Is There Repentance “After Death”?!
Is There Repentance “After Death”?!
Question
Is it possible for a person to repent after death, as mentioned in the writings of some, who said that the apostles in the other world preach and evangelize and lead a person to faith and to repentance…?
Answer
Judgment is for the whole human being, spirit and body.
Therefore, judgment pertains to the period of our existence in the body on earth.
In this regard, the Scripture says: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor 5:10).
This is also confirmed by the rites of the Church, as we say in the Prayer of Compline:
“Repent, O my soul, as long as you dwell on earth…”
And we explain this by saying: “For the dust in the grave does not praise, nor do the dead remember, nor does anyone in Hades give thanks…” meaning that after death there is no opportunity for praise or thanksgiving for one who died in sin.
Here we ask an important question:
Those who supposedly preach in the other world—do they preach to the whole person or to his spirit only? Of course, to the spirit only.
If the spirit repents, what about the body and its repentance?!
And how does the spirit repent without facing the hindrances of the body and matter?
Can we consider this a true and complete repentance?!
While the person in the other world has no material temptations before him, nor bodily wars of all kinds, nor the stumbling blocks that exist in this present world, from “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 Jn 2:16).
What is the meaning of repentance where there are no wars of the body and the senses?!
Rather, where there are also no wars of the spirit, from evil associations, the conspiracies of wicked people, worldly ambition, reactions to the behavior of others, and also the lust of the pride of life…!!
There is another proof that the one who dies in his sins has no opportunity for repentance, namely:
We do not pray for one who dies in his sin.
If a person dies while being an unbeliever, or a heretic, or an innovator, we do not pray for him. If there were an opportunity for his repentance through the preaching of the apostles in the other world, we would pray for him and mention him in the Litany of the Departed, hoping that God might send him after death a person powerful in spreading the faith, like the Apostle Paul or Saint Athanasius the Apostolic, to guide him so that he may believe…!
And if a person dies by suicide while sane, we do not pray for him…
And if a person dies while in a state of adultery or theft, or while unjustly assaulting others, or the like, we do not pray for him… Whereas if there were before him an opportunity for repentance in the other world at the hands of an influential preacher, such as Saint John Chrysostom, or Mar Ephrem the Syrian, or Saint Augustine, we would pray that God might send someone to guide him in the other world…!!
And how would he guide him, as long as there is no opportunity before him for adultery, nor for theft, nor for injustice, nor for assault in the other world?
Perhaps the lack of prayer for such people is supported by the Apostle’s saying:
“There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that” (1 Jn 5:16).
While there are other sins for which one may pray.
So what is the benefit of preaching in the other world? And would such preaching be against the teaching of Saint John the Apostle?!
Indeed, this is also against the saying of the Lord Christ to the Jews:
“I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come” (Jn 8:21).
What, then, is the meaning of the phrase “you will die in your sin” here? The Lord repeated it three times on that occasion… as in His saying: “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (Jn 8:24).
And if there were an opportunity for repentance or for faith in the other world, what is the meaning of the Lord’s saying: “Where I go you cannot come” (Jn 8:21)?
Is this not a decisive judgment denying the possibility of repentance and the possibility of faith in the other world?!
There are also biblical texts that prove this truth, among them:
A- The story of the rich man and Lazarus:
There was no opportunity for his guidance, even though he seemed ready for it.
Father Abraham could have carried out a preaching work on his behalf, instead of saying to him: “Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us” (Lk 16:26).
If there were an opportunity for repentance, why is there the great gulf that separates, and the impossibility of crossing to the other side?!
And why did Father Abraham not guide this rich man, who intercedes for his family and relatives in the world, so that they might not come to the place of his torment? This indicates a desire for salvation…!
B- A time to repent:
It was mentioned in the Lord’s saying to His Apostle John in the Book of Revelation concerning the woman Jezebel (who is undoubtedly a symbol): “And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent” (Rev 2:21). There is no doubt that the maximum extent of this time is life on earth before death. Here we cite the Scripture’s saying:
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Heb 9:27).
It did not say that there is repentance after death, but judgment.
We mention another biblical example spoken by the Lord of glory, namely:
C- The foolish virgins:
They represent the entire human race that lost salvation.
They were virgins, and this has its spiritual meaning. They were waiting for the bridegroom, and they had their lamps. When the bridegroom came and their lamps were about to go out, they went to buy oil for themselves… Did they manage to buy oil? Were these souls given another opportunity, despite their effort to buy oil?! Or was the door shut in their faces, and the Lord said to them: “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you” (Mt 25:12).
Whoever thinks that there is an opportunity to buy oil after death should take a lesson from the fate of the foolish virgins.
Another essential point we say is:
The idea of the possibility of repentance after death offers an opportunity for negligence and indifference,
on the assumption that a person behaves according to his own desire here on earth, and does not conduct the time of his sojourning in fear (1 Pet 1:17), relying on his repentance after death!! Thus he delusively combines pleasure in this world with repentance and salvation in the next…
The Scripture not only teaches us repentance during this life, but more than that it tells us: “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth” (Eccl 12:1).
And it explains this by saying: “Before… the years come when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them,’” that is, before the periods of youthful struggles pass away… So what then about the passing away of the whole world, and also departing from this body?!
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mt 13:43).
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