What is repentance unto life?

Which Bible passages support this answer?

The Westminster Assembly attached these Scripture proofs to answer 87. Read them together and ask what each one shows about the answer.

1. Acts 11:18

   When they heard this, they ceased their objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted the repentance that leads to life even to the Gentiles.” (NET)

2. Acts 2:37-38

   ³⁷Now when they heard this, they were acutely distressed and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?” ³⁸Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (NET)

3. Joel 2:12

   “Yet even now,” the Lord says, “return to me with all your heart— with fasting, weeping, and mourning. (NET)

4. Jeremiah 3:22

   Come back to me, you wayward people. I want to cure your waywardness. Say, ‘Here we are. We come to you because you are the Lord our God. (NET)

5. Jeremiah 31:18-19

   ¹⁸I have indeed heard the people of Israel say mournfully, ‘We were like a calf untrained to the yoke. You disciplined us, and we learned from it. Let us come back to you and we will do so, for you are the Lord our God. ¹⁹For after we turned away from you we repented. After we came to our senses we struck our thigh in sorrow. We are ashamed and humiliated because of the disgraceful things we did previously.’ (NET)

6. Ezekiel 36:31

   Then you will remember your evil behavior and your deeds that were not good; you will loathe yourselves on account of your sins and your abominable deeds. (NET)

7. 2 Corinthians 7:11

   For see what this very thing, this sadness as God intended, has produced in you: what eagerness, what defense of yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what deep concern, what punishment! In everything you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. (NET)

8. Isaiah 1:16-17

   ¹⁶Wash! Cleanse yourselves! Remove your sinful deeds from my sight. Stop sinning. ¹⁷Learn to do what is right. Promote justice. Give the oppressed reason to celebrate. Take up the cause of the orphan. Defend the rights of the widow. (NET)

What does this answer mean?

Repentance is also a saving grace. A sinner, seeing his sin truly and grasping the mercy of God in Christ, turns from sin to God with grief and hatred of his sin, and with full purpose of, and effort toward, new obedience. Repentance includes sorrow, turning, and a new direction.

What can we ask our children?

1. What two things does a repenting person see?
2. What does a person turn from, and turn to?
3. What does new obedience look like for a child?