REMORSE VS REPENTANCE

Today’s essay is a response to Thomas’ recent comment. It is true that for every original, there is a duplicate. Repentance is no exception. Much of what is passed around as repentance is a far cry from it and might better be described as remorse. Paul alludes to it,

‘Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.’ (2Corinthians 7:10)

Firstly, the emotion and response of repentance has an object, and that object is primarily God. In today’s world, man has become an expert in perfecting emotions without having an object. Thanksgiving is a perfect example, where we are exhorted to be thankful—-to nobody in particular. It is really quite silly to be thankful in a vacuum, but that doesn’t bother man as much as being burdened to believe in a God to whom man ultimately needs to be thankful to. Likewise, at the heart of repentance is the understanding that man has fallen away from the requirements of his creator God and repentance makes no sense until it is directed to Him.

At times, man feels sorry for the people who he has wronged or feels sorry for himself for having made a mess of his life or certain situations in his life. The former is sympathy and the latter self-pity. Neither is repentance. Judas felt both after he had betrayed Jesus. Yet, even at that moment, he failed to have repentance. He could not bring himself to respond to God and find forgiveness and so ends up killing himself.

True repentance is combination of an overwhelming emotion of having failed God, a deep spiritual realization of the purity of God (contrasting with one’s own sinfulness) and the genuine decision to live a new life in obedience to God. Such a response can only be perfected by God, but in a willing individual. Jesus says,

“When he (Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).

When a ‘repentant’ person is unable to see God’s work in his repentance, it is again no repentance at all. True repentance touches a person at the deepest level- in the spiritual realm, enables him to perceive God and also see perfectly the sacrifice that Jesus was for his sins. It all fits together and makes sense in a way that is beyond the realm of human comprehension.

Repentance in the true sense is also followed by deeds that are in keeping with a new way of life. Paul continues in 2 Corinthians 7:11;

‘Consider what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what vindication!’

When repentance is substituted by remorse, death follows because man thinks he is becoming good when in fact, he is still far removed from God. Repentance is man’s primary need; remorse is a good and deadly substitute.

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