God's mercy shown in Scripture and parables

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Tertullian is urging a sinner not to doubt God's willingness to forgive a second repentance, and now turns to Scripture and the parables of Jesus as proof of God's mercy.

If you doubt this, look at what the Spirit says to the churches. He charges the church in Ephesus with abandoning its first love. He rebukes the church in Thyatira for fornication and eating food sacrificed to idols. He accuses the church in Sardis of incomplete works. He reproaches the church in Pergamum for teaching falsehood. He scolds the church in Laodicea for trusting in riches. Yet he urges them all to repentance, though with threats. He would not threaten the one who refuses to repent if he did not forgive the one who repents. Could there be any doubt, when he has shown this outpouring of his mercy elsewhere as well? Does he not say, "The one who falls will rise again, and the one who turns away will turn back"? He is the one, surely, who desires mercy rather than sacrifices. The heavens rejoice, and the angels there, over the repentance of a human being. So be of good cheer, you sinner! You see where your return brings joy.

What do those parables of the Lord mean for us? A woman loses a coin, searches for it, finds it, and invites her friends to celebrate. Is that not a picture of the restored sinner? One little sheep of the shepherd's wanders off, but the flock as a whole was not dearer to him. That one is sought out, that one is longed for more than all the rest, and at last it is found and carried back on the shepherd's own shoulders. It had suffered much in its wandering.

I will not pass over that most gentle father either, who calls back his prodigal son, and after his poverty welcomes him gladly when he repents. He slaughters the fattened calf and adorns his joy with a feast. Why not? He had found the son he had lost, and felt him dearer because he had gained him back. Who is this father we are to understand? God, of course. No one is so much a father, no one so loving. He will receive you as his son, even if you have squandered what he gave you, even if you return naked, because you have returned. He will rejoice more over your coming back than over the sobriety of another. But only if you repent from the heart, if you compare your hunger with the fullness of your father's hired servants, if you leave the pigs, that unclean herd, if you seek your father again even though you have offended him, saying, "Father, I have sinned, and I am no longer worthy to be called yours." Confession of sins brings as much relief as concealment adds weight. For confession is the plan for making amends; concealment is defiance.

Latin

Id si dubitas, evolve quae spiritus ecclesiis dicat. Desertam dilectionem Ephesiis imputat, stuprum et idolothytorum esum Thyatirenis exprobrat, Sardos non plenorum operum incusat, Pergamenos docentes perversa reprehendit, Laodicenos fidentes divitiis obiurgat, et tamen omnes ad paenitentiam commonet, sub comminationibus quidem. Non comminaretur autem non paenitenti, si non ignosceret paenitenti. Dubium, si non et alibi hanc clementiae suae profusionem demonstrasset. Non ait, Qui ceciderit, resurget, et qui aversatus fuerit, convertetur? Ille est scilicet, ille est qui misericordiam mavult quam sacrificia. Laetantur caeli, et qui illic angeli, paenitentia hominis. Heus tu, peccator, bono animo sis! vides, ubi de tuo reditu gaudeatur. Quid illa similitudinum dominicarum argumenta nobis volunt? Quod mulier drachmam perdidit et requirit et reperit et amicas ad gaudium invitat, nonne restituti peccatoris exemplum est? Errat et una pastoris ovicula, sed grex una carior non erat: una illa conquiritur, una pro omnibus desideratur, et tandem invenitur et humeris pastoris ipsius refertur; multum enim errando laboraverat. Illum etiam mitissimum patrem non tacebo, qui prodigum filium revocat, et post inopiam paenitentem libens suscipit, immolat vitulum praeopimum, convivio gaudium suum exornat. Quidni? filium enim invenerat quem amiserat, cariorem senserat quem lucri fecerat. Quis ille nobis intellegendus pater? Deus scilicet. Tam pater nemo, tam pius nemo. Is ergo te filium suum, etsi acceptum ab eo prodegeris, etsi nudus redieris, recipiet, quia redisti, magisque de regressu tuo quam de alterius sobrietate laetabitur; sed si paeniteat ex animo, si famem tuam cum saturitate mercenariorum paternorum compares, si porcos immundum relinquas pecus, si patrem repetas vel offensum, Deliqui, dicens, pater, nec dignus ego iam vocari tuus. Tantum relevat confessio delictorum, quantum dissimulatio exaggerat. Confessio enim satisfactionis consilium est, dissimulatio contumaciae.

About this text

Tertullian teaches what true repentance is, and warns Christians not to put it off or treat it lightly.

Tertullian (c. 155–c. 220) wrote this treatise for Christians, especially newcomers beginning to hear divine teaching. He wrote to correct pagan misunderstandings of repentance and to warn believers against presumption that delays or cheapens it. His purpose was to instruct the church on the true nature and discipline of repentance as ordained by God.

The occasion is pastoral instruction within the church. Tertullian argues that repentance must be directed only toward sins, never toward good deeds, and that those who repent must not return to sin, since doing so insults God and exalts the devil. He warns newcomers not to presume on coming forgiveness by delaying repentance. For those who sin after baptism, God grants one further repentance, which must be carried out through public confession, a discipline of confession and humiliation that restores the sinner to God.

A reader will meet John the Baptist, who preached repentance before the Lord's coming, and Adam, the first human, whose sin brought condemnation and who was restored by public confession. Tertullian also cites Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king restored after seven years of penitential humiliation, and Pharaoh, the Egyptian ruler who rejected repentance and perished in the sea. God's words are quoted directly, as are John the Baptist's, and Tertullian argues against imagined objectors who raise rhetorical questions. Tertullian uses the Old Latin version of Scripture, which follows the Septuagint for book names and Psalm numbering, so LXX Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 in modern numbering.

New English from the Latin base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Quinti Septimii Florentis Tertulliani Quae Supersunt Omnia Tertullian Franz Oehler T. O. Weigel Leipzig 1853 (Latin)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.