One Repentance After Baptism

“I command you,” he said, “to guard purity. Do not let anything come up in your heart about another man’s wife, or about any sexual immorality, or about any other wicked thing of that kind; if you do, you are committing a great sin. Keep your own wife in mind at all times, and you will never go wrong. For if this thought comes up in your heart, you will go wrong; and if you think other wicked things in the same way, you are committing sin. In a servant of God a thought like this is a great sin. And if a man actually does this wicked deed, he is working out death for himself. So look to yourself, and keep away from this thought. Where dignity lives, lawlessness ought not to come up in the heart of a righteous man.” [a]

I said to him, “Sir, let me ask you a few questions.” “Ask,” he said. “Sir, suppose a man has a wife who is faithful in the Lord, and he finds her in some act of adultery. Does the husband sin by going on living with her?” “As long as he does not know, he does not sin,” he said. “But if the husband learns of her sin, and the wife does not repent but keeps on in her sexual immorality, and the husband goes on living with her all the same, then he becomes liable for her sin and a partner in her adultery.” “Then what is the husband to do, sir,” I said, “if his wife keeps on in this passion of hers?” “Let him divorce her,” he said, “and let the husband stay by himself. But if he divorces his wife and marries another, he too commits adultery.” “And if, sir,” I said, “after the wife has been divorced she repents and wants to come back to her own husband — is she not to be taken back?” “Certainly,” he said. “If the husband does not take her back, he sins, and he draws a great sin down on himself. The one who has sinned and repents must be taken back — but not over and over, since for the servants of God there is one repentance. So for the sake of her repentance the husband must not marry. This is how it stands for wife and husband alike.”

“It is not only adultery when a man defiles his flesh,” he said. “Whoever does the same things the nations do is committing adultery too. So if anyone keeps on in works like these and does not repent, keep away from him and do not live with him; otherwise you share in his sin as well. That is why you were told to stay by yourselves, husband or wife — because in cases like these there can be repentance. “I am not,” he said, “giving an opening for this thing to be done. I am saying it so that the one who has sinned will sin no more. As for his earlier sin, there is One who is able to give healing; he is the one who has authority over everything.”

I asked him again: “Since the Lord has counted me worthy to have you living with me always, bear with a few more words from me. I understand nothing, and my heart has been hardened by the things I did before. Give me understanding, because I am very foolish and grasp nothing at all.” “I am in charge of repentance,” he answered, “and I give understanding to everyone who repents. Or don’t you think that repenting is itself understanding? Repenting is great understanding. The man who has sinned understands that he did what was evil in front of the Lord; the thing he did comes up in his heart, and he repents and no longer does evil, but does good lavishly, and humbles his own soul and puts it to torture, because he sinned. So you see that repentance is great understanding.” “That is exactly why I go over everything with you so carefully, sir,” I said. “First of all because I am a sinner, so that I may know what works to do and live — for my sins are many and of every kind.” “You will live,” he said, “if you keep my commands and walk in them. And whoever hears these commands and keeps them will live to God.” [h]

“Sir,” I said, “I will go on asking.” “Ask,” he said. “Sir, I have heard from some teachers that there is no other repentance except the one when we went down into the water and received forgiveness of our former sins.” “What you heard is right,” he said to me. “That is how it is. The man who has received forgiveness of sins ought to sin no more, but to live in purity. Still, since you go into everything so exactly, I will make this clear to you too — without giving an opening to people who are about to believe in the Lord, or who have believed just now. Those who have believed just now, and those who are about to believe, do not have repentance for sins; they have forgiveness of their former sins. “It is for those who were called before these days that the Lord laid down repentance. The Lord knows the heart, and knows all things beforehand; he knew how weak people are and how many twists the devil has, and that he would do the servants of God some harm and treat them badly. So the Lord, being full of pity, took pity on what he had made and laid down this repentance — and authority over this repentance was given to me. “But I tell you this,” he said. “If, after that great and honored calling, someone is put to the test by the devil and sins, he has one repentance. But if he sins and repents again and again, it does a man like that no good; he will hardly live.” “Hearing it from you so exactly has brought me back to life,” I said, “for I know that I will be saved if I add nothing more to my sins.” “You will be saved,” he said, “and so will everyone who does these things.” [j]

I asked him again: “Sir, since you have put up with me this once, explain this to me too.” “Ask,” he said. “If a wife, sir — or a husband, for that matter — falls asleep, and the one who is left marries, does the one who marries sin?” “He does not sin,” he said. “But if a person stays by himself, he gains greater honor for himself, and great glory with the Lord. Even so, if he does marry, he does not sin. “So keep purity and dignity, and you will live to God. Everything I am telling you and am going to tell you — keep it from now on, from the day you were handed over to me, and I will live in your house. Your former offenses will be forgiven if you keep my commands. And everyone else will be forgiven too, if they keep these commands of mine and walk in this purity.” [m]