When Restitution Can Never Restore

“What can I do when restitution is not possible?”

 

One email I received reinforced this question well:

Whilst I fully agree with the principle of restitution, it is not always possible to carry it out. How does a murderer restore? How does a sex offender restore?

The short answer is: “It can’t.”

Frequently, we have illustrated the process of forgiveness through the events in 2 Samuel 11-12. David committed adultery with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. He then arranged the death of Uriah. Through all this, he betrayed the nation’s trust, and above all, he sinned against the Lord.

David’s adultery violated the marriage covenant, and it could not be “unviolated.” Uriah could not be “unkilled,” and the trust of the nation could not be “unbetrayed.” No amount of money could pay or make restitution for these offenses.

Forgiveness does not overlook injustice, deny an offense, or erase consequences. So, what can we do when the offense is beyond the limits of restitution?

 

The inadequacy of restitution

As we have learned previously, restitution is repentance in works—that is, concrete actions. Its purpose is to restore a victim to wholeness to the greatest extent possible.

Restitution can pay a victim for what was stolen or damaged by an offender. To some extent, it can even compensate a person who has been injured by covering costs such as treatment, rehabilitation, and lost wages.

When it comes to such matters as adultery, abuse, and wrongful death, restitution is inadequate. No amount of money can undo adultery,[1] cancel abuse, or restore life to the dead.

So, can anything be done? Is there no concrete action to express repentance beyond words and money?

My answer to both these questions is “Yes.” Let me explain.

 

Reparative repentance

I have come up with the term “reparative repentance.” Perhaps a better term is “producing fruit in keeping with repentance.”

In Luke 3, we hear John the Baptist (3:7-14):

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”

Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

“Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.

Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

I appreciate that John’s instructions to the crowd, the tax collectors, and the soldiers are framed in monetary terms. Still, we should not miss the point that he is directing them to change their behavior—to express the genuineness of their repentance through concrete actions.

John was calling people to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Elsewhere, Paul speaks in the same vein (Acts 26:20):

 … repent and turn to God and prove [your] repentance by [your] deeds.

In other words, genuinely repentant people must manifest the reality of their repentance by a concrete, public, costly reversal of their former lives.

So, “reparative repentance” is my proposed term for this grace-filled, continuous repentance of a changed heart and life. Restitution is a subset of this overarching concept of producing fruit in keeping with repentance.

 

 A case study

Let’s briefly consider the life of Saul of Tarsus, later known as Paul the apostle.

Saul of Tarsus caused immeasurable harm to Christians. There is substantial information about his offenses, much from Paul himself (e.g., Acts 8:1-3; 22:4, 19-20; 26:9-11; Galatians 1:13)

For instance, in Acts 22:4, he says:

“I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison …”

And in 1 Timothy 1:13, he describes himself as:

“… formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man.”   

Paul acknowledged he was responsible for imprisoning Christians and complicit in their deaths. The phrase “cast my vote against them” in Acts 26:10 shows participation in their condemnation, while Acts 22:20 shows his approval of Stephen’s killing. Paul could not “unpersecute” or “unkill” those people.

Paul’s repentance could not restore the lives he had destroyed or erase the fear he had caused. He could not pay restitution to his victims in a measurable-payback sense. But his life became reparative in a broader sense: his whole life manifested his repentance by a concrete, grace-filled reversal of his former life—a life of reparative repentance.[2]

• The persecutor became a preacher (Galatians 1:23; Ephesians 3:8);
• the destroyer became a builder (2 Corinthians 10:8; 13:10); and
• the imprisoner of believers became a prisoner for Christ (2 Corinthians 11:23; Ephesians 3:1; 4:1; Philemon 1:9, 23).

What are some concrete actions we can identify from Paul’s life of reparative repentance?

 

Some components of reparative repentance

Drawing on the case study of Saul/Paul, here are several general observations that offer insights into what a life of reparative repentance might look like.

1. Fruit of Repentance

At its foundation, this is repentance. Therefore, we can expect to see a “change of attitude toward self, toward sin, toward God, toward Christ.”[3]

A repentant offender will confess by expressing his wrongdoing and admitting the harm caused. Sin must be named without evasions, euphemisms, or self-protective reduction. Implicitly, this act acknowledges to the victim that an injustice was committed and expresses the resolve to remedy it to the greatest extent possible.

In Paul’s case, we can briefly identify three additional actions that evidence repentance, which we will extend by proposing a simple (and perhaps inadequate) illustration of a hypothetical drunk driver who killed a pedestrian.

a. Stop doing harm.

Saul “was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” and had letters authorizing the arrest of Christians in Damascus. After the events of his trip to that city, he immediately stopped persecuting Christians (Acts 9:1-6).

In the case of the driver, he immediately stopped consuming any alcohol.

b. Submit willingly to proper authority.

Saul changed his allegiance, immediately submitting to the authority of Jesus Christ, and was baptized (9:17-19).

The driver submits to the proper authorities, admits his guilt, and accepts the penalty.

c. Starts living in the new way of repentance.

As for Saul, “at once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God” (9:20-22). He continued to proclaim Jesus Christ for the rest of his life.

The repentant driver takes treatment by completing a rehabilitation program, serves his court sentence, and speaks to school assemblies on drinking and driving. These concrete actions have been referred to in some literature as “‘symbolic’ restitution, where the offense is too great for restitution or when the damage is not tangible or monetary.”[4]

2. Respecting the reluctance of others.

Saul was feared by Christians (9:26):

When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.

Saul did not demand acceptance or immediate trust.

I have met offenders who have an unwarranted sense of entitlement to be fully and immediately reinstated to their former position upon confessing their wrongdoing. People, especially victims, need time to see evidence of genuine repentance in an offender’s life. That may include mediation, testimony, and other proofs. Sometimes that trust is never recovered.

3. Not forgetting.

Saul/Paul did not forget who he had been and what he had done. In one of several statements, Paul writes (Galatians 1:13):

For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.

A few verses later, he writes (1:23-24):

[The Christians in Judea] only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me.

In another extended text (1 Timothy 1:12-16), Paul shows he had not forgotten:

¹³ Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. … ¹⁵ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Much more can be added to this provisional proposal for reparative restitution, so here is my invitation to you.

 

An invitation

I offer this post as a tentative proposal for reparative restitution—the way forward in situations where restitution is completely inadequate to return a victim to wholeness.

I invite your constructive criticism.

My ruminations have led me to ask several questions. Here are the questions I asked in the newsletter:

1. Is “reparative repentance” a useful label? If not, what would you suggest?

2. Is this concept biblical, and how?

3. Is it practical, and how?

4. What are its weaknesses or deficiencies? How can it be improved and strengthened?

I look forward to your helpful comments and questions. Please get in touch with me using this link.

 

BACK TO What You Asked About Restitution

TO START at the beginning of this series 

 

Notes:

[1] Proverbs 6:32-35 and other texts.

[2] It is important to remember that Paul’s life of reparative repentance did not earn his forgiveness or salvation. He had been forgiven; he was saved. His life was the fruit of repentance; the outflow of God’s grace. See 1 Timothy 1:13-16, etc.

[3] Harry A. Ironside, Except Ye Repent (New York, NY: American Tract Society, 1937), 15.

[4] Eloise K. Thomas, et al., “Religious Leadership Failure: Forgiveness, Apology, and Restitution,” Journal of Spirituality In Mental Health 10/4 (2008), 317.

Photo credit: frankieleon via VisualHunt.com / CC BY