Repentance Reviewed

At least Christians get the doctrine of repentance right.

We are born sinners condemned to die in our sins unless we accept the unmerited saving grace of Christ, which we do by repenting of our sins, accepting Christ as our savio

r and being baptized.

However, we are saved by grace, through faith not of works lest any man should boast, so repentance ought to have little of nothing to do with our salvation, which aligns neatly with those who say in recognition of the omniscience of God, the only conclusion is that we were saved even before we were created.

One thing I have learned is that we can quote scripture but there is no path to a place where Scripture can interpret itself, meaning the different interpretations cannot be reconciled solely by using Scripture or there would not be the number of churches there is, all resilient to calls for ecumenical reconciliation.

What we can be confident of is that God is perfect and therefore, whatever the Bible says, or whatever we think it says, if our interpretation is less logical than an alternative one, knowing the nature of God, the more logical will be more likely true, or at least closer to the truth.

God did not condemn man to damnation for his sin, yet save some before they were born, then send Jesus to die for the sins that the damned will not repent of and the saved are not heir to, being saved before they were born.

It is a difficult time trying to square personal accountability with God’s Sovereignty, an issue brought to the fore in the form of Epicurus Paradox*.

Naturally we are always sorry when we mess up and things do not work out for us. We are sorry when we gamble and lose, because it means we have to gamble and take higher risks to win back what we lost plus what we had hope to win. But is regret the same as repentance?

Regret does not always result in a change of habits, but repentance ought to. Repentance implies a turning away from that which is regrated. It also means that the action is repented because it offends God.

A man addicted to port repents of this and turns to God. He apologizes, acknowledges the wrong of what he did and affirms in his own mind to not be weakened again. He will then ask God to give him strength and help him to stand firm in his resolution.

But imagine if we were a police officer and we catch a person in a crime. More than likely he will repent and perhaps we might be tempted to forgive him and let him off with a warning. But if following this we see him still with the same gang members, still acting much the same and involved in the same habits and lifestyle, how repentant do we think he is? So, it is with God. Repenting of the act or even of the life one led, is insufficient if the life we led is not itself, repented of. This repentance falls flat if we remain in the same kind of environment which led to the sin in the first place.

If we repent of our diet, do we continue to purchase the same items which caused our regret?

To put this an even more extreme way, if we were friends with a group that we discovered were acting against our country, would we remain friends, would we not even take the next step and ensure that they are exposed and disbanded?

We say we repent, but what is repented of, the misfortune of some act or series of acts or being part of a world of sin?

If everything we know and everyone we know contributes to our sin-life, what does it mean to regret the various items that form the environment we are in, when it is the entire environment that is contributing to the sinful life we lead?

In other words, are we honest when we pick out a few things we repent of, while ignoring the framework in which they continue to exist?

Do we cure an epidemic by treating the individual patients whilst the carrier of the disease is let go unmolested?

Christians are too blasé about sin and the injunctions of the Bible. We are to repent of our sin if we truly do repent. But if we do repent, we need to be serious about turning our back on sin.

This is where the difference between the spiritually mature and the spiritually immature kicks in. The spiritual child is responsible only for themselves and how they feel. The have no sense of responsibility for anything other than their own feelings. Salvation for the spiritually immature is determined by their feelings.

When they repent, they repent of a deed and it is usually a known one, meaning they were caught in a violation. The repentance of the spiritually immature has more to do with escaping punishment than with an actual reversal of intent. Whereas the spiritually mature understand the environment he or she is in.

Repentance is not about the event itself, but the framework in which it is located. The spiritually mature repents of the situation rather than the result.

How deep the repentance is determined by how extensive the repentance is, that is how much responsibility the repentant takes for his condition.

If he is spiritually immature his repentance will be similarly constrained. If he or she is spiritually mature his and her repentance will encompass everything connected to the life he or she repents. This means we can tell the level of maturity of the penitent by the amount of his life he wishes to turn around.

Five Stages Of Repentance

The alcoholic repents of over doing it but lapses as sobriety brings to mind the reasons for his alcoholism. It takes him hitting bottom to turn himself around, because the problem was never his drinking but the issues that caused him to over-indulge. So it is with repentance, Christians repent of their sins but rarely the life that causes them to sin.

It’s a calculated maneuver that permits them to continually justify the sinning while continuing to repent of the consequence.

The First Stage:

The First Stage is the stage most Christians are on and remain on which is why nothing changes. The first stage is akin to the alcoholics regret during the end of a binge. The repentant regrets the act and its after math in the way the criminal regrets the crime once arrested.

The Second Stage:

The Second Stage happens when the re-occurring nture of sin is recognized. One repents not stopping the particular action. This is usually accompanied by an excessive self-flagellation.

The Third Stage:

Here we have the stage which committed Christians reach. A more mature Christian realizes they and their lives are a mess. They no longer feel confident as the captain of their fate. In the Fifth Stage the penitent does not hold back about what needs to change.

The Fourth Stage:

Here we have the missionary, pastor, evangelists and all of the officers of the church, the ones who help form the 20/80 rule.

They see not only that their lives re a mess but the lives of everyone ese is a mess and they become activists in the word of God, thinking they are implementing the Great Commission.

The Fifth Stage

In the Fifth Stage the person attains to true Biblical repentance and understand his role in the system. At this stage he becomes far more focused on the beam in his eye. The Apriorian Repentant reforms the world from the inside, out.

This Fifth Stage is a total denial of the flesh. If you need to interpret this differently, think of it as a repudiation of empiricism and the legalist system.

*The Epicurean Paradox Unpacked 2026 Is a lightly edited popular essay which destroys not just the paradox, but everything the paradox assumes but does not make clear. One cannot start off with unfounded allegations or assumptions then derive meaningful conclusions from the lie. This is so whether the lie is stated or unstated and whether this is done deliberately or through being a unwitting accomplice of the world’s greatest liar.