[Brauns] argues that repentance is not only the way into the Christian life but the ongoing way of the Christian life. Progressive sanctification requires daily, specific repentance, not merely general confession. He introduces the ordinary means of grace as the God-ordained channels through which repentance is worked out. He teaches us how to evaluate repentance, to express repentance, and also how to receive the repentant, even when it’s not easy.

Repentance is hardly a welcome topic. It feels negative and uncomfortable, and it requires us to be a little too honest about who we really are.

But Chris Brauns has an agenda: he wants us to repent for our joy. “We should meditate on and work out our repentance to know and experience the joy of those who have turned from crushing burdens to find rest in Christ, who deserves all glory.”

Brauns has written a helpful book called The Way of Repentance: Embracing God’s Gift for a Transformed Life. Using the Bible, the Westminster Standards, and his strong experience as a pastor, he argues that repentance is not a heavy task but a gift from the gospel that brings true and lasting joy.

The book is organized in two parts.

In part 1, Brauns establishes the theological foundation. He defines repentance as “a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.” He argues that repentance is not a human work but a gift God grants, inseparably linked to faith as two sides of the same coin.

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