Repentance (a term related to Greek: μετάνοια, romanized: metanoia), in Christianity, refers to being sorrowful for having committed sin and then turning away from sin toward a life of holiness.[1]
In certain Christian traditions, such as Catholic theology, Lutheran theology, Orthodox theology and Anglican theology, repentance plays a key role in confession and absolution.[2][3] It can specifically refer to a stage in Christian salvation in which an individual gains awareness of God's standard, acknowledges their past or present wrongdoings, and deliberately turns away from sin toward God; its numeration as a stage in the ordo salutis varies with the Christian denomination, with some theological traditions arguing it occurs prior to faith and the Reformed theological tradition arguing it occurs after faith.[4]
- ^ Miller, Herbert Sumner (1922). The Christian Workers' Manual. George H. Doran Company. p. 106.
- ^ Lang, P. H. D. (1992). Private Confession and Absolution in the Lutheran Church: A Doctrinal, Historical, and Critical Study. Vol. 56.
But the absolution is God's work. And in the absolution the essence of the Christian religion is present. namely, the dispensing of grace to man. It is a form of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Indeed, it was "ordained by Christ Himself in the Gospel" (Smalcald Articles, VIII, 1) and is practiced after the example of Christ Himself. Therefore we say in Article XI (60) of the Apology: "Certainly most men in our churches use the sacraments, absolution and the Lord's Supper, frequently . . ." In Article XI11 (4) we say: "Therefore baptism, the Lord's Supper, and absolution, which is the sacrament of repentance, are truly sacraments."
- ^ Demarest, The Cross and Salvation, 37.
- ^ Bruce Demarest, The Cross and Salvation: The Doctrine of Salvation (Wheaton: Crossway, 1997): 38-39.