Biblical survey of repentance and forgiveness

Following on from my earlier posts about repentance and forgiveness (why I chose to write about it and a historical tour of the relationship). This is a survey of the Bible's teaching on the relationship between human repentance and God's forgiveness:

Near the beginning of Scripture, God’s self-revelation seems to contain a contradiction. On the one hand, God introduces himself to Moses as one who is ‘merciful and gracious… forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin’ (Exodus 34:6-7) - fundamental truths about his character that are re-iterated throughout the Old Testament. On the other hand, God ‘by no means clear[s] the guilty’ (Exodus 34:7; cf Numbers 14:18; Nahum 1:3). The Law that God gave to Moses shows God's strong concern for holiness (Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:26), another characteristic upheld in the later parts of the Old Testament (e.g. Psalm 71:22; Psalm 99; Isaiah 6).

This leads to a tension between repentance and forgiveness that is not resolved under the old covenant. The Law assumed that sinful acts would occur and provided for atonement – most fully on the annual Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). The Law clearly established the necessity of human repentance in order to receive God's forgiveness. On an individual level, forgiveness required a very full repentance - including sacrifice (Leviticus 5:10, 13, 18), restitution (Leviticus 6:5; Numbers 5:7-8) and public confession (Leviticus 5:5; Numbers 5:6). On a national level, only the repentance demonstrated by full covenant obedience would lead to forgiveness (Deuteronomy 30:1-3) – a near impossible task for a rebellious people!

The same promise of national forgiveness in return for fully obedient repentance was confirmed after Solomon’s Temple dedication prayer (2 Chronicles 7:12-14). The prophets often reinforced the message, although they shifted the focus to include returned hearts as much as obedience to the Law and practices of the Temple (e.g. Ezekiel 18:21-23). They anticipated a new covenant when God would resolve the tension between his mercy and holiness – when he would give his people new hearts that were capable of fully turning from sin to him (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Ezekiel 36:26-32) and when he would fully forgive and restore his people (Jeremiah 31:34; Ezekiel 36:33).

With the coming of Jesus and the new covenant, this promise was fulfilled. The Spirit enabled people’s hearts to be renewed and for them to walk in obedience (2 Corinthians 4:16; Colossians 3:10). Jesus' life and death provided the full obedience that Israel had never managed (Luke 4:1-13; Hebrews 5:8-10). (Indeed, it turns out that God only forgave in the Old Testament in anticipation of Jesus’ sacrifice, Romans 3:25). 

The coming of Christ and the Spirit ushered in a new age: ‘a transformed understanding of the relationship between forgiveness and repentance – a repentance contextualized within the announcement of God’s inbreaking Kingdom.’ God no longer waited for people to turn to him in full repentance, but sought out broken and dismayed sinners to offer divine forgiveness and invite them to a life of repentance. 

This message of repentance and forgiveness was to be preached in Jesus’ name to all nations (Luke 24:47), the beginnings of which are charted in the bulk of the New Testament (Acts 5:31, 26:18). 

The promise is not completely fulfilled, however. The New Testament finishes with a vision of a coming day, after which people's repentance and forgiveness, or lack of them, will be fixed: when those who have not repented or accepted the offered forgiveness will face God’s wrath (Revelation 9:20-21, 16:8, 22:15) and his cleansed people will be forever with him in perfect, restored relationship (Revelation 7:14-17, 22:14).