What the Church Must and Must Not Repent From

Every generation faces accusations that the church is guilty of hypocrisy, oppression, and selective morality. Today, critics often claim that Christians must repent of holding to biblical convictions about sexuality, marriage, and morality. The argument sounds persuasive on the surface, but when examined carefully, it is rooted in distortion.

The Call to Repentance Is About Sin, Not Surrender

The church is indeed called to repent, but not from faithfully following God’s commands. Scripture consistently calls God’s people to turn from sin, compromise, and worldliness. Repentance means aligning our lives more closely with the truth God has revealed, not bending His truth to cultural pressure.

When critics say that upholding biblical convictions is oppression, they confuse faithfulness with superiority. Calling sin what God calls sin does not elevate one group over another. It simply acknowledges God’s authority over all of us. As Paul wrote to Timothy, the church’s responsibility is to “preach the word…correct, rebuke, and encourage, with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2).

Equality of People Is Not Equality of Behavior

One of the most common charges is that the church fails to accept people as they are. This accusation assumes that rejecting sinful behavior is the same as rejecting a person’s worth. But Scripture makes a clear distinction. All human beings are equally valuable, made in the image of God, yet not all behaviors are equally moral.

Jesus welcomed sinners into His presence, but He never affirmed their sin. When He forgave the woman caught in adultery, He did not say, “Carry on.” He said, “Go, and sin no more” (John 8:11). His love is inseparable from His call to transformation. To confuse acceptance with affirmation is to redefine grace into something Jesus never offered.

Misusing Comparisons Creates False Equivalence

Some argue that the church should embrace same sex couples the same way it tolerates divorced and remarried individuals. But this is a misuse of Scripture. Jesus did address remarriage in certain contexts as sinful, yet the Bible consistently differentiates between moral failure that can be confessed and forgiven, and lifestyles that are celebrated as virtuous in defiance of God’s Word.

One acknowledges sin and seeks God’s grace. The other demands affirmation and labels refusal as hate. That is not repentance, it is compromise.

No Place for Violence, No Excuse for Distortion

Another accusation is that Christians idolize men who call for violence against transgender people. Scripture is clear. Vengeance belongs to God, not us (Romans 12:19). Any call to stone, kill, or harm those struggling with sin is contrary to Christ’s teaching. Yet it is dishonest to take the words of extremists and project them onto all believers who simply hold to biblical convictions.

To disagree with culture’s view of sexuality is not to call for violence. The true hypocrisy lies in demanding that Jesus affirm what He has called sin, while condemning those who refuse to rewrite His commands.

The True Repentance the Church Needs

Jesus reserved His harshest rebukes not for sinners seeking grace but for those who distorted God’s Word and shut the kingdom’s doors in others’ faces. Today, the temptation runs in both directions. Some distort God’s Word by adding legalistic burdens. Others distort it by stripping away truth in the name of tolerance. Both must repent.

The church does not repent by abandoning God’s truth. The church repents by returning to it. To repent is not to surrender to culture, but to surrender to Christ.

And in doing so, the church proclaims the real gospel. Not cheap affirmation. Not violent condemnation. But grace that saves, transforms, and restores through the power of Jesus Christ.