This episode rehashes all the influences of the Holy Spirit indicative of the circumcision of Christ. Unregenerate man is dominated by the flesh and incapable of distinguishing flesh from spirit. This state changes when he is born again and circumcised by Christ, making the believer better at distinguishing flesh from spirit. But this ability is compounded exponentially when the Word of God is consumed by the Christian. With respect to repentance from dead works, the Word of God exposes us to ourselves so that we can discern what is fleshly and respond in repentance.
God’s gifts in Conversion that Lead to Repentance
The circumcision of Christ initiated at conversion makes possible repentance from dead works and the repentance from the old self. This episode highlights the various Scriptural signs that indicate the circumcision of Christ, and these henceforth enable the believer to repent in the ongoing process of sanctification. The believer is first born again by the Word of God (1 Pet 1:23), made a partaker of the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4), and given a new principle from which he "rejoices with the law of God in the inner man" (Rom 7:22). I provide my testimony as a convert coming out of Catholicism where the above 3 signs were evident, even though I hadn't little exposure to Scripture. My conversion led to a hyper-sensitive conscience, which was the Spirit's foundation in me that assisted in repentance.
Repent of everything, especially the old self
This episode highlights the necessity of repenting from dead works in its fullest sense: we repent of transgressions AND we abandon hope in the flesh itself, specifically its ability to live the Christian life. If we don't embrace this holistic approach to repentance, we likely fall into the Galatian error, which is living the Christian life in the power of the flesh. Based on this all-encompassing repentance, we make progress in sanctification by identifying with the circumcision of Christ (the cutting away of the flesh) and the death of the old self on the cross, based on Romans 6:7. Holistic repentance from dead works makes sanctification possible.
Biblical repentance goes deeper than you might think
This episode goes deeper into the depth of spiritual death in which all mankind participates. Spiritual death does not simply refer to outward transgressions, but also describes the spiritual state of the inner man that produced them. Paul says in Colossians 2:13 that we were "dead in our trespasses AND the uncircumcision of our flesh," indicating that spiritual death is descriptive of both the acts themselves (dead works) and the one who is uncircumcised in the flesh. So when one repents of dead works, he also has a change of mind about the self that produced them characterized by death. The solution to spiritual deadness is the circumcision of Christ, the supernatural cutting away of the flesh in regeneration.