Grace drives the sequence from first to last

It is surely no accident that Paul the Pharisee eschews all talk of repentance in his letters. He distances himself from any concept of repentance preceding, or being necessary for, the setting-aside (or “weakening,” in some versions) of God’s “severe decree.” At the risk of oversimplifying, for Paul the sequence is not sin-repentance-grace-forgiveness, but grace-sin- deliverance-repentance-grace. Grace drives the sequence from first to last.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 192