Concepts of Repentance and Sanctification in African Perspectives

Abstract

Integral to an understanding of salvation in biblical Christianity is repentance that leads to sanctification and new life in Christ. In most countries in Africa, there are high percentages of people who profess Christianity. Yet, there are also severe issues of integrity, corruption, impunity, graft, theft of public funds, and other ethical evils condemned by the Bible. The national media have also reported on sensational sex scandals involving pastors and other high-ranking church officials, including bishops. These issues and scandals imply a dissonance between profession and practice, creed and credulity. This leads to the conclusion that there may be a misunderstanding among African Christians about the meaning of repentance, sanctification, and salvation. Such dissonance contributes to the famous assertion that “African Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep.”* [1] Troutman suggests that an African theology of Christian holiness will take the universal biblical core elements of holiness and articulate and describe them using African philosophical concepts and vocabulary.* [2] This chapter explores how far this has taken place in African theologizing.

It critically examines and assesses the understanding of biblical concepts of salvation, repentance, and sanctification in African perspectives. It evaluates their African cultural dynamic equivalents to see if they carry the same meaning. The African understanding of the concepts of repentance and sanctification has influenced the type of Christianity practiced in Africa; as either syncretistic (phony) or genuine to the one catholic (universal) apostolic faith whose quintessential meaning is often known as the “ABC of the gospel”: Accepting that one is a sinner (Rom 3:23); Believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and the only Savior from a life of sin (John 3); and Confessing (repenting of) sin (1 John 1:9) and becoming a new creature (2 Cor 5:17). In a biblical Christian understanding, the salvation experience creates new people who form a new community that exhibits a new life of love and holiness in Christian discipleship. Wherever the truth of the gospel has prevailed, this ABC of the gospel is in evidence. This chapter contends that the depth of the African understanding of repentance and sanctification informs an African understanding of salvation; a faulty understanding of repentance and sanctification leads to an unsound understanding of salvation. If the fruit of salvation is lacking, namely in repentance, sanctification, and holiness of life, it suggests a misunderstanding of the meaning of salvation in ...