Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In turning to Christ we must turn away from anything else that would claim us. It is a necessary part of union with Christ, for in returning to our Creator we are like rebels surrendering allegiance to any other. Repentance is not a work that we perform, rather it is an opening to receive Christ; we must be empty of anything or anyone that competes with God for our commitment. As we are united to Christ, we are crucified with Him and dead to the world. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) Repentance is not so much a sorrow for our sins as it is a denial of allegiance to anything but the Lord. Remorse is part of it, but doesn’t stop there. We deny, among other thing, ourselves as our own lords, we relinquish our attempt to “be as gods.” (Genesis 3:5) We accept the fact that we are dust, and to dust we shall return; yet, we have life in the one who has breathed life into us and breathes again, recreating us by water and the spirit. (Genesis 2 and John 21)