Repentance

Joel 2: 12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”

From Shepherd of Hermas:

“I, the angel of repentance, am telling you, Do not fear the devil. For I have been sent,” he said, “to be on the side of you who repent with your whole heart and to steady you in the faith. Put your faith in God, you who despair of your life because of your sins, you who add to your sins and make your life burdensome.

Trust that if you turn to the Lord with your whole heart and do righteousness for the rest of your life, serving him uprightly in accordance with his will, he will provide a remedy for your previous failings, and you will obtain the power of mastering the devil’s snares. Do not be in the least afraid of the devil’s threats, for they are as powerless as a dead man’s sinews.

Listen to me: Fear him who has power to save and to destroy. Keep all the mandates, and you will live to God.” I said to him, “Sir, I have now gained strength in all the justifications of the Lord, because you are on my side. I know that you will break down all the devil’s power and we shall have the mastery over him and overcome all his snares.

Sir, I now hope, with the Lord’s help, to be able to keep these mandates you have given.” “You will keep them,” he said, “if your heart is made pure to the Lord. All those, also, who cleanse their hearts of the vain desires of this world will keep them and will live to God.”

I don’t read in here the possibility of living a perfect life; I read in here the reality of a repentant heart resulting in a changed nature.

Joel 2: 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.

Cyprian of Carthage:

Let each one confess his sin, I beseech you, brethren, while he who has sinned is still in this world, while his confession can be admitted, while the satisfaction and remission effected through the priest is pleasing with the Lord.

Let us turn to the Lord with our whole mind, and, expressing repentance for our sin with true grief, let us implore God’s mercy. Let the soul prostrate itself before him; let sorrow give satisfaction to him; let our every hope rest upon him.

He himself tells how we ought to ask. He says, “Return to me with all your hearts, in fasting and in weeping, and in mourning, and rend your hearts, not your garments.” Let us return to the Lord with a whole heart; let us placate his wrath and displeasure by fastings, weepings and mournings, as he himself admonishes.

The part that speaks most to me: “let our [my] every hope rest upon him.”

Conclusion

There is no salvation without repentance:

Matthew 5: 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

This is the root and foundation of repentance. There is no Christian life without this.