Repent vs.

penance

It seems there is a misunderstanding of the meaning of repent. Penance is substituted for repent,
and they are not similar, they have totally different definitions.

Repent as Defined by Strong’s

Greek Number: 3340
Transliterated: metanoeo
Phonetic: met-an-o-eh'-o
Text: from 3326 and 3539; to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel
compunction): --repent.

Hebrew Number 5162

Romanized nacham
Pronounced naw-kham'
a primitive root; properly, to sigh, i.e. breathe strongly; by implication, to be sorry, i.e. (in a favorable
sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself):
KJV--comfort (self), ease [one's self], repent(-er,-ing, self).
http://www.htmlbible.com/

Penance as defined by “The Catholic Encyclopedia”.

Penance is a sacrament of the New Law instituted by Christ in which forgiveness of sins committed
after baptism is granted through the priest's absolution to those who with true sorrow confess their
sins and promise to satisfy for the same. It is called a "sacrament" not simply a function or ceremony,
because it is an outward sign instituted by Christ to impart grace to the soul. As an outward sign it
comprises the actions of the penitent in presenting himself to the priest and accusing himself of his
sins, and the actions of the priest in pronouncing absolution and imposing satisfaction. This whole
procedure is usually called, from one of its parts, "confession", and it is said to take place in the
"tribunal of penance", because it is a judicial process in which the penitent is at once the accuser, the
person accused, and the witness, while the priest pronounces judgment and sentence. The grace
conferred is deliverance from the guilt of sin and, in the case of mortal sin, from its eternal
punishment; hence also reconciliation with God, justification. Finally, the confession is made not in
the secrecy of the penitent's heart nor to a layman as friend and advocate, nor to a representative of
human authority, but to a duly ordained priest with requisite jurisdiction and with the "power of the
keys", i.e., the power to forgive sins which Christ granted to His Church
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11618c.htm

When we become Christians God enters into us, we have repented. Where we thought our way, we
now think His way. Our desires are replaced with His. Our sense of guilt is replaced with freedom.
There can be no greater way to repent then to let God rule over us. Repent is a change of heart, even
God repented.

Genesis 6:6 and Jehovah repenteth that He hath made man in the earth, and He grieveth Himself -
unto His heart.
7 And Jehovah saith, 'I wipe away man whom I have prepared from off the face of the ground, from
man unto beast, unto creeping thing, and unto fowl of the heavens, for I have repented that I have
made them.'

Exodus 32:7.And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Go, descend, for thy people whom thou hast brought up
out of the land of Egypt hath done corruptly,
8. they have turned aside hastily from the way that I have commanded them; they have made for
themselves a molten calf, and bow themselves to it, and sacrifice to it, and say, These thy gods, O
Israel, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'
9. And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'I have seen this people, and lo, it [is] a stiff-necked people;
10. and now, let Me alone, and My anger doth burn against them, and I consume them, and I make
thee become a great nation.'
11. And Moses appeaseth the face of Jehovah his God, and saith, 'Why, O Jehovah, doth Thine
anger burn against Thy people, whom Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great
power and with a strong hand?
12. why do the Egyptians speak, saying, For evil He brought them out to slay them among
mountains, and to consume them from off the face of the ground? turn back from the heat of Thine
anger, and repent of the evil against Thy people.
13. 'Be mindful of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou hast sworn by
Thyself, and unto whom Thou speakest: I multiply your seed as stars of the heavens, and all this
land, as I have said, I give to your seed, and they have inherited to the age;'
14. and Jehovah repenteth of the evil which He hath spoken of doing to His people.

1 Chronicles 21:10. “Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose
thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
11. So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee
12. Either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword
of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the
land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise
thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
13. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for
very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.
14. So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
15. And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld,
and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine
hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16. And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the
heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of
Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
17. And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is
that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I
pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they
should be plagued.
18. Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set
up an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.”
Jeremiah 26: 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, hath this
word been from Jehovah, saying:
2. 'Thus said Jehovah, Stand thou in the court of the house of Jehovah, and thou hast spoken unto all
[those of] the cities of Judah who are coming in to bow themselves in the house of Jehovah, all the
words that I have commanded thee to speak unto them, thou dost not diminish a word.
3. If so be they hearken, and turn back each from his evil way, then I have repented concerning the
evil that I am thinking of doing to them, because of the evil of their doings….
9. “Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and
this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah
in the house of the Lord.
10. When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house unto the
house of the Lord, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house.
11. Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man
is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.
12. Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The Lord sent me to
prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.
13. Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God;
and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.”

