A brother asked me recently to check the Bible for the phrase “repent of your sins”.

As the attached graphic states, the specific phrase “repent of your sins” does not occur.

So, obviously repentance is not required of sinners, and evil men have twisted the pure gospel.

What?

That is ludicrous!

Lets get so particular that all we end up doing is finding unjustified specific claims to justify erroneous teaching that is broadly taught throughout the Scriptures.

This is a common tactic of those who despise and hate the message of a loving God who is looking for those who will worship in spirit and truth. This is also a tactic that believers have been warned of for centuries.

I think Paul supplied some counsel on this, in stating the need to understand the whole counsel of God.

Acts 20:27

..I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

I could go looking for many specific phrases that describes clearly indisputable doctrines in the Bible and come up blank.

Lets try “God exists”. Doh – Nothing, not one single verse includes that phrase. Okay, using the same logic as above, there is no justification for teaching this truth since the specific phrase “God exists” doesn’t occur in the Bible.

As my momma used to say, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

I would like to suggest that repentance is an incredible truth that is required for both the lost and the saved.

Okay, now you’ve gone too far Carl.

I hear some of you out there thinking, why do I need to repent after I get saved? Or even, why do I need to get saved again?

Good questions! (I don’t think I could have come up with those on my own!)

As many of you know, I am an engineer by day, and love me them spreadsheets. Using this method gives me a high level view of the general teaching of the New Testament in relation to repentance.

So I retrieved all the verses that include the words repent and repentance in the New Testament, and compiled them in a handy dandy spreadsheet below.

Note that I used the Greek terms below to search for my verse.

Repent

• Strongs # G3340
• metanoeó μετανοέω

Repentance

• Strongs # 3341
• metanoia μετάνοια

One caveat about this spreadsheet.

I have categorized two groups of people that the call to repentance is given. Lost humanity, those that have had no relationship with the Eternal God of All. The second category deals with covenant people, and this is where I feel I need to explain some of my thinking.

The Lord Jesus came to a nation that was in covenant with the Eternal God and His focus in preaching repentance was two fold. First off, He was searching for those within the nation that did not personally know the Eternal God, and yet belonged to the covenant nation of Israel. An example may be Nicodemus.

As you may know by now, I found the remnant teaching in the Old Testament a few years ago, and it cleared up some questions I had. Very enlightening. If interested, see the “rant” in my post called Promises to Israel – 2. The Seed

Secondly He was seeking the nation of Israel (a covenant people) to repent of her ways nationally, and return to God. An example of this preaching can be found in Matthew 24 and 25, where He addresses the leadership of Israel.

In the spreadsheet below, I have identified those who were called to repent in relation to their status as covenant people first. Understand this group would also, for the greater part of the population, need to enter into a new covenant personal relationship with God through the Messiah.

If you are interested in taking this thought further, (and I am sure it can be taken further!) drop me a comment and I can send you a copy of the spreadsheet for your use.

I shall be posting the full verse lists for both of these terms related to repentance in the following days.

Who is Called to Repent?
New Testament Verse	Strong’s #	Covenant People	Lost Humanity
Matthew 3:2	G3340	a
Matthew 3:8	G3341
Matthew 3:11	G3341		a
Matthew 4:17	G3340	a
Matthew 9:13	G3341		a
Matthew 11:20	G3340	a
Matthew 11:21	G3340	a
Matthew 12:41	G3340	a
Mark 1:4	G3341		a
Mar 1:15	G3340	a
Mark 2:17	G3341		a
Mar 6:12	G3340	a
Luke 3:3	G3341		a
Luke 3:8	G3341		a
Luke 5:32	G3341		a
Luke 10:13	G3340	a
Luke 11:32	G3340	a
Luke 13:3	G3340	a
Luke 13:5	G3340	a
Luke 15:7	G3340	a
Luke 15:7	G3341		a
Luke 15:10	G3340	a
Luke 16:30	G3340	a
Luke 17:3	G3340	a
Luke 17:4	G3340	a
Luke 24:47	G3341		a
Acts 2:38	G3340	a
Acts 3:19	G3340	a
Acts 5:31	G3341		a
Acts 8:22	G3340	a
Acts 11:18	G3341		a
Acts 13:24	G3341		a
Acts 17:30	G3340	a	a
Acts 19:4	G3341		a
Acts 20:21	G3341		a
Acts 26:20	G3341		a
Acts 26:20	G3340	a	a
Romans 2:4	G3341		a
2 Corinthians 7:9	G3341		a
2 Corinthians 7:10	G3341		a
2 Corinthians 12:21	G3340	a
2 Timothy 2:25	G3341		a
Hebrews 6:1	G3341		a
Hebrews 6:6	G3341		a
Hebrews 12:17	G3341		a
2 Peter 3:9	G3341		a
Revelation 2:5	G3340	a
Revelation 2:16	G3340	a
Revelation 2:21	G3340	a
Revelation 2:22	G3340	a
Revelation 3:3	G3340	a
Revelation 3:19	G3340	a
Revelation 9:20	G3340		a
Revelation 9:21	G3340		a
Revelation 16:9	G3340		a
Revelation 16:11	G3340		a

Thanks for dropping by. Drop me a line if something in this post made you think.

---

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.