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Repentance: Repairing Damaged Relationships

 


In my earlier Christian biblical heritage, repentance only involved God and the sinner. It was a religious ritual that centered around prayer. That kind of “repentance” would have been unknown to Jesus and the members of his movement. For Jesus, repentance and forgiveness were two functions required to accomplish one goal – repair damaged relationships between the sinner and the one sinned against and God.

 

The Hebrew word translated “repentance” is TESHUVAH. It literally means “turn” or “turn around.” TESHUVAH is a “prerequisite for divine forgiveness:”

 

God will not pardon man unconditionally but waits for him to repent.

 

The “motion of turning” reveals that “sin is not an ineradicable stain.” Sin is “straying from the right path,” and that “by the effort of turning” -- a power God has given to all people -- a sinner can redirect his or her destiny. Turning is a process that involves the following stages:

 

● Acknowledging that one has committed a sin.

 

● Experiencing genuine remorse for the wrong that has been done.

 

● Ceasing to do the sin.

 

● Doing acts that are TOV to repair harm done by the sin.

 

● Restoring the relationship with the one sinned against to what it was before.

 

It is very important to remember that TESHUVAH carries with it this idea -- a person has the power to redirect his or her destiny at any point in time before they die or the day God judges all nations of the earth.

 

In the Jewish culture a sin against another person was viewed as a “debt.” The sinner pays that debt by making restitution and/or repairing the damages done to that person.

 

God does not forgive the sinner until that “debt” has been paid.

 

We can see that principle clearly in another lesson he taught (Matthew 5:23-26).

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“If you bring your sacrifice to the altar, and there – at the altar in the Temple – you remember that your brother has something against you (a debt because of a sin you committed), leave your sacrifice there, before the altar, and go your way.

 

First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your sacrifice. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.

 

Amen!

 

You will by no means get out of there (prison) until you have paid the last penny.”

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Jesus also taught this in “The Lord’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:12). Below is the traditional translation which comes from the King James Version.

 

And forgive us our debts,

As we have forgiven our debtors.

 

I like the translation from The Bible in Basic English better.

 

And make us free of our debts,

as we have made those free who are in debt to us.

 

Now I will incorporate the information about TESHUVAH in the translation above.

 

And forgive us of our sins,

as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.

 

Be sure to note that the one praying the prayer had already forgiven those who sinned against him or her before asking for forgiveness from God. The Lord’s Prayer was probably prayed one or more times a day by the followers of Jesus. It was a constant reminder of each person’s responsibly to guard and protect his or her relationships with other people – and with God. Be sure to note that Jesus did not teach his followers to pray:

 

Thank you for forgiving all of my sins against others –

past sins, present sins and future sins.

 

That would be great for sinners, but it is clearly unjust for those whose lives were damaged or harmed by their sins. It also ignores God’s role in forgiveness – it is granted after TESHUVAH. Christian beliefs about repentance are linked to the Greek word translated “repentance” in ancient manuscripts of the New Testament – “METANOIA.”  It means “to change one’s mind or heart about someone or something.” That is something that takes place in the mind of the sinner and does nothing for the one sinned against.

 

Of all of the commandments, rituals, rites, sacrifices, ceremonies, fasts, feasts, etc. – forgiving is often the most difficult of all. That will be the subject of my next email.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers

 

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