Turn, Turn, Turn

One of God’s great requirements for us is repentance.

In the Old Testament, prophets such as Jonah called persons and nations to repent. Jonah himself needed to repent. The nuance of the Hebrew word is to turn, return, turn back.

In the New Testament, John the Baptist came preaching repentance, and the apostles said “repent and believe.” The nuance of the Greek word is to change the mind.

Five of the seven churches addressed in Revelation 2-3 heard the message of repent. The Laodiceans in particular needed to repent with zeal.

Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. (Revelation 3:19)

And yet it is hard to change our minds. We like to think we have good reasons for what we think. In our minds, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing if it didn’t seem like the right thing. So turning away from what we thought was good is difficult.

But repenting is our responsibility, and it is also God’s gift that leads to life (Acts 11:18). Often, we need to start the turn before we see the good on the other side. Even being granted repentance so that we can come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 2:25).

There’s a way in which the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2) is a series of micro-changes, tiny turns. To every sin, turn, turn, turn. Martin Luther said that the whole of the Christian life is one of repentance. We don’t get too old for it, we don’t get past it.