In addition to the intellectual and emotional aspects of real repentance, there is a volitional component. To put it another way, true repentance must engage and alter our will. That is to say, repenting of a sin includes changing sinful behavior. The fact that true repentance means we act differently is obvious if we think about it. Imagine that a neighbor, unprovoked, smashes your car windshield one morning. You would be angry with them! However, if they came to you with tears in their eyes, admitted they were wrong, and asked for mercy, then in true Christ-like manner you would forgive them.
Their repentance, as far as you could tell, would seem genuine. But imagine the day after you have your windshield repaired you walk outside to find that your neighbor has, once again, smashed it! You might suspect that their initial repentance wasn’t genuine, and you would be right to do so. Real repentance acknowledges wrongdoing, truly feels remorse, and results in changed behavior. The Apostle John explains this at length:
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
In a nutshell, John is teaching that Christians repent of their sins and do not continue in them. This is not to say Christians become perfect or never repeat a sin. As we will see in the next section, repentance is an ongoing part of the Christian life. However, John does teach us that Christians will put sin to death and grow in holiness throughout their lives as the Holy Spirit sanctifies them. Christians are not sinless, but they do not make a practice of sinning.
Practicing righteousness, as John puts it, is a mark of a Christian who has truly repented of his sin. It is clear that repentance is more than intellectual and emotional; it alters our will. Repentance is a gracious gift of God, an intellectual understanding of the nature of our sin, a hope for forgiveness in Christ, an emotional response of sorrow at our sin, and a turning from sin to Christ in faith so that we might pursue holiness and obedience to God all the days of our lives.
