All of Life is Repentance

Martin Luther opened the Reformation by nailing “The Ninety-Five Theses” to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral.  The very first of the theses was: “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ…willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”  On the surface this looks a little bleak!  Luther seems to be saying that Christians will never be making much progress.  But of course that wasn’t Luther’s point at all.  He was saying that repentance is the way we make progress in the Christian life.  Indeed, pervasive all-of-life repentance, is the best sign that we are growing deeply and rapidly into the character of Jesus.

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It is important to consider how the gospel affects and transforms the act of repentance.  In ‘religion’ the act of repentance is basically to keep God happy so that he will continue to bless you and answer your prayers.  This means that ‘religious repentance’ is a) selfish, b) self-righteous, c) and bitter all the way to the bottom.  But in the gospel the purpose of repentance is to repeatedly tap into the joy of union with Christ in order to weaken our need to do anything contrary to God’s heart.