Tertullian argues that repentance is properly understood only by those who know God, its divine author, and that it must arise from fear of God rather than from regret at having done good. Because both body and spirit belong to God, sins of outward action and hidden intention alike require purification. God’s mercy, announced after Adam’s fall, through the prophets, and in the baptism of repentance, offers pardon to every sinner who turns back. Repentance demands a lasting amendment of life, not a temporary profession or an assumption that baptism permits continued sin. Even the second opportunity granted after baptism must not be treated as permission to test God’s patience. Tertullian invokes the lost coin, lost sheep, and prodigal son to show God’s joy at restoration, then describes exomologesis as the necessary external expression of post-baptismal repentance: confession, humiliation, fasting, sackcloth, ashes, tears, and bodily penance. Shame should not prevent this medicine, since God already sees hidden faults and the Church shares the suffering of its members. Comparing penance with the hardships endured for political office and with a painful medical treatment, he urges immediate confession as the plank by which the sinner escapes judgment. The repentant Babylonian king and the destroyed Egyptian ruler exemplify the consequences of turning to God or refusing his remedy.