Can a person truly be repentant if they continually deny their sin?

Can a person truly be repentant if they continually deny their sin when confronted by a man? How do you respond if they use God’s grace and forgiveness as a means to justify themselves? In addition, do you think a person can repent without accountability and dealing with the consequences in how they may have hurt other people?

This is a good question. The short answer is: no, a person who continually denies their sin is not a repentant person. Repentance looks like a changed heart and life. It is ultimately an inner change of heart that leads to an outer change in our lives. This is why Scripture says that repentance is a gift from God (Acts 5:31, 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25). It has to be a gift because how can we change our own hearts? How can we go from loving our sin to hating our sin? How can we go from being unimpressed with Jesus to loving Him above all else? Christianity, at its root, is a heart religion — a religion based on the gracious working of God, not our performance.

Repentance is a non-negotiable part of Christianity. John the Baptist, Jesus and Peter began their preaching ministry with the message of repentance (Matthew 3:2, 4:17; Acts 2:38).

What does it mean to ‘repent’? 

Repentance starts with a confession of sin. Matthew 3:6 says that the people were being baptised “as they confessed their sins”. Repentance has to start with confession because the only way to address a problem is to first acknowledge (to yourself and to God) that there is a problem. God calls us to take responsibility for our sins by confessing them, by agreeing with Him about our sin.

Repentance has to start with confession because the only way to address a problem is to first acknowledge (to yourself and to God) that there is a problem

A second aspect of repentance is sorrow over our sin. There must be a deep realisation in our hearts that we have sinned against God, just like the psalmist in Psalm 51:4, who said, “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight.” This sorrow is more than regret, more than feeling bad that you got caught — it’s the realisation that you have hurt someone (namely, God) by your sin. The apostle Paul says that this kind of “godly grief” is what produces true repentance. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says: “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

The third aspect of repentance involves actually turning from sin. The word ‘repent’ literally means to ‘be converted’, to ‘turn around’. So, biblically, we haven’t truly repented until we’ve actually turned from our sin. Confessing our sins and grieving over them is good, but it’s not enough if we stop there. A person hasn’t repented until they’ve repented.

Practical application

So, the way I would respond to this particular situation is by pointing such a believer to several texts of Scripture which say that living in unrepentant sin means we don’t truly know the Lord. For example, 1 John 1:8 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 2:4 tells us, “Whoever says ‘I know Him’ but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” And Jeremiah 2:35 states, “You say, ‘I am innocent; surely His anger has turned from me.’ Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, ‘I have not sinned.'”

As far as repenting without accountability and dealing with consequences, I think you probably can do that, but that it is certainly not normal and seems to deny certain teachings of Scripture. James says that confessing our sins to other Christians should be a normal part of our lives (James 5:16). And Jesus says that making amends with those we’ve sinned against or who have sinned against us affects our worship (Matthew 5:23-24).

Repenting without accountability is not normal and seems to deny certain teachings of Scripture

But any sinner who does repent of their sin can rest in the promise of God’s forgiveness (1 John 1:9). As long as we’re trying to justify ourselves, we will be outside of God’s grace because justification only comes through faith in Jesus (Galatians 2:16, 3:10-13). We can only claim God’s grace on God’s terms.

Finally, the person who is wronged should leave justice in the hands of God (Romans 12:19) and not seek to repay evil for evil (Romans 12:17). As best they can, they should pursue peace and reconciliation with the person who has wronged them. They should forgive them, not just with words, but from their heart (Matthew 18:35). God’s grace in their lives should compel them to give grace to those who have offended them (Colossians 3:12-13).