TURNING BACK TO GOD: REPENTANCE THAT LEADS TO LIFE

A Devotional on Westminster Larger Catechism Q.76

There are seasons in the Christian life when we are confronted with the unsettling realization that our hearts still drift, our habits still falter, and our affections still grow cold. In those moments, we often recognize that repentance is needed, but our understanding of repentance is often thin. We reduce it to guilt, to a moment of sorrow, or to the promise that we will “try harder next time.” Scripture, however, portrays repentance as something far richer and far more transformative: a grace that God Himself works in the hearts of His people, a turning that leads not to despair but to life. That is why when the Westminster Larger Catechism asks, “What is repentance that leads to life?” it offers this substantial answer:

“Repentance that leads to life is a saving grace, worked in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and the Word of God, by which, out of the sight and sense not only of the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, and awareness of God’s mercy in Christ to those who are penitent, the sinner so grieves for and hates his sins that he turns away from them all to God, purposing and working constantly to walk with God in all the ways of new obedience.”

Far from being a human invention, this definition gathers together the witness of Scripture from beginning to end. What follows is not a philosophical construction—it is what the prophets proclaimed, what Jesus taught, what the apostles preached, and what the Spirit continues to work in the church today.

The Source of Repentance: A Saving Grace from God

Repentance begins with God, not with us. Paul tells Timothy that it is God who “grants repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25), and Luke records that the early church rejoiced because “God had granted repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18). The apostle also describes how the gospel came to Antioch, and “the hand of the Lord was with them,” so that many believed and turned to the Lord (Acts 11:21). Repentance is not self-generated moral resolve; it is a saving grace “worked in the heart…by the Spirit and the Word of God.”

The prophets foresaw this divine initiative. God promised to pour out “a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy” upon His people (Zech. 12:10), softening hearts that were once hard. Likewise, in Hosea the Lord describes hedging the unfaithful in with thorns so that, in desperation, “she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband’” (Hos. 2:6–7). Repentance is the fruit of God’s gracious pursuit. Before we ever turn to Him, He has already turned toward us.

The Sight of Sin: Its Danger and Deformity

Because repentance begins with God, it results from new spiritual sight—what Ezekiel describes as the moment when the sinner “sees and turns away from all his transgressions” (Ezek. 18:28). This includes a recognition of sin’s danger, for the Lord repeatedly warns, “Repent and turn…lest iniquity be your ruin” (Ezek. 18:30). But Scripture refuses to let danger be the only motive. Repentance also arises from seeing sin as God sees it.

Joel calls Israel to return to the Lord “with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning” (Joel 2:12), not simply because judgment looms, but because their sins are a betrayal of the God who is “gracious and merciful” (Joel 2:13). Ezekiel promises that God will so renew His people that they “will loathe themselves for their iniquities” (Ezek. 36:31). Isaiah speaks of God’s people casting away their idols “as unclean things” (Isa. 30:22). This is the deeper work of repentance: sin appears not merely harmful, but hateful.

This inner awakening is seen throughout Scripture. When the prodigal son “came to himself,” he saw his condition clearly and resolved, “I will arise and go to my father” (Luke 15:17-18). Jeremiah portrays Ephraim beating his breast and saying, “After I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed and confounded” (Jer. 31:18-19). True repentance sees sin for what it is: rebellion and treason against the thrice-holiest God.

The Sight of Mercy: Christ’s Kindness Leading Us Home

Yet genuine repentance never ends with grief; it leads to hope. Scripture consistently ties repentance to God’s mercy. When Solomon prayed for the people, he asked that if they “repent and plead with you…saying, ‘We have sinned,’” the Lord would “hear…and forgive” (1 Kings 8:47-48). Jonah knew this about God, and Joel preached it plainly: God is “slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:13).

The gospel makes this reality even clearer. Christ Himself told Paul that His mission was to turn people “from darkness to light…that they may receive forgiveness of sins” (Acts 26:18). Repentance is therefore energized not by terror but by kindness. It is the Lord who turns us, the Lord who receives us, the Lord who restores us, just as the father ran to embrace the prodigal while the son was still a long way off.

Even the grief that accompanies repentance is hopeful grief. Paul notes that the Corinthians, awakened by his letter, displayed a “godly grief” that produced “earnestness…indignation…fear…longing…zeal” (2 Cor. 7:11). Their sorrow did not drive them to despair, but to the Savior.

The Turning of Repentance: Grieving, Hating, and Returning to God

Scripture describes repentance as a turning away from sin and toward God. Ezekiel commands, “Repent and turn from your idols” (Ezek. 14:6). The psalmist resolves, “When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies” (Ps. 119:59), and later declares, “I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way” (Ps. 119:128).

This hatred of sin flows from love for God. It is why Josiah was praised as one who turned “with all his heart and with all his soul,” walking in God’s commandments without turning aside (2 Kings 23:25). It is why Luke describes Zechariah and Elizabeth as “walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord” (Luke 1:6). Repentance reorients the whole person—affections, desires, choices, patterns—toward the God who has shown mercy.

The Life of Repentance: Walking in New Obedience

Finally, repentance leads to a life of ongoing obedience. Ezekiel emphasizes this repeatedly: “Turn, and live” (Ezek. 18:32). The Psalmist prays that the one who repents will “keep your statutes” (Ps. 119:6). Repentance is not a single moment but the continual returning of the heart to God, and the continual forsaking of whatever draws us away from Him.

The catechism’s language, “purposing and working constantly to walk with God in all the ways of new obedience,” echoes the biblical vision. Repentance is not perfected in a day, but it grows day by day, shaping a life that increasingly rejects sin and embraces righteousness.

Repentance that leads to life, then, is a biblical grace from start to finish—foretold by the prophets, proclaimed by Christ, preached by the apostles, and applied by the Spirit. It leads us away from ruin and into joy, away from deceit and into truth, away from sin and into communion with the living God. And because this grace is not momentary but ongoing, the call of Scripture is that we would make repentance the rhythm of our life—turning quickly when we fall, humbling ourselves gladly when corrected, and seeking the Lord intentionally in every place where sin once reigned.

To walk with God is to keep turning toward Him, again and again, with trust that His mercy is stronger than our wandering. May the Lord grant us this grace continually, and may our hearts be ever ready to turn, to rise, and to return to Him who delights to show mercy.

Soli Deo Gloria