M. E. asks a great question:

You may have addressed this in the past, but what do you believe the role of repentance is in the life of the believer? I don’t think it is a requirement for salvation/justification, unless one thinks of it as turning from futile self-reliance to trust in the finished work of Christ alone. But surely, though it doesn’t justify us, repentance is part of the normal Christian experience and is presumably part of the sanctification process. I’ve heard various views of this and would like your perspective. I agree that salvation can’t be lost, even when we lapse into sin at times, though we certainly harm our witness, risk a diminished quality of life, and will probably lose rewards at the Bema if we don’t take holy living seriously. On the same note, why does Jesus say to repent and believe (which sounds to the naïve reader like two conditions for eternal life) in the Synoptic gospels?

I wrote my dissertation on repentance and later wrote a book on it. I think there is tremendous confusion not only about repentance being a condition for the new birth (it is not), but also about repentance being a condition for ongoing fellowship with God (it is not).

Here is a simple explanation:

According to 1 John, the condition for remaining in fellowship with God is continuing to walk in the light (1 John 1:7) and continuing to confess our known sins (1 John 1:9). The believer who embraces solid Bible teaching and confesses his known sins remains in fellowship with God.

Repentance is never mentioned in 1 John because it is not a condition for the person in fellowship with God to remain in fellowship with God.

According to the Lord, in three parables in Luke 15, repentance is the means by which the believer who is out of fellowship with God can regain fellowship with Him. The prodigal son was a son before he left, while he was in the far country, and when he repented and returned. He did not become a son by repenting.

But while he was in the far country, the prodigal son was out of fellowship with his father. Once the prodigal son returned to the father, he came back into fellowship with him. His father said, “For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:24). Here, dead and alive refer to being in and out of fellowship.

Once the prodigal returned, he no longer needed to repent. He needed to remain in fellowship with his father.

I can hear the question now: “But isn’t repentance part of confession?” No. Repentance is not agreeing that we have sinned. Repentance is not being sorry we sinned. Repentance is turning from rebellion against God. If I am not rebelling against Him, I can’t repent.

Let’s say your son came to you multiple times daily and said, “I’m so sorry for what I did. I’ve been dead to you. I turn from my sins, and I want back in fellowship. Will you accept me back in fellowship?” Would that please you? I’ll bet it wouldn’t. I’ll bet you’d want to educate your child to the fact that he is not out of fellowship with you whenever he does something wrong. He becomes out of fellowship with you only if he rebels against you.

Zane Hodges told me that he thought a believer might go years or decades in fellowship with God. In other words, he thought a believer might go a long time without needing to repent. I agree with him.