Contrition

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 9, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 27.

Contrition.—While the noun “contrition” is not found in the Bible, the adjective “contrite” is. It expresses a condition of mind and heart acceptable to God. The word is found in the following passages:—

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Ps. 51:17.

“For all these things [heaven and earth] hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord; but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” Isa. 66:2.

“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Ps. 34:18.

“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isa. 57:15.

What It Means.—The meaning of the word may be seen in the above texts. It means more than a sense of poverty of soul, more than meekness, more than humility, or a low opinion of one’s self, more than mere repentance or sorrow for past sins. It means all these and more. It means that the repentant soul has seen its sins and God’s love, and has fallen, all broken and helpless, on the Lord Jesus Christ. Contrite means more than broken; it comes from the Latin contritio, meaning to crush, to rub together, to reduce to fine particles. Triturate, to reduce to a powder, comes from the same word. The fire of God’s word permeates every atom of the stony heart, and the hammer of the word breaks it in pieces. (See Jer. 23:29.)

The All-sufficient Word.—This meaning indicates the most thorough repentance, a repentance which permits the word of God—the candle of the Lord—to enlighten every chamber of the heart, unlock its darkest closets, and flood with light the intents and motives which the soul hardly dare reveal to itself. The office of the word is thus set forth in Heb. 4:12: “For the word of God is quick [living], and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” It is a sword, laying open; it is a fire, permeating every part; it is a hammer, breaking in pieces; it is a light, illuminating and revealing; it is a touchstone, discerning between the base and the genuine; it is a mountain quarry, furnishing the living rock for the building up of character; it is a food, affording the nourishment whereby we grow up into full-grown men and women in Christ. It is, received in the Spirit, God’s all-sufficient agency.

Repentance and Repentance.—The kind of repentance wrought in the soul by thus receiving God’s word as it is in Jesus is thus set forth by the apostle Paul: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this self-same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be free in this matter.” 2 Cor. 7:10, 11. It is the sorrow of the world with many that is made the spurious basis of a reform in Christian life. The sorrow, the remorse, the regret, are because the sins have been found out, because reputation is lost, not because character is marred, because of the effects which have followed the sin, rather than because of the sin itself. Such is not the repentance of contrition. It is the repentance which wishes to hide the sin rather than bring it to the light that it may be banished forever. It is a repentance of fear because of consequences to us, rather than of sorrow because we have transgressed the laws of a God so kind, so loving, so boundless in goodness. The prayer of him who has the sorrow of the world, even tho he may never confess it, is, “Let not the Lord speak to us any more;” “cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” The prayer of the contrite soul is, “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.”

How Wrought.—And yet such genuine contrition is not wrought in us by turning our mind in upon ourselves. In ourselves we are blind and our heart is dark, and blindness searching in darkness is uncertain, dreary, despairing work, and leaves us worse than when we began. We learn ourselves by learning more of God. We see our nothingness by beholding his greatness, our sins by beholding his purity, our badness by beholding his goodness; and, seeing all these, knowing that he has given all in Christ for our sakes, the soul breaks in contrition before God. Sin is seen in all its abhorrence as we see the divine Sufferer on Calvary. The law shines out in all its purity as we behold it at the foot of the cross. We see our own undone condition as it never can otherwise be seen while we behold the perfect work wrought by Jesus Christ our Lord. It was not while looking at self, but at God’s glory, that Isaiah saw his lost condition, and tasted the healing, life-giving power. (See Isa. 6:1-8.) It was not while searching self, but beholding Christ’s glory, that Daniel, “greatly beloved” of God, saw the “corruption” of his “comeliness.” (See Dan. 10:5-8.)

The Fruitage of Contrition.—This is set forth in the texts first quoted. Poor and sinful and unclean as our broken, crushed heart may seem under the divine light, God does “not despise it.” Creator of heaven and earth tho he be, he looks with tender regard upon him that is of a poor and contrite spirit, that trembles at his word. He not only will not despise, he not only will tenderly regard, but he will save, the broken of heart and the contrite of spirit. Nay, more than this: the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, the Holy One who dwells in the high and holy place, comes down to dwell in the heart of the humble and contrite, not to condemn, not to taunt, not to discourage, but to heal, to bind up, to revive (cause to live again), to make it his eternal dwelling-place.

O soul, do not be afraid of God! Read his word, behold his character, let the pure, white light of his truth search and cleanse your heart, and abide with him.