Repentance as life (2 Pe 3:9)

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. - 2 Peter 3:9

The context surrounding this verse is that Peter is addressing some people's concerns that Jesus had not yet returned. Even in the first-century, people were having debates about whether the "end was near."

The truth is that the end indeed was, and is, near, though not necessarily in Chronos time, but rather in Kairos time. We think linearly and chronologically, whereas God operates multidimensionally, and when we try to use merely human language to speak of divine realities we will always get ourselves into trouble. But this is a topic for another day.

Our focus here is on the second half of this verse – that God does not wish any to perish but for all to reach repentance. This direct contrast between spiritual death and repentance is a fascinating one.

We may feel that it would be more fitting for this verse to say something such as, God is "not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach salvation." And such a statement would certainly be true, but it is not what Peter said.

The reason that repentance can be used as a direct opposite of spiritual death is that during this earthly existence, repentance is inseparable from salvation. Repentance does not "cause" salvation in a linear cause and effect sort of way. In this life, repentance is indistinguishable from salvation.

To repent is to stop disagreeing with Truth and start agreeing with Truth. It is to stop resisting Love and start embracing Love. It is to stop choosing death and start choosing life. How could someone possibly expect to experience salvation while disagreeing with Truth, rejecting Love, and choosing death?

Salvation as experienced on earth can be thought of as walking toward Jesus Christ. The closer you get, the more of His salvation you experience.

This is because Jesus Christ not only brings salvation, He is salvation. That is what His name literally means in Hebrew. Salvation cannot be had apart from Him because there is no difference between salvation and Jesus Christ. Wanting salvation apart from Christ is like wanting to quench your thirst without drinking water. It doesn't make any sense once you realize they are the same thing.

Therefore wanting salvation apart from repentance is a nonsensical desire.

If Jesus Christ was standing at the North Pole, then experiencing salvation would be like walking north, and experiencing repentance would be like walking the opposite of south. These are simply two ways of saying the same thing.

Repentance has become a dirty word to so many people in our world. And how great an irony it is to realize that repentance is the very thing that makes us clean.

Unless you repent, you too will all perish - Luke 13:3