Repentance has been traditionally understood in the Philippines in light of the Roman Catholic disciplinary sacrament of penance. Within the context of the sacrament, repentance (also called contrition) is just one of the three acts—the other two being “confession” and “satisfaction.”

Evangelicals, on the other hand, define repentance as:

an inward change of mind, affections, convictions and commitment, rooted in the fear of God and sorrow for offenses committed against him, which, when accompanied by faith in Jesus Christ, results in an outward turning from sin to God and his service in all of life. It is never regretted . . . and it is given by God (Acts 11:18).[1] 

Evangelicals view repentance as a gift God bestows on the believer (Acts 11:18). The Catholic doctrine, however, suggests that repentance is channeled “through the bishop and his priests who forgive sins in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of satisfaction” to “re-establish [the repentant] in ecclesial communion.”[2] In the Filipino context, this view of penance results in a serious misunderstanding of the biblical doctrine of repentance, on two counts.

First, because of the Roman Catholic sacrament of penance associates repentance with contrition, the Biblical doctrine of repentance is mistakenly understood by many Filipinos as “all daunting associations of sin, guilt, penalty.”[3]

As such, the doctrine of repentance has also, unfortunately, taken on the sense of the English secular definition of “repentance” as “a feeling of sorrow about wrongdoing.”[4] But repentance is actually about much more than sorrow.

The second misunderstanding sees repentance as an act possessing portents of dread and misery—affective, yes, but also wholly negative. Legal terror motivates the act, rather than positive affections. I will deal with these two misunderstandings in order.

Misunderstanding One: “Daunting Associations” or Commercium Admirabile?           

Among Filipinos, the Biblical doctrine of repentance tends to be mistakenly understood as “all daunting associations of sin, guilt, penalty.” The Vulgate translates the Greek metanoia (repentance) with poenitentia (penitensya). And in the Filipino consciousness, penitensya may even refer to dramatic acts of self-abasement such as flagellation and/or crucifixion in front of a crowd of onlookers during Holy Week.Given these dramatic examples of self-abasement, it isn’t surprising that the common Filipino concept of repentance mirrors the English secular definition, “a feeling of sorrow about wrongdoing.”[5]

Recall that the Catholic definition of repentance or contrition is “sorrow for the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again.”[6] Theologically, although sorrow is an important ingredient of true repentance, it is not all—certainly not the main thing—of repentance. Thinking of repentance as balik loob, however, helps us reconstruct a more Biblical model of repentance—one that resonates with Luther’s notion of repentance as a marvelous exachange, a “commercium admirabile.”

Luther’s 1519 sermon entitled “Two Kinds of Righteousness” a theological concept that was important for the rest of his career. In that sermon he talked about “alien righteousness” which is the “the righteousness of Christ by which he justifies through faith.”[7] This alien righteousness was possible because “he took upon himself our sin and our punishment.”[8]

Usually when two parties make a transaction, the commodities are of equal value—a fair trade. On the cross, however, Jesus transacted a less-than-fair trade. McGrath says:

For Luther, the believer and Christ are united in a close union by faith, the believer is sharing in the life of Christ, and Christ in the life of the believer. Faith is like a marriage contract, leading to the mutual of goods between the believer and Jesus Christ. What is ours (sin and death) becomes his, and what is His (salvation and life) becomes ours. The life of Christ breaks through into that of the believer in this marvelous exchange (commercium admirabile).[9] 

Luther’s religious setting was actually similar to the present Catholic setting in Philippines, where repentance is poenitentia with its “daunting associations of sin, guilt, penalty.”[10]            

Luther was not the first to strike this note. The church fathers, viewed repentance in the wider light of salvation, renewal and hope. Thus Augustine sees in repentance “a soul . . . created anew after a better pattern . . . hop[ing] and believ[ing] that the body . . . be changed into a better form.”[11]

Augustine thinks that repentance is the act by which humans turns their affections towards an “object of worthy love”.[12] Cyril calls this the “hope of repentance.”[13] Tertullian says:

No one is so truly a Father; no one so rich in paternal love. He, then, will receive you, His own son, back, even if you have squandered what you had received from Him, even if you return naked – just because you have returned; and will joy more over your return than over the sobriety of the other; but only if you heartily repent.[14] 

