Repentance and
Forgiveness

INTRODUCTION

Is Repentance Still Necessary after a Person has Been Saved?

Because a large percentage of Christians today believe in the Justification Gospel and the once saved always saved idea that goes with it, they conclude that sin cannot cost us our salvation. This means that we do not need to repent, or ask for forgiveness for our sins after we have been saved.

The source of the confusion that has arisen over this topic is a result of misunderstanding what repentance means and what it is for.

The Wrong Definition: (derived from human thinking)
Whenever we sin, we must approach God and beg for forgiveness. This leads us to bargain with God, by promising resolutions to never sin again. When the inevitable failures continue, the sinner is driven to feel increased guilt and separation from God. The end result (as in my case) is walking away from God altogether.

The Human Solution to the Wrong Definition:
Because this cycle is clearly not healthy it is concluded that we don't need to repent because, Jesus died for all sins past present and future. We were justified by the blood of the cross, not our act of repentance. We are free from the guilt of sin, but where does this leave us?

The Correct Definition including Sanctification:
When we learn that God has already forgiven us it leads us to repentance. Take the story of the prodigal son. It was the son's assumption that his father would not forgive him that kept him from returning home. Had he known that his father was watching longingly for him everyday, and had already forgiven him, how much sooner would he have come home? The key is that as a result of His father's unconditional forgiveness, his heart is broken and he truly repented never to entertain the thought of repeating his rebellion. This changed heart that results is process of sanctification.
Sanctification could have never occurred had he #1. Had to earn his father's forgiveness with a convincing confession and promise of never rebelling again. Or #2. Returned home to discover that yes his father had forgiven him, but remained indifferent to his return as it didn't really matter to him if he stayed away or not, as he would still be his son no matter what. Sadly this picture of God in example #2 is accidentally portrayed by any Christian who believes repentance is unnecessary.

Sanctification occurred as a result of the son seeing his father love him unconditionally. And when he saw his father's love for him, and whitnessed his father's joy in seeing him turn from sin, he was brought to real repentance.

Rom 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, and the forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

1Jn 4:19  We love Him because He first loved us.

Notice here that God starts out by loving and forgiving us first, which breaks our hearts and leads us to repentance. Now does it make any sense that this only occurs on a special occasion, the day of your baptism? Well it would if we were cured of all sin on the day we are saved, but clearly we are not. Yes we are justified on that day, but what is it that truly separates us from the world? The fact that when we sin, God through His Spirit will reveal to us our sin, and lead us to repentance so that our hearts may continue to be broken so that we "shall be purified, and made white."

9. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.
10. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
11. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner:

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT POINT!
When we follow the correct process of forgiveness, the result is that our prayer and repentance becomes much more intimate, fullfilling and enjoyable. When we believe God truely forgives us, our prayer takes on a different purpose. We go from trying to convince God to forgive us to being comfortable just discussing the nitty gritty of our problems. All those deep dark secrets that we cant tell anyone else. All the things that no one else can understand, God understands. All the problems that our friends have no answers for we can tell God, and He gives us the answer, open our eyes to why we fall, and gives us peace through trials. This can only happen when we accept that God knows all our thoughts, yet still forgives us.

In the words of these verses below: God knows all our secrets, desires that we renounce them and bring them to the light so that He can reward us openly and commend our conscience in the sight of God.

Mar 4:22 For there is nothing hidden which shall not be revealed; nor became covered, but that it might come to the light.
____________________________________________________________________

Mat 6:6 But you, when you pray, enter into your room. And shutting your door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.
__________________________________________________________

2Co 4:2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the Word of God, but by the revelation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Amen!

Now that we know what repentance is, and that it isn't something to dread, lets see if the Bible teaches that repentance is an essential part of our walk with God.

Now before we begin, lets clear up a silly argument. Is [God's Goodness] ---> [Our Repentance], just a tricky way of saying [Responding in Repentance] ---> [Earning Salvation]? Does this just turn into an argument that goes around and around in circles?

The revealing answer is that only those who haven't or aren't experiencing God's love breaking their hearts would argue this way. The same way a young man is judged by his friends for transforming his behavior as a result of falling in love. His buddies exclaim he is her slave while her friends warn her that he is merely trying to earn his way into you know what. "Love" just cannot be explained, it must be experienced. This is why Jesus did not focus on preaching about love to his disciples but rather demonstrated it and encouraged them to experience it themselves.

