Chapter 15 - On Repentance Unto Life

Understanding The Westminster Confession of Faith
Chapter 15 - On Repentance Unto Life

Ever since our first parents, Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, God has insisted on repentance.

Job in the days of the patriarchs, said, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6).

Under the Law, David the psalmist of Israel, wrote Psalm 32 saying, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD…” (verse 5). Also, in Psalm 51, “I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me” (verse 3).

At the close of the Old Testament and beginning of the New, John the Baptist cries, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Christ’s account of Himself is that He “came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17).

Just before His ascension, Christ commanded “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). And the Apostles taught the same doctrine “testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).

So, any religious tradition among men (including modern “Christianity”) which do not include repentance in their teaching is false.

Repentance is called an “evangelical grace” by the WCF. And indeed it is! By it one “grieves for and hates his sins.” The penitent sinner would turn from his sins unto God. He would “purpose and endeavour to walk with Him in all the ways of His commandments.” That is true and sincere repentance.

But you might ask: what is true repentance? Well… the puritan theologians describe true repentance as, “sorrow for sin, ending in reformation.” Therefore, mere regret is not repentance, neither is mere outward reformation.


To put it simply, genuine repentance must produce a holy life. “If I have done iniquity, I will do no more” (Job 34:32).

There can be no evangelical repentance without saving faith. “Repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15), though distinct, are not separate duties. He who sincerely does one never fails to do the other.

The comfort of repentance is in knowing that, “As there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation, so there is no sin so great that it can bring damnation upon those who truly repent.” (WCF 15 [4])


  In Him,
Rev Robert Chew