All of Life is Repentance

Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when he said repent[1] willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.

 This statement of the reformer Martin Luther was the foundation from which the rest of his Theses flowed, where he dealt harshly with men who believed that salvation and sanctification and holiness could be bought, given by men, and that sin could be forgiven by men. In the book of Psalms, David calls out men who think them to be more than themselves: "Put them in fear, O Lord! Let the nations know that they are but men!" (Psalms 9:20)

We must remember this very important fact as human beings. We are small and God is big. What Luther said here in this statement was not something that was different than had been posited in the past, then what men, Apostles, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, or even all of the above today posited, but it was done in such a way and at such a time, against the practice of indulgences...that it shook the world.

In fact this idea of repentance is a key theme in the ministry of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist, of whom Jesus spoke saying, "Of all the men born of women there is none greater than John the Baptist."[2] And the gap between John the Baptist and Jesus is so great that John the Baptist says that "He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." [3] If only Jesus could only forgive sins, and John the Baptist, who was the greatest that men could achieve agrees with him, who are we to claim to forgive even the smallest sin? Then Jesus, having been baptized by John went ahead and continued to preach repentance! Repeating the words of John, "Repent! For the kingdom of God is near."

It has been the theme of many Theologians and Authors and Saints and Fathers of all traditions both before, and after Luther:

"Repentance is a contract with God for a second life. A penitent is a buyer of humility. Repentance is constant distrust of bodily comfort. Repentance is self-condemning reflection, and carefree self-care. Repentance is the daughter of hope and the renunciation of despair. A penitent is an undisgraced convict. Repentance is reconciliation with the Lord by the practice of good deeds contrary to the sins. Repentance is purification of conscience. Repentance is the voluntary endurance of all afflictions. A penitent is the inflicter of his own punishments. Repentance is a mighty persecution of the stomach, and a striking of the soul into vigorous awareness." -St. John Climacus (Ladder of Divine Ascent)

"The main thing in repentance is the anguish of the heart over being deficient in the Lord's eyes and a firm resolution to try to be diligent in everything in the future." -St. Theophan the Recluse (A Spiritual Life)

It is impossible for a man to be freed from the habit of sin before he hates it, just as it is impossible to receive forgiveness before confessing his trespasses... -St. Ignatius

I would far rather feel remorse than know how to define it. -Thomas á Kempis

There is more joy in heaven over a converted sinner than over a righteous person standing firm. A leader in battle has more love for a soldier who returns after fleeing, and who valiantly pursues the enemy, than for one who never turned back, but who never acted valiantly either. A farmer has greater love for land which bears fruitfully, after he has cleared it of thorns, than for land which never had thorns but which never yielded a fruitful harvest. -St. Gregory the Great. 

Sin and the child of God are incompatible. They may occasionally meet; they cannot live together in harmony - John R. W. Stott 

 It is perilously easy to have amazing sympathy with God's truth and remain in sin.- Oswald Chambers

Evangelical repentance is repentance of sin as sin: not of this sin nor of that, but of the whole mass. We repent of the sin of our nature as well as the sin of our practice. We bemoan sin within us and without us. We repent of sin itself as being an insult to God. Anything short of this is a mere surface repentance, and not a repentance which reaches to the bottom of the mischief. Repentance of the evil act, and not of the evil heart, is like men pumping water out of a leaky vessel, but forgetting to stop the leak. Some would dam up the stream, but leave the fountain still flowing; they would remove the eruption from the skin, but leave the disease in the flesh. -Charles Haddon Spurgeon

This mighty theme has been echoed and echoed throughout Christendom since John the Baptist first uttered those words coming out of the wilderness. The difference Luther made, is he made it the primary and main focus of a Christian's life. The only action is repentance: the only action worth anything. We are told that even our "righteousness is like filthy rags..." [4] To humble ourselves honestly before God and strive to have him fix us. To have the divine Master restore the work of His hands...and us allowing him to do it.

We were blessed with the Image of God when we were made, and through sin we have distorted it. We are born now as twisted images of the one true God, and through the death and atoning sacrifice of he Himself, our image can slowly be aligned with His through repentance. He bridged the gap between what we were and what we are, repainting us as we continue to repent and turn to him. But we are rebellious creations, and he loves us anyways.

So I will focus more on my own repentance, and my own sin and walk with others towards God. When we focus on our own sin, we barely have time to call out the sins of others. But we should speak the truth in all things. Too many Christians today call out the sins of others, and do not focus on their own. This 'plank-specking' is something that Jesus himself spoke of. [5] You can only repent for yourself dear Brothers and Sisters, do not try and do it for others. In doing that, we create pride and become Pharisees. And how does God fill the hands and hearts of those who in their own pride have closed them? As the author Oscar Wilde once said, "How else but through a broken heart may Lord Christ enter in?" [6]

~
Preach the Gospel in all things, when necessary use words. -St. Francis of Assisi
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[1] This term in Luther's original statement is Poentitentiam agite, which is Jerome's translation of the Greek μετανοεῖτε (metanoite). (From Mt. 3:2 and Mt. 4:17) Some say that this might better be translated into Latin as 'resipiscite' which in English is 'Resipiscence': return to a sane, sound, or correct view or position. The Greek 'metanoite' has the connotation of turning one's life around. To return to God and submission to Jesus. To acknowledge that one has done wrong and return to submission to him.
[2] Matthew 11:11
[3] Luke 3:16
[4] Isaiah 64:6
[5] Matthew 7:3-5
[6] The Ballad of Reading Gaol.