Now lets look at what the Bible reveals about how Justification, Sanctified and Repentance really work.
Q: If Jesus died for all sins, past present and future, does my repentance on the day I am saved cover my sins in the past present and future?

23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24. being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25. whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, Rom 3

A: Now if we are forgiven for all our sins on the day of our baptism, why does this verse refer to the forgiveness of sins "previously committed?" What does this mean about the sins we commit in the present and future?

 

The story of the serpant in the wilderness will help to answer this question better by revealing how Justification, Sanctification and Repentance go hand in hand. This is one of many examples in the Bible thatwill help to add depth to this topic.

8. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live."
9. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Num 21

Although the God had endowed the Bronze serpent with the power to heal all their sickness, they still had to "look at it" in order to live.

14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, Joh. 3

Were the Israelites saved by works through their actions of looking at the serpent? They could have looked at it all day long, but only because God mysteriously endowed this gift were they healed. And why this particular test for Israel? The reason they were infested by serpents was because they had lost trust in God and ignored God's direction through the snake infested wilderness. God then provided this test for them which is an illustration of how vital it was for them to trust God.

The beautiful truth that is revealed here is this. God already forgiving us before we ask is about as hard to comprehend as being healed by looking at a bronze serpent. But in order to be healed they had to truly believe it to the point where they actually struggled out, in their painful inflamed condition to where they could see it and look at it. The forgiveness analogy works like this. People who claim they believe they are forgiven, yet wont ask, represent those who stayed in their tents in disbelief that a bronze serpent could heal them. People who repent yet remain riddled with guilt and continue unchanged each time they repent also do not truly believe they are forgiven. But those who truly believe they are forgiven are compelled by this belief to fall to their knees in true repentance. Not the other way around. These are forgiven AND healed of their spiritual infirmities. Now can you see how useless repentance and justification are without sanctification? What good would the bronze serpent be if it did not cure them of their poison? What if God said "look upon the bronze serpent and you will live, ..... but the paralysis and burning pain of the poison will remain." This is how utterly senseless it is to separate Sanctification and Justification.

 

Now we will take a look at how essential Repentance is to the Sanctification process.

In the The Lords Prayer, Jesus says."Forgive us as we forgive others"

Now here we have a statement which may seem puzzling too those defending the once saved allways side. This concept that if we don't forgive others, we ourselves wont be forgiven by God, presents a threat to the justification gospel. And then wait... why do we see another reference to asking for forgiveness on a continual basis if all was forgiven at the cross?

The truth is that there is no reason to feel threatened by this verse. The reason Jesus included it in the Lord's Prayer is because it reveals a powerful truth. A truth that is the back bone of what our Christian experience is meant to be. And here is the truth: Both forgiving others and asking forgiveness from others and God is not only essential to the process of sanctification, but literally is the process of sanctification.

 

• Asking Forgiveness from God (Forgive us..)

During this process we are humbled in a godly manner, and our heart is broken when God reveals to us the truth about our sin. But because we cannot begin to comprehend the repercussions of our sinful actions, Jesus chose the innocent lamb and them Himself to "fill the gap." Both sacrifices open our eyes to how terrible sin is. When the sinner of the old covenant saw the consequence the innocent lamb paid right before his eyes, their heart was broken. Today we have the better sacrifice in Jesus which is the only thing which can turn our hearts from cold to full of love.

1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

• Asking Forgiveness from Eachother

Here is a central key to our sanctification. If we commit a sin against someone, and merely ask God for forgiveness, then relish in the belief that we are forgiven, we are missing the whole point. And the point is that God wants to change our hearts. When we humble ourselves and appologize to eachother, our heart is humbled, and guilt removed. And best yet, the separation that was created as a result of this sin, is taken away. Think about this. If you knew that you would have to repent to every person you sinned against, would you sin so freely in the first place? Would there be any point to stealing or lying if you knew eventually you would have to confess? Or how less appealing would it be to treat others rudely or lose our temper with them if it meant we would inevitably be asking their forgivenss somewhere down the road?

