Repenting is ACKNOWLEDGING that we are sinful and unclean, that we do NOT do the will of God.... it's a cry for MERCY (for the sake of the blood). It's the OPPOSITE, the ANTITHESIS of your insistence that we must be sinless in order to be Christians. And I disagree with your point that OUR repentance is what saves - so that we save ourselves by what we do.
Again: It's a case of whether you are looking in the mirror or to the Cross...... are you trusting/relying on SELF (YOUR obedience, YOUR works, YOUR love, YOUR morality) or in CHRIST (HIS works, HIS obedience, HIS love, HIS righteousness). Some here have called for looking to Christ as the Savior (in terms of justification, narrow) others have insisted we must look rather into the mirror because we are the savior of self.
.