Lately I have been offering biblical counsel and encouragement to another Christian who is not particularly strong or mature in the faith. While he has stumbled over many basic doctrines, his most recent "difficulty" is with the concept and practice of confession and repentance, and thus far I have been unable to adequately answer his questions/objections, though I have tried my best to do so from Scripture.

His basic problem/question runs something like this: If true repentance means "turning away" from our sins, "renouncing" them, and not just confessing, changing our mind, and feeling remorse, regret, or godly sorrow about them, then isn't it hypocritical, insincere, and/or presumptuous to do this in light of the clear biblical teaching that our sanctification will never be complete in this life, and that we will undoubtedly sin again?

My first response, admittedly unreflective, was that it probably is hypocritical, insincere, and presumptious; but, it is nevertheless commanded by God (Acts 17:30; 1 John 1:9), and just as Christ's atonement and intercession make up for and cover the deficiencies of all our other acts of obedience, they do so for the inadequacies of our acts of confession and repentance as well. In my opinion, it seems far more presumptuous and sinful to disobey God on account of our own weak, cavilling consciences.

I do not believe it is presumptuous to appropriate by faith the forgiveness that Jesus has provided for us on the cross, not just for our past and present sins, but for our (inevitable) future ones as well. I do not feel that this confidence in His finished work on the cross is "making provision" for sins; but, the fact that I cannot help but use words like "inevitable" causes my friend to stumble (and me to wonder). While I have tried to show that the First Epistle of John brings all these things together in balance and harmony, it just doesn't seem to be sinking in.

Of course, I may be wrong in what I am saying, and I would be open to correction. But if not, I would appreciate ANY help anyone could provide, from more vivid illustrations, arguments, or analogies, to articles or books that make all or any of this more clear. My chief difficulty in selecting Scriptures is distinguishing between those passages that refer to "saving" repentance or repentance that leads to salvation, and the "daily" confession of sins and repentance of believers. 1 John 1:9 and James 5:2 obviously have this latter type of confession (and repentance) in view, and the calls to repentance issued by Christ in Revelation 2:5-16 and 3:3 are essentially for believers as well, although a more decisive and final "turn" seems to be implied there. But what of most of the other calls to and descriptions of repentance (e.g., Ezekiel 18:30-2, Matthew 4:7; 2 Corinthians 7:10), including the verse from Acts 17 that I cited above.
Again, ANY help or discussion that would help throw more light on these matters would be deeply appreciated.

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