REPENTANCE

After explaining the nature and necessity of freewill, Swedenborg proceeds to discuss the subject of Repentance. He tells us that true faith and charity are not attainable without repentance, and none can repent without freewill. None can become regenerate before the removal of those grievous evils which are detestable in the sight of God, and such removal can only be brought about by repentance.

An unregenerate person is nothing but an impenitent one, who cherishes and fondles the evil within his or her own heart. Repentance is the first requirement of the church in us. The Church is a communion consisting of all its members, and we enter this communion when we are regenerated. Everyone is regenerated by abstaining from the evils of sin. There are many things which early in life prepare us for the church, and introduce us into it; but acts of repentance cause the church to be in us.

This definition of church membership as given by Swedenborg is worthy of careful consideration. It is comparatively easy for anyone to be in the church; but for the church to be in us is an entirely different matter. This can only be effected by repentance. Swedenborg then proceeds to tell us what repentance is, and also what it is not. Many people feel sorry for the sins they commit. Feeling sorry is an act or state of contrition.

This sorrow may be due to one or more reasons. We may regret the sins we commit because we realize that our actions are contrary to the moral order of the universe and opposed to the will of the Lord. We may regret them because of the consequences, physical and spiritual, which are felt in body or mind. The drunkard realizes with regret the physical deterioration which results from self indulgence. The thief feels a sense of inferiority when in the company of honest people.

Not until people have become deeply depraved and vicious do they cease to regret the loss of virtue. But those who make no real effort towards amendment of life fall short of repentance and make no spiritual progress. Nor does a mere lip-confession that one is a sinner constitute repentance. “Every person,” says Swedenborg, “even a wicked one or a devil, may make such confession; and when they think of the threatening and impending torments of hell, they may do so with a great show of sincerity. But such a confession is entirely superficial, being a matter of the lips and not the heart.

For wicked earth-people and devils, notwithstanding such confession, still burn inwardly with evil lusts, by which they are driven like windmills in a storm. A lip-confession, then, is nothing but a fraudulent attempt to obtain salvation from God, or to impose upon the simple” “We inherit evils of every kind and, unless repentance contributes to their removal, we remain in them; and then we cannot be saved.” But Swedenborg qualifies this statement. We do not inherit the actual evils, but an inclination towards them. No one is born a thief, liar or adulterer.

No one is compelled to practice any evil. We are free agents. But we inherit from our parents inclinations towards various evils. For these inclinations no human being suffers condemnation. “Therefore, after death no one is judged or condemned on account of any hereditary evil, but only on account of those sins which the person has actually committed. This is evident from the following divine law: The father shall not be put to death for the son, neither shall the son be put to death for his own sin” (Dt 24:16).

“Repentance begins with the recognition of sin, and the examination of some particular sin in oneself. No one in the Christian world can fail to recognize sin for every Christian child is taught what is wrong and every youth learns the evil of sin. All young people learn this from parents and teachers, and also from the Decalogue, which is, so to speak, their first lesson-book, and in the subsequent stages of life they learn the same thing from public preaching and private instruction, and most especially from the holy Word.

They learn it also from the civil law, which forbids the same things as the Decalogue and the holy Word in general. For sin is evil against the neighbor; and evil against the neighbor is also evil against God, which again is sin. But general recognition of sin is of no avail unless we examine our actions, and see whether we have committed any particular sin, secretly or openly. Until this is done our knowledge is merely theoretical; and then the words of a preacher go in one ear and out the other and soon lose all practical value. But it is altogether different when a person uses knowledge for self-examination, and discovers some particular evil, and then says: This is sin/ and abstains from it through fear of eternal punishment.

Then for the first time the instruction heard in church is listened to attentively and is admitted into the heart and from a pagan the person becomes a Christian” But this is only the beginning of the matter. To truly repent, we need to examine our deeds, recognize their quality, acknowledge our sins, ask for help from the Lord, and commence to live a new life. This is the plain teaching of the Gospels.

We are to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. Jesus told the disciples that repentance and remission of sins should be preached among all nations. But such repentance implied at all times that the penitent person should begin a new life. Repentance is not merely a new attitude towards the Lord but a constant effort to live according to the divine will. Here let me quote again from Swedenborg: “If we abstain from one or more sins of which we have become aware at any time—perhaps during the preparation for the Holy Supper—we have made a definite start upon the road of actual repentance; and then we are on the road to heaven, for we then begin from natural to become spiritual, and to be born anew of the Lord.”

In self examination we review the deeds of the day. This act was good, this other was evil. This was profitable and useful to our neighbor; this other was merely selfish and contributed nothing to the common good. And yet again, here was an act that was unmistakably evil. To thus review one's deeds, and honestly to recognize their true quality, is a part of our Christian duty. But self-examination must go deeper than that. We should examine and recognize also the quality of our intentions.

An outwardly good act may proceed from a selfish motive. John Smith may give a hundred thousand dollars to a hospital, not from a desire to help the community, but from a desire for public praise and a desire to be a candidate for some remunerative public office. His donation may be a blessing to the poor, but his act was merely selfish. People may praise him for his generosity, but the Lord who looks upon the heart and knows the secret thoughts of every individual knows that John Smith's action was not generous but selfish.

It is our duty to examine our secret intentions and motives, and purge them of the dross of selfishness. “It is possible” says Swedenborg, “to repent of the evils committed by the body, and still to think and desire evil; but this is like cutting down a poisonous tree, and leaving its root, from which the tree again grows and spreads. But it is different when the root is dug up; and this is done when a person examines not only the acts but also the intentions, and removes evil by repentance.”

For growth in the spiritual life, and for success and sincerity in repentance, it is necessary that confession be made to the Lord God and Savior; and then supplication for help and power to resist evil We have the essence of this in the words of the psalmist: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help; my help cometh from the Lord” No one can lift oneself up by one's own bootstraps. No one from selfishness can become unselfish. But divine help is forthcoming for all who sincerely repent and seek to live a righteous life.

Many people seek to live a godly, sober and righteous life, but because they try to do this in their own strength they fail to achieve their purpose. Yet had they sought strength from the Lord they would have been successful The Lord gives strength to all who call upon his name. “There is no need to enumerate one's sins to the Lord, or to supplicate for their remission. Such enumeration is unnecessary, because those who are penitent have already searched out their sins, have seen these in themselves, and consequently they are laid bare before the Lord.

Moreover, it was the Lord who led them to undertake this work of examination, and revealed their sins to them, inspired them with sorrow for these, and at the same time with the endeavor to desist from them, and to begin a new life. Supplication to the Lord for the remission of sins need not be made for two reasons: Firstly, because sins are not abolished, but removed. And they are removed as a person desists from them and makes progress in the new life; for every evil is composed of innumerable lusts which cannot be removed in a moment but only by degrees, as we suffer ourselves to be reformed and regenerated.” “Actual repentance” says Swedenborg, “is very difficult at first; but it becomes easy with practice”

It is not the work of a day or an hour. It is something in which we have to persevere day by day until the victory over evil is won. As we seek help from the Lord, as we examine our deeds and intentions, and as we strive earnestly to live a life according to the Ten Commandments, the act of repentance becomes easy. If we never practice repentance nor seek to know the real quality of our thoughts and intentions, we gradually become incapable of recognizing good or evil in our lives. “Therefore,” urges Swedenborg, “examine yourself, search out your evils and remove them from a religious motive if you do so from any other motive, you will only succeed in hiding them from the world.”

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