What Is Repentance?

Dictionary.com defines repentance as  “deep sorrow, compunction, or contrition for a past sin, wrongdoing, or the like. 2. regret for any past action.”  

Biblical repentance is to acknowledge and turn away from a life of sin to walk in surrenderance to God. One of the best examples and explanations of repentance in the Bible is Galatians 2:20.

‘I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. ‘ GALATIANS 2:20 NASB

I’ve pasted the scripture and added some notes in parentheses to break down the scripture.

Galatians 2:20 reads “’I have been crucified with Christ; (Put to death) and it is no longer I who live (Repentance turning from a life of sin), but Christ lives in me (surrendering to and pursuing God); and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God (walking in surrenderance / repentance), who loved me and gave Himself up for me (acknowledging that Christ died to save us from sin)”

The beginning of the verse talks about being crucified. The word crucify means to “put to death” this scripture, mirrors repentance “turning from”.  Galatians 2:20  sums up how we are called to live as Christians and it shows us the blueprint of repentance. True repentance is a lifestyle and something we must walk in daily. It requires us to turn from sin and turn to God.

Share some practical ways you remain intentional about walking out your repentance daily and not turning back to a life of sin in the comments below!