Repentance in Christianity

[2][3] It can specifically refer to a stage in Christian salvation in which an individual gains awareness of God's standard, acknowledges their past or present wrongdoings, and deliberately turns away from sin toward God; its numeration as a stage in the ordo salutis varies with the Christian denomination, with the Reformed theological tradition arguing it occurs after faith.

[4] Christian denominations that adhere to the liturgical kalendar, such as Catholicism, Lutheranism, Moravianism and Anglicanism, focus on repentance during the season of Lent, while emphasizing its importance in the life of the believer throughout the year.

[6]: 1007  David Lambert believes that "It is in the writings of rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity that it attains the status of a technical term, a basic item of an emerging religious lexicon".

[10] In the New Testament, metanoia (Biblical Greek: μετανοέω) can mean remorse but is generally translated as a turning away from sin (Matthew 3:2).

Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, ... the desire and resolution to change one's life, with hope in God's mercy and trust in the help of his grace (1431).This is elaborated on by bishop George Hay, who in his catechism answers the question, What are the principal parts of which true repentance is composed?

For if we truly partake of his death, our old man is crucified by its power, and the body of sin expires, so that the corruption of our former nature loses all its vigor....

[Quotes from A Compend of the Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin edited by Hugh T. Kerr, The Westminster Press-Philadelphia 1939.

—Articles of Religion, Immanuel Missionary Church[15]Repentance is part of Christian life and the process of sanctification.

[22][23][24][25] Joseph Dillow taught instead that repentance refers to remorse or regret for sin, in his view being a necessary pre-condition of faith.

[22] In Nondenominational Christianity, especially such churches aligned with evangelicalism, repentance is held to be necessary for salvation and new birth.