Coming Up Repentance

Forgiveness of sins does not, of itself, erase the need, in some contexts, for painful, and fitting consequences. If a man robs a bank and then throws himself on the mercy of God in Christ his sin will most surely be covered. And the man will be able to rejoice in that glorious truth as he repays what he stole and pays his debt to society. This, however, does not mean that any and all consequences are actually fitting. Being found out in our sin may mean facing sanctions of various kinds. What it should not include, after our repentance, is the approbation, the hatred and displeasure of the people of God.

The Christian church is that body which is defined by its confession of sin. We’re that club that you can’t join until you admit that you’re not worthy to join. To turn on others who likewise confess their unworthiness is unworthy of those who bear His name. Nor are we called to examine the repentance of another under an electron microscope, thinking we can discern its sincerity value. The truth of the matter is the most pressing thing we all need to do after we have repented of our sins is to repent for the weakness of our repentance. I get the need for correction when repentance is perfunctory or utterly incomplete. That’s not the same thing, however, as Monday morning spiritual quarterbacking.

I fear our reluctance to forgive the repentant is a sign of a lack of our own repentance. Are we not all given to the temptation to confess that while we may be sinners, at least we aren’t that kind of sinner? I’m less than perfect, but I’m not one of those. Funny how when it’s our own sin, or the sin of someone we love we’re so quick to bring out that old mistaken chestnut that all sins are equal, but when it’s the sin of another, someone we don’t love, we’re all about drawing distinctions on sin. Some sins are indeed worse than others (see Jesus rebuking the Pharisees for neglecting the “weightier matters of the law” Matthew 23:23). But all of them, save the unforgivable sin, are both forgivable, and sins we are each quite capable of committing.

I fear our reluctance to forgive is also a sign of our love of the world. When the sin is abhorrent to the world, and the sinner in question is a social pariah, we realize that if we also don’t treat the sinner as a pariah, we will become pariahs. We distance ourselves from the other. We may be Christians, but we’re not that kind of Christian. We forget that our forgiveness is bound up in our Lord identifying Himself with us in the very face of the wrath of His Father. He did not see us as other, but made us one with Him, even on and to the cross. Our shame toward our brothers is made shameful by our Elder Brother’s shameless embracing of us.

Just as the gap between believer and unbeliever isn’t no sin and sin but between repentance and unrepentance, so the gap between joy and sorrow in looking to the lives of those whom we love isn’t between sin and no sin, but repentance and unrepentance. As surely as forgiveness does, so joy and gratitude follow hot on the heels of repentance.