“But [I] declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the regions of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.” Acts 26:20
After testifying to King Agrippa about his early life and his conversion on the road to Damascus (26:1-18), the apostle Paul said he was “not disobedient to the heavenly vision” he received on the road to Damascus (26:19), “but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the regions of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance” (26:20).
Notice the order of verbs in Paul’s message to Jews and Gentiles – “repent…turn (to God)…do works (befitting repentance).” The word “repent” (metanoeō) refers to a change of mind. Whether you are a religious person (Jew) or a nonreligious person (Gentile), the gospel calls you to change your mind about “God.” Notice that to “repent” is not the same as doing “works befitting repentance.” The word “and” makes this distinction. When we repent or change our minds to believe in Jesus, doing “works befitting repentance” is the result of repentance, not repentance itself. This change in action is the result of the change of mind or repentance and is necessary for discipleship or maturity to take place in the Christian life (cf. John 15:6-8; Revelation 2:4-5, 16, 21-22; 3:3, 19).
The religious person (Jew) relies on his own righteousness and religious activity to gain acceptance before God and the gospel tells him to change his view of God (repent) who is absolutely holy and righteous and realize that his own righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Then he is to “turn to God” to receive His “forgiveness” through “faith” in Christ (Acts 20:18). With Christ in his life as a result of believing in Jesus, he now has the power to “do works befitting repentance.”
The nonreligious person (Gentile) does not care anything about the things of God and may not even believe God exists. The gospel calls this person to change his mind about God Who does exist, and Who hates sin and will punish it (Isaiah 6:1-5; 59:1-2; Romans 3:23; 6:23; Revelation 20:15). His repentance is also a change of mind about his sin and God, so he can see his need to believe in Jesus for His forgiveness (Acts 20:18). After believing in Jesus, he too has the power to “do works befitting repentance.”
With this said, I want to point out that the words “believe” and “faith” are used over 200 times in contexts dealing with salvation from Hell in the New Testament compared to the next most used verb, “repent” (metanoeō), and its noun form “repentance” (metanoia), which are employed 33 times in salvation-related contexts in the New Testament. When the word “repent” or “repentance” are used in evangelistic contexts, they refer to a lost person changing his mind about whatever is keeping him from believing in Christ, and then believing in Him for eternal life. The non-Christian may need to change his mind about the Person of Christ (Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38), God (Acts 20:21), idols (Revelation 9:20), sin (Revelation 9:21), or his works (Revelation 16:11; Hebrews 6:1) before he can believe in Christ for the gift of salvation.
Repentance cannot refer to sorrow for sin or turning from sin because in the Old Testament God repents (e.g. Genesis 6:6-7; Exodus 32:14; Jeremiah 26:19; Jonah 3:9-10; et. al.). In the King James Version, the word “repent” occurs forty-six times in the Old Testament. Thirty-seven of these times, God is the one repenting (or not repenting). If repentance meant sorrow for sin, God would be a sinner. The apostle Paul distinguishes sorrow and repentance in 2 Corinthians 7:9 when he states, “your sorrow led to repentance.” Sorrow may lead to repentance or accompany repentance; but sorrow is not the same as repentance. In Acts 2 the Jews felt sorrow or regret about what they did to Jesus whom God made both Lord and Christ and they asked, “What shall we do?” (2:36-37). Peter told them to “Repent” (2:38) after their sorrow or regret.
In summary, when communicating the gospel, let’s be very clear. Repentance is a change of mind about whatever is keeping a non-Christian (religious or nonreligious) from believing in Christ, and then believing in Christ for His gift of everlasting life (Mark 1:15; John 3:16). Doing works befitting repentance has to do with discipleship and growing toward maturity in the Christian life after a person believes in Christ.