Jas 5:16 Confess faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much.

• Forgiving Eachother (..as we forgive others.)

Here is the other side of the coin of sanctification. Truely it takes the power of God to forgive someone. When we come to God begging for the strength to forgive others, God rewards us with strength and wisdom to understand how their mind may have been twisted to do what they did. In some cases it reveals to us our own part in the matter. In other situations we see how a person can have their mind completely twisted to sin against us. And in the worst cases we see people who continue to celebrate their evil deeds against us, while being fully incapeable of being aware of their evil. In these cases God alone can bring us to the point of peace where we say in our hearts "Forgive them father, they know not what they do." Our choice to forgive or resent others directly effects our sanctification process. Either hardening and darkening our hearts or lifting our minds higher to see the world as God sees it.

Luk 17:4 And if he trespasses against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turns again to you, saying, I repent, you shall forgive him

 

Now lets see what the Bible says about when repentance should occur.

On the day we are saved?
Or, Continually throughout our walk with God?

Well the first thing to consider is that no where does the Bible specify that we are only to repent on the day we are saved. This should leave one doubting this concept right off the bat, but oddly enough the onus is put squarely upon the other side to prove that we must continue to repent after we are baptized. So here we go. Lets see if the proof is there...

To begin lets take a look at a series of verses written to the churches of Revelation. These were long time Christians receiving these letters from John, not new converts...

To the Church of Ephesus
Rev 2:5 Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent.

Because they had left their first works, they needed to repent. Note what would happen if they did not repent.

To the Church of Sardis
Rev 3:3 Remember then how you have received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.

God tells them to repent because they failed to hold fast and to remember the things they first heard. And again, what is the consequence of failing to repent and hold fast? They will not be ready for the 2nd coming.

To the Church of Laodicea
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; therefore be zealous and repent.

Here is Sanctification in its very essence. God promises to continualy teach us through rebuking and chastening us. And what is part of this process? Repenting.

 

All these verses continue to stress that repentance and sanctification are a part of our salvation. Sofar it seems very convicning that repentance is a continual process, essential for sanctifiction and therefore essential for justification as well.

Now if all this is true, the Bible would need to explain how God reaches us in His efforts to convict us of sin and lead us to repentance.

1Jn 3:17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18. My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
19. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
20. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
21. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
22. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
23. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
24. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

When our conscience condemns us, we know that God is revealing sin to us. If we respond to this by not excusing our sin, our heart will not condemn us, and we will have true confidence towards God. Then the wonderful result will be that we will be in tune with God when we pray, rather than feeling separated.

Rom 2:15 who show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and the thoughts between one another accusing or even excusing one another,

 

All the verses on this topic have not been included on this page in efforts to keep it as short as possible. I am certain nothing has been left out that could challenge the overal conclusion that these verses have put forth. I have searched the entire Bible and found nothign indicating that repentence is something that is only done on the day we are saved. With all the verses which support that repentance is to continue throughout our Christian walk, the only arguement one could present against this is to find some verses they believe contradict these verses. This is not a wise way to find truth as this would mean the Bible contradicts itself, and we are incapeable of understanding why. And that its good enough to pick the handful of verses that suit our preference. Rather than doing this, we must pray about it and not be satisfied till we can harmonize all verses pertaining to a topic.

For now consider that not only do we have several verses stating that repentace is a coninual process, but we we have passages describing how the process works and even why we are to ask forgiveness. And most importantly we see that repentance is central to the sanctification process. And since sanctification goes hand in hand with being justified, we can see why this topic is worth study and prayer.

With all this in mind, now lets read this well known verse and see how it summarizes everything we've just studied.

1Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

"If" we "walk" in the light. What does this indicate? Walking is something done continually. How else could we say this? how about "Give us this day our daily bread" and "forgive us as we forgive others." All these describe continual processes. What happens when we walk continually? Jesus "cleanses" us from all sin. Notice how it doesnt say "justify us from all sin and cleanse us from some sin." Now notice this big 2 letter word again. "If we confess," He does what? Forgives us and Justifies us AND doesn't stop there, but cleanses us from all unrighteousness."

 

I Hope this has brought to light the beautiful truth of the Everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ

 

Please send your feedback to Denemoore@yahoo.com