The fruit of true repentance.
The fruit of true repentance.
§ 140. What is the true and salutary fruit of repentance? There are certainly many, since the following come to us through true repentance. (1) The forgiveness of sins. “I said, I will confess my transgressions against myself, and You forgave me the iniquity of my sin” (Ps. 32:5). “Write in the book all the words I have spoken to you. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil I intend to do to them, so that everyone may turn from his evil way and that I may be gracious to their iniquity and their sin” (Jer. 36:2–3). “You have filled Your sons with good hope, that You give repentance for sins” (Wisdom 12:19). Luther [translates this as]: “that You want to accept repentance for sins.” Others translate it: “in sins You give a place of repentance.” “John preached a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4). “Thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name” (Luke 24:[46–]47). “Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). “God exalted Christ to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).
(2) God’s grace. “The Lord has sent Me to bind up the contrite of heart, to preach freedom to the captives and the opening of prison to the bound, to preach the year of the good-pleasure of Jehovah” (Isa. 61:1[–2]; Luke 4:18[–19]). “There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents more than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). This is stated in the same place [Luke 15] very beautifully in the parable of the prodigal son, whom his father received with joy.
(3) Righteousness before God. The publican in Luke 18:13 lamented in true and earnest repentance: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Immediately, then, is added: “He went down to his house justified” [v. 14].
(4) The giving and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. “Thus said the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, etc. I dwell with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isa. 57:15). “Repent and be baptized, every one of you for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
(5) The hearing of prayers. “If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence toward God, and we shall receive from Him whatever we ask” (1 John 3:21[–22]).
(6) Salvation and eternal life. “Then to the Gentiles also God has given repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18).
(7) Freedom from temporal punishments, or at least the easing of them. “I will suddenly speak against a kingdom, to root out and break down and destroy it. But if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil I intended to do to it” (Jer. 18:7–8). “Because they were humbled, the Lord’s wrath was turned away from them, and they were not wiped out completely” (2 Chron. 12:12). “God saw their” (the Ninevites’) “works, that they had turned from their evil way, and He repented of the evil that He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it” (Jon. 3:10). “Amen I say to you: unless you repent, you will all perish together” (Luke 13:3, 5). Therefore, from the contrary sense, impending evils can be averted through true repentance.
We have spoken above about the new obedience, which is also a fruit and consequence of repentance [§ 55]. But here the following must be noted. (a) These things are to be attributed to repentance not by reason of contrition, as if that is a merit and cause for the forgiveness of sins, but by reason of faith, which is an essential part of repentance and which apprehends Christ and in Christ freely receives the grace of God, the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life. That which is the property of a part—and, in fact, of a primary part—is assigned, in the usual expression of Scripture, to the whole, especially since true, saving faith is connected with true contrition and a zeal for new obedience with an unbreakable and inseparable connection.
(b) Through true repentance the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God is always obtained. Meanwhile, in God’s good and wise counsel, the truly devout are sometimes subject in this life to the cross and to calamities both common and unique. In fact, sometimes they are forced to labor under the weight of the cross to the very last breath of life. The causes for this are very just and fair, are consistent with God, and are extremely useful to us, as shall be taught in its own place [cf. On Death (Commonplace XXIX), §§ 199–200, 283]. Here the statement of Augustine (De civit. Dei, 2, ch. 23) pertains: “The judgments of God cannot be fully comprehended, cannot be justly reproached.”