A Meeting of Two Sinners

During a visit with a church member this morning we talked of many wonderful things concerning Jesus Christ, but we fell hard on the subject of "repentance." We also spoke of the inward (invisible) marks of personal righteousness compared to the outward signs of Christian perfection (being conformed to the image of the Father's Son who bears the image of His Father.) -

Romans 8:29 (RSV)
²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren.

In classical Christian theology, this is called sanctification, that is, being made holy. We each know we are never wholly holy. (You like the pun.)


The stages of repentance, are 1. admitting a sin, 2. experiencing a measure of godly sorrow for havng offended God through that particular act, thought or neglected good, 3. an apprehension of Divine mercy, which prompts us to 4. turn(with minds and actions) away from a particular sin back toward a holy Christ.

I love the Westminster Confession where it says that no sin is so small that it cannot damn, nor is any sin so great that it can damn one who is, by the finished work of Christ and the grace of God, truly repentant.

Then we began to address ourselves toward our own soul's condition. We confessed to each that sin finds its way into our minds and actions daily. Do sincerely we repent of each and all of them? We are sorrowful for each of our sins. We desire never to repeat a sin, yet, repeat it we do.


So, that takes us back to the mercy of God and justice of God. Both find their expression and found their satisfactions in and through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. "He who knew no sin, because sin for us."