Luther’s description of the commercim admirabile, and the voices of the church fathers, speak to the Filipino context on two ways. First, their view is an antidote to the idea that repentance is merely the Catholic act of contrition, “sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again.”[15] The prevalence of this idea in Filipino thought has led to the religion of penitensiya and pagluluksa.  Unfortunately, “since the Filipino conscience is disciplined by shame rather than by abstract laws,”[16] the concept of poenitentia, with all its negative associations, has become useful to keep people in line. Lapiz, for example, comments on the prevalence of a defeatist attitude in Filipino Christianity: “Mayroon tayong misconception na dapat ang Christian life ay puro pagtitiis, puro fasting at puro na lamang pananahimik.”[17]

Filipino Christianity needs to reframe the doctrine of repentance using Luther’s concept of a commercium admirabile to help shape the pagbabalik loob. The commercium admirabile concept is not so much Westernization of Filipino theology as it helps ground the doctrine of repentance in scripture. Why?

A person na nagbabalik loob is not merely full of sorrow and at a dead end, but is, rather, actually hoping for renewal to come to him. Whatever sorrow repentance may cause the returning rebel, it is the kindness of state, which is willing to restore and renew, that really stands out for him. Similarly, for Christians, it is the kindness of God—the waiting father who wishes to restore and renew—that makes repentance a positive and hopeful act. What was the value of what the sinner has to trade? Nothing. What is the value of God offers in return? Everything. That is Luther's commercium admirabile and that is inherent in balik loob!

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<a name="_ftn1" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref1" title="_ftn1"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[1]</span></a>Carl Kromminga, “Repentance,” Harrison, 444; emphasis added.

<a name="_ftn2" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref2" title="_ftn2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[2]</span></a>Ibid., 341.

<a name="_ftn3" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref3" title="_ftn3"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[3]</span></a> Edith Simon, The Reformation (New York, NY: 1966), 38. This book also narrates the struggles of a repenting Martin Luther despairing over poenitentia.

<a name="_ftn4" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref4" title="_ftn4"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[4]</span></a>Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

<a name="_ftn5" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref5" title="_ftn5"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[5]</span></a>Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

<a name="_ftn6" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref6" title="_ftn6"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[6]</span></a>Catechism, 342.

<a name="_ftn7" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref7" title="_ftn7"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[7]</span></a>Martin Luther, “Two Kinds of Righteousness,” in Luther’s Works: Career of the Reformer, ed., Harold Grimm (1519; Philadelphia, PH: Fortress Press, 1957), 297.

<a name="_ftn8" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref8" title="_ftn8"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[8]</span></a>Ibid., 301.

<a name="_ftn9" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref9" title="_ftn9"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[9]</span></a> Alister McGrath, Roots That Refresh: A Celebration of Reformed Spirituality (Kent London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1991), 82.

<a name="_ftn10" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref10" title="_ftn10"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[10]</span></a> Edith Simon, The Reformation (New York, NY: 1966), 38. This book also narrates the struggles of a repenting Martin Luther despairing over poenitentia.

<a name="_ftn11" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref11" title="_ftn11"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[11]</span></a>Augustine, 2:527.

<a name="_ftn12" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref12" title="_ftn12"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[12]</span></a>Ibid., 2:528.

<a name="_ftn13" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref13" title="_ftn13"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[13]</span></a>Cyril, The Catechetical Lectures of Cyril, transl. E.H Gifford, in NPNF, eds., Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (n.p., 1978), 9.

<a name="_ftn14" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref14" title="_ftn14"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[14]</span></a>Tertullian, On Repentance, 663.

<a name="_ftn15" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref15" title="_ftn15"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[15]</span></a>Catechism, 342.

<a name="_ftn16" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref16" title="_ftn16"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[16]</span></a>Maggay, The Gospel in Filipino Context (Metro Manila, PH: OMF Literature, 1987), 12.

<a name="_ftn17" href="http://www.cbs-asia.org/content/view/37/40/#_ftnref17" title="_ftn17"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[17]</span></a> Lapiz, Pagbabalik, 161.