen.