Repentance is turning away from sin and returning to God. Holiness is the life that follows — a life set apart for God in what a person does, says and desires. Repentance is the door; holiness is the road. Scripture treats them as one message, never as two separate choices.
What does repentance mean in the Bible?
Repentance is a change of direction, not only a change of feeling.
Two words carry it. In the Hebrew Scriptures it is shuv, meaning to turn back or return — a physical image of someone stopping on a road and walking the other way. In the Greek New Testament it is metanoia, often explained as a change of mind.
That second explanation is worth handling carefully. It comes from breaking the word into its parts, and lexicographers caution that a word means what it is used to mean, not simply what its pieces suggest. In New Testament usage metanoia carries the fuller sense of turning from sin to God — closer to the Hebrew shuv than to a purely mental adjustment.
Both Testaments describe the same movement. A person stops going one way and goes another.
This is why the first recorded preaching of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ opens with the same command:
Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It was not an introduction to the message. It was the message.
What is the difference between repentance and feeling sorry?
Feeling sorry is an emotion. Repentance is a turning that changes how a person lives.
A man can weep over his sin on Sunday and return to it on Monday. That is regret. Scripture keeps the two apart:
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Notice the order. Sorrow comes before repentance in that sentence, not instead of it. Godly sorrow leads somewhere — it produces confession, and then forsaking.
Judas and Peter both felt the weight of what they had done. Only one of them turned.
John the Baptist made results the test for anyone claiming to have repented, telling the crowds to bring forth fruits meet for repentance (Matthew 3:8). The fruit is the evidence. Without it, the claim is only words.
How does a person repent?
By confessing sin honestly to God, forsaking it, and asking Christ for cleansing. Scripture gives the pattern in two verses, and both halves are required.
The first is confession:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The second is forsaking:
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
Confession names the sin. Forsaking leaves it. A person who does the first without the second has admitted a fault, not turned from it.
In practice this means naming sins specifically rather than praying generally about wrongdoing, cutting off whatever makes returning easy, and making restitution where someone was wronged — as Zacchaeus did when he repaid fourfold what he had taken (Luke 19:8).
Note also what is not in these verses. No fee. No waiting period. No human intermediary. The mercy is promised to the one who comes.
What is holiness?
Holiness means being set apart for God.
The Hebrew word qadosh describes something separated from common use and reserved for a sacred purpose. A gold vessel in the temple was holy not because of the metal, but because it was reserved for God and used for nothing else.
Applied to a person, it means the same thing: a life reserved for God rather than divided between God and sin.
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.
In the English of the King James Version, conversation means a whole manner of life, not speech alone. The instruction covers conduct, not just words — which is why holiness is not confined to what happens in church on Sunday.
What does holiness look like in daily life?
It shows in ordinary, testable things rather than in religious language.
It appears in honesty about money. In speech that stays clean when a person is angry. In faithfulness within marriage and purity before it. In modest dress, in refusing bribes, and in doing work carefully when no supervisor is watching.
These are not extra rules added onto salvation. They are what a turned life produces, in the way a healthy tree produces fruit without being forced.
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Can anyone actually live a holy life?
Yes — but not by human effort alone.
This is where many people give up, having tried to reform themselves and failed. Scripture never asks a person to manufacture holiness out of his own strength. It presents it as the work of the Holy Spirit in someone who has genuinely repented.
Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
The order matters. The verse does not say defeat the appetite first and the Spirit will follow. It puts walking in the Spirit first, with the change following from it.
Growth is real and it is gradual. Believers still stumble, and 1 John 1:9 remains available every time. The difference Scripture draws is between a person who falls and rises, and a person who has never turned at all.
Why are repentance and holiness never preached apart?
Because each is incomplete without the other.
Repentance without holiness is a turning that does not last. Holiness attempted without repentance is outward behaviour over an unchanged heart — the fault Jesus named when He compared the Pharisees to whited sepulchres, clean outside and full of death within (Matthew 23:27).
The two words describe one movement: away from sin, and toward God. That is why this ministry carries both in its name, and why Scripture places them in a single sentence:
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
Holiness is not presented there as an advanced level for a few devoted believers. It is presented as the condition for seeing God. What that verse does and does not require is set out at length in without holiness no man shall see the Lord.
Why does this message matter now?
Because repentance can only be chosen while a person is alive to choose it. Scripture presents the call as urgent rather than open-ended.
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
The invitation is open to anyone reading this, whatever is behind them. It carries no precondition of self-reform. A person is not asked to clean himself up and then come, but to come and be cleansed.
What is the Ministry of Repentance and Holiness?
