In Commandment 4 and section 3, a question about post-baptismal sin is raised. The conversation emphasizes the teaching that asserts “there is no other repentance beyond what occurred when we descended into the water and received forgiveness of our previous sins… for the one who has received forgiveness of sins ought never to sin again, but to live in purity” (31: 1, 2). The Shepherd added to this teaching by illustrating that the Lord permits “one opportunity for repentance” for those who sinned after their baptism (31: 5).

To understand the meaning of this text, one needs to know the definition of “post-baptismal sin” per se. Did Hermas in his text speaks about “one opportunity for repentance” of “one single sin” after baptism? Or did he speak about “one opportunity for repentance” of “ongoing or continuous sin” after baptism? In other words; did Hermas speak about a baptized Christian who sinned once after his baptism? (It seems like the counter counted one!) Or does he speak about a baptized Christian who lives in a “sinful life” after his baptism? The answer to this question can make a great difference! The direct words in part 31 (Commandment 4 and section 3) might give the first simple meaning which refers to one single sin. This meaning, most probably, was common and widespread at that time. But an insightful reading of the full text of Commandment 4, especially the first section (part 29), certainly gives the second meaning which refers to an “ongoing sin”.

In part 29, Hermas asked how could a husband deal with his wife, whom “he finds her in some adulterous situation” although she “believes in the Lord” (29:4) The Shepherd answered that if “she does not repent, but persists in her immorality” (notice that this means “ongoing sin” and doesn’t mean one “single sin”), her husband must divorce her (31: 5, 6). But, at the same time, “the husband ought not to marry” because of the “possibility of her repentance” (31:8). If she repents, her husband must “take her back”. And if he doesn’t take her back, he sins (31:7, 8). The Shepherd asserts that “the one who has sinned and repented must be taken back. But not repeatedly: for there is only one repentance for God’s servants” (31: 8).

Briefly, the previous part (which is the first part of the famous Commandment 4) illuminates that post-baptismal sin is not that “single sin” after the baptism, but it is the “ongoing sinful life” after the baptism. In this sense, the word “repeatedly” might refer to the repetition of falling into this “ongoing sinful life”. It can be said that the Shepherd, in the discussion of “post-baptismal sin” that is linked to “one opportunity for repentance”, discusses only the idea of “ongoing sinful life” after baptism. The Shepherd illustrates that there is one opportunity of repentance for those Christians who failed and departed the life of purity, but it can’t be repeated. Here, in these special parts of the text, we can see “one opportunity for repentance” of the “ongoing sinful life” after baptism, but in the case of the whole text of the Shepherd we can see an “ongoing repentance” of falling in sin sporadically after baptism