Had an interesting conversation with a guy at work the other day. It started with his statement "if someone commits suicide they go to hell because suicide is a sin and they have no chance to repent of that sin before they die". (He didn't know that someone close to me committed suicide. People really should think before they say things like that.) Me: "So you're saying that anyone who hasn't repented of all their sins when they die goes to hell?" Him: "Yes. Unrepented sin is unforgiven sin. Luke 13:1-5 tells us unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Me: "So you've repented of all your sins then?" Him: "Yes, every one of them." (I could stand to lose 30 or 40 lbs. He could stand to lose a lot more than that.) Me: "What about gluttony? Proverbs 23:20 says be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat. Looks like both of us have plenty of unrepented sin hanging over our belts." Him: "Well that's different." (Obviously he's not getting my point so I try approaching the subject from a different angle.) Me: "OK let's look at it this way. Is it possible to repent of every sin you've ever committed just before you take your last breath on earth?" Him: "Yes." Me: "Even the sins you weren't aware of? Repentance implies not only remorse, but a change in behavior. So can you really change bad behavior you weren't aware of?" Him: "Now you're just trying to start an argument." Well, maybe I was. At any rate, that was the end of the conversation.
I was thinking about this conversation later and it reminded me of the movie Toy Story. Buzz Lightyear won't accept the fact that he's a toy, even when Woody yells "YOU ARE A TOY! YOU'RE NOT THE REAL BUZZ LIGHTYEAR, YOU'RE AN ACTION FIGURE! YOU ARE A CHILD'S PLAYTHING!" My co-worker wouldn't have accepted what I was telling him even if I had said: "YOU ARE A SINNER! YOU CAN'T REPENT PERFECTLY BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT PERFECT!" Does that mean repentance is irrelevant? Absolutely not. Christ did call us to repent in Luke 13:1-5. My point was not that repentance is irrelevant but rather that perfect repentance is an oxymoron. Any attempt to compensate for sin by perfect repentance is misguided back door legalism that doesn't work. Romans 3:20: "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his (God's) sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." The idea of perfect repentance is just substituting another law ("I have to repent perfectly to be saved") for the law of Moses, and as we just read no human being will be justified in God's sight by works of the law. Ultimately there is only one way to be justified in God's sight: "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:21-24 ESV)