Regarding penance: I talk directly to God the Father through Jesus. I have no other advocate. All my
sins were nailed to the cross; the Sacrifice paid them all in full. I am already in God’s presence,
remember Revelation 3:20? If Jesus says I am sin free then penance is actually wrong. Jesus said we
are clean and it was Jesus who instigated the washing of feet, the disciples were clueless about their
condition, it is Jesus who makes sure we are sin free. It is God’s job to make us bear more fruit, so it
is God’s decision on how best to make us pleasing to Him. For sinners to decide what their “sins”
are, is asinine, like maybe they are smarter than the disciples were or maybe they know better than
God. When God declares His followers “clean” do not contradict Him by saying you need to do
penance. Keep in mind the threat that Jesus made to those who were a stumbling block to His
children.

John 8: 34. Jesus answered them, 'Verily, verily, I say to you - Every one who is committing sin, is a
servant of the sin,
35. and the servant doth not remain in the house - to the age, the son doth remain - to the age;
36. if then the son may make you free, in reality ye shall be free.
When Jesus set us free we are no longer servants to sin.

John 13: 5. afterward he putteth water into the basin, and began to wash the feet of his disciples, and
to wipe with the towel with which he was being girded.
6. He cometh, therefore, unto Simon Peter, and that one saith to him, 'Sir, thou - dost thou wash my
feet?'
7. Jesus answered and said to him, 'That which I do thou hast not known now, but thou shalt know
after these things;'
8. Peter saith to him, 'Thou mayest not wash my feet - to the age.' Jesus answered him, 'If I may not
wash thee, thou hast no part with me;'
9. Simon Peter saith to him, 'Sir, not my feet only, but also the hands and the head.'
 10. Jesus saith to him, 'He who hath been bathed hath no need save to wash his feet, but he is clean
altogether; and ye are clean, but not all;'
11. for he knew him who is delivering him up; because of this he said, 'Ye are not all clean.'

John 15:1. 'I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman;
2. every branch in me not bearing fruit, He doth take it away, and every one bearing fruit, He doth
cleanse by pruning it, that it may bear more fruit;
3. already ye are clean, because of the word that I have spoken to you;
4. remain in me, and I in you, as the branch is not able to bear fruit of itself, if it may not remain in
the vine, so neither ye, if ye may not remain in me.
5. 'I am the vine, ye the branches; he who is remaining in me, and I in him, this one doth bear much
fruit, because apart from me ye are not able to do anything;
6. if any one may not remain in me, he was cast forth without as the branch, and was withered, and
they gather them, and cast to fire, and they are burned;
7. if ye may remain in me, and my sayings in you may remain, whatever ye may wish ye shall ask,
and it shall be done to you.
8. 'In this was my Father glorified, that ye may bear much fruit, and ye shall become my
disciples….
12. 'This is my command, that ye love one another, according as I did love you;
13. greater love than this hath no one, that any one his life may lay down for his friends;
14. ye are my friends, if ye may do whatever I command you;
15. no more do I call you servants, because the servant hath not known what his lord doth, and you
I have called friends, because all things that I heard from my Father, I did make known to you.
16. 'Ye did not choose out me, but I chose out you, and did appoint you, that ye might go away, and
might bear fruit, and your fruit might remain, that whatever ye may ask of the Father in my name, He
may give you.

Acts 10: 9. And on the morrow, as these are proceeding on the way, and are drawing nigh to the city,
Peter went up upon the house-top to pray, about the sixth hour,
10. and he became very hungry, and wished to eat; and they making ready, there fell upon him a
trance,
11. and he doth behold the heaven opened, and descending unto him a certain vessel, as a great
sheet, bound at the four corners, and let down upon the earth,
12. in which were all the four-footed beasts of the earth, and the wild beasts, and the creeping
things, and the fowls of the heaven,
13. and there came a voice unto him: 'Having risen, Peter, slay and eat.'
14. And Peter said, 'Not so, Lord; because at no time did I eat anything common or unclean;'
15. and [there is] a voice again a second time unto him: 'What God did cleanse, thou, declare not
thou common;'
16. and this was done thrice, and again was the vessel received up to the heaven.

Matthew 18:1. At that hour came the disciples near to Jesus, saying, 'Who, now, is greater in the
reign of the heavens?'
2. And Jesus having called near a child, did set him in the midst of them,
3. and said, 'Verily I say to you, if ye may not be turned and become as the children, ye may not
enter into the reign of the heavens;
 4. whoever then may humble himself as this child, he is the greater in the reign of the heavens.
5. 'And he who may receive one such child in my name, doth receive me,
6. and whoever may cause to stumble one of those little ones who are believing in me, it is better
for him that a weighty millstone may be hanged upon his neck, and he may be sunk in the depth of
the sea.
7. 'Wo to the world from the stumbling-blocks! for there is a necessity for the stumbling-blocks to
come, but wo to that man through whom the stumbling-block doth come!

I can boldly say I am sinless and I deal directly with God, as all Christians can. 