The Ministry of Repentance and Holiness is a Kenyan Christian ministry founded and led by Prophet Dr. David Owuor. It has preached repentance and holiness in Kenya since the early 2000s, and gathers congregations at altars across the country and beyond. Unlike ministries built around prosperity teaching, its emphasis has remained on turning from sin and living a set-apart life.
Four commitments run through everything the ministry teaches:
- Repentance — the urgent call to turn from sin, preached to the Church and to the nation alike.
- Holiness — that a holy life is the evidence of genuine salvation, not an optional addition to it.
- The Cross — that salvation is found only through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
- The authority of Scripture — the Bible as the final authority, taught without compromise.
This message is carried through preaching, revival meetings, healing services, conferences and broadcasts that reach well beyond Kenya. What the ministry is preparing the Church for is set out in what is the rapture of the church?, and the patience that gives a person time to turn is the subject of why does God allow suffering?
Everything set out in this article is the message the ministry exists to carry. There is more about the ministry and its founder.
Frequently asked questions
What does repentance mean in the Bible?
Repentance means turning away from sin and returning to God. The Hebrew shuv means to turn back, and the Greek metanoia carries the sense of a changed mind that produces changed conduct. John the Baptist tested the claim by its results, telling the crowds to bring forth fruits meet for repentance (Matthew 3:8).
What is holiness in the Bible?
Holiness means being set apart for God. The Hebrew qadosh describes something separated from common use and reserved for a sacred purpose, as a temple vessel was holy because it was used for nothing else. Applied to a person it means a life reserved for God, which 1 Peter 1:15 extends to all manner of conversation — the whole way of life.
What is the difference between repentance and regret?
Regret is an emotion; repentance is a turning that changes how a person lives. 2 Corinthians 7:10 distinguishes godly sorrow, which works repentance to salvation, from the sorrow of the world, which works death. Judas felt remorse and it ended in his death; Peter wept bitterly and was restored.
How do I repent and be saved?
Scripture gives two halves. Confession — if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). And forsaking — whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Proverbs 28:13). In practice that means naming sins specifically, cutting off what feeds them, and making restitution where someone was wronged, as Zacchaeus did in Luke 19:8. There is no fee, no waiting period and no human intermediary in these verses.
Can a person actually live a holy life?
Yes, but not by human effort alone. Galatians 5:16 gives the order — walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh — rather than requiring the flesh to be defeated first. Growth is gradual, believers still stumble, and 1 John 1:9 remains available every time. The difference is between a person who falls and rises and a person who has never turned at all.
Why are repentance and holiness always preached together?
Because each is incomplete without the other. Repentance without holiness is a turning that does not last, and holiness attempted without repentance is outward behaviour over an unchanged heart — what Jesus called whited sepulchres in Matthew 23:27. Hebrews 12:14 places them in one sentence and makes holiness the condition for seeing the Lord.
What does holiness look like in daily life?
It shows in ordinary, testable things rather than in religious language: honesty about money, speech that stays clean under anger, faithfulness in marriage and purity before it, modest dress, refusing bribes, and doing work carefully when no supervisor is present. Matthew 7:17 frames these as fruit — what a turned life produces, not rules added onto salvation.
What is the Ministry of Repentance and Holiness?
It is a Kenyan Christian ministry founded and led by Prophet Dr. David Owuor, preaching repentance and holiness in Kenya since the early 2000s and gathering congregations at altars across the country and beyond. Its stated mission is to restore the gospel of repentance, righteousness and holiness, and its stated vision is to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. Its emphasis is on turning from sin and living a set-apart life rather than on prosperity teaching.
Sources
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version, which is in the public domain. Explanations of Hebrew and Greek terms follow standard lexical reference works. The mission and vision above are the ministry's own statements; other descriptions of its teaching are summarised and are not direct quotations.
Key scriptures
- Matthew 3:2
- Matthew 4:17
2 Corinthians 7:10
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
2 Corinthians 7:10, KJV · as set out in What is the importance of repentance?
Matthew 3:8
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
Matthew 3:8, NIV · as set out in What does the Highway of Holiness mean in Isaiah 35?
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9, KJV · as set out in What does the Bible say about repentance and holiness?
Proverbs 28:13
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
Proverbs 28:13, KJV · as set out in What does the Bible say about repentance and holiness?
- Luke 19:8
1 Peter 1:15
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.
1 Peter 1:15, KJV · as set out in What does the Bible say about repentance and holiness?
Matthew 7:17
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Matthew 7:17, KJV · as set out in What does the Bible say about repentance and holiness?
Galatians 5:16
Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Galatians 5:16, KJV · as set out in What does the Bible say about repentance and holiness?
- Matthew 23:27
Hebrews 12:14
Make every effort… to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Hebrews 12:14, NIV · as set out in What does the Highway of Holiness mean in Isaiah 35?
