Repentance sounds as though one should have a guilty conscience and feel ashamed. However, it is about something entirely different: a shift in thinking and a change of heart and mind, and the courage to start over again and again.
“Repentance and salvation” is the title of a doctrinal text by Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider, which was originally published in a special edition of the Divine Service Guide at the beginning of this year (01/2025). Initially addressed to the ministers, the article has now been published in the community magazine, issue 4/2025.
The article makes it clear that repentance appears twice on the path to salvation. But which salvation are we talking about? The Old Testament understands salvation as a life in peace and prosperity. In the New Testament, salvation is of a spiritual nature: eternal life consists of perfect fellowship with God.
Helping to build a new world
This is by no means limited to us. Love of neighbour makes us sensitive to human distress. In prayer, believers intercede for those who suffer. However, most of the time, God does not intervene as we imagine He should. His salvific activity aims to enable all human beings to live in fellowship with Him and with one another in the new creation.
In the current phase of His plan of redemption, He is forming human beings who are called to enter into this fellowship as firstfruits and then to contribute to the salvation of everyone else in the thousand-year kingdom of peace.
So those who are striving for their own salvation are working on the salvation of everyone else as well. Either way, repentance is necessary.
Assessing where we are and realigning ourselves
The notion of repentance incorporates both remorse and conversion. For one thing, we must become aware of our faults and regret them. Then we must change our mentality and adopt a behaviour that is consistent with the divine will.
Repentance is therefore a prerequisite for baptism: in order to be freed from original sin, the sinner must renounce evil, believe in Jesus Christ, and make the commitment to obey Him.
It is also indispensable for obtaining forgiveness of our personal sins. This is the only way the absolution pronounced in the divine service can produce its full effect. We must become aware of our mistakes, regret them, sincerely resolve to change, and have the desire to repair the wrongs we have committed.
A personal matter
Conversion and repentance presuppose personal awareness, the article points out: “We naturally have a tendency to complain about all the evil that is committed in the world,” the Chief Apostle writes. “But we are not innocent victims. Each of us is part of the problem!” Because: “We must admit that—owing to our failings—we too contribute to the influence of evil.”
“Again, this is not a question of making us feel guilty or denigrating ourselves. We must simply come to accept that each one of us has a share of responsibility for the problem—and understand that the solution also lies with us,” the Chief Apostle says.
This is true on all levels, whether in matrimony, family life, the congregation, or in society … “We can help improve the situation by changing our mentality and behaviour in order to become more and more like Christ,” he says in conclusion. “The more we come to be like Him, the less we will cause others to suffer!”