The Grace of Repentance (회개의 은혜)

Matthew 4:17

The month of December this year is particularly special considering the present situation around the world. The Covid-19 is still continuing on for almost three years and is not over for many parts of the world. On top of that we have a war still going on in Ukraine. I personally don’t know how to make a sense out of it anymore. However, what is true is that we all suffer from the war. The inflation rate had once reached 9.1 % in past June and just declined to 7.1 in November. As an effort to adjust the inflation rate Federal Reserve raised the interest rate to 4.5% past week and is expected to raise it even higher according to some analysists. The real estate markets freeze off particularly true in Korea and no one knows how low and long it will fall. The strong dollar continues to attract “dislikes” from all over the world. The cold reality is that it is winter, and we are getting into a new era of uncertainty and angatonism, and no one seems to know how to solve the problems. 

Nevertheless, I am grateful that we have a month to look back of the year and settle the account with the Lord. I mean the opportunity for “repentance.” Repentance is not a bad thing unlike many people think today.  From the biblical point of view repentance is grace from God when you think about it. I would like to address it today in light of how our Lord Jesus addressed it as he commenced his earthly ministry.

I want to take the word uttered through the mouth of Jesus in 4:17 in light of 3:1, where John the Baptist said essentially the same word, “Repentant, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” The wording is the same, but the dynamic is quite different because of the “kingdom.” For that we need to have a bigger picture of redemptive history and biblical theology.

The first question to deal with is who John the Baptist is in connection with the kingdom. For that question we need to go to Ch. 11. According to Jesus John the Baptist is the greatest prophet of the Old Testament. Yet, Jesus also includes something quite puzzling, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” So, up to the point of the ministry of John the Baptist it was the dispensation of the Old Testament, and he was prophesying about the kingdom to come from the Old Testament’s point of view. In other words, we see from Jesus a clear contrast that John belongs to the old dispensation. The greatest of the old dispensation, however, is still less than the least in the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, the kingdom that Jesus ushers in is what John had prophesied from outside of it. So, John plays a unique role on the scale of redemptive history, a role that sums up the entire dispensation of the Old Testament and prepares for a new one. He reminds the readers that he still belongs to the sitz im leben of the Old Testament, even though they are reading the chapters from the New Testament. 

Thus, it becomes apparent that the kingdom was the future for John, whereas it is the present for Jesus. Jesus himself is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies, whereas John was merely a prophet who prophesied of its coming fortunately from the nearest proximity with its fulfillment. What we need to focus on is that the kingdom is here and now through Jesus, and the kingdom life is deliberately connected with “repentance.” Therefore, it was not a coincidence when the same message was preached by John the Baptist. What is nevertheless striking for us is that the Old Testament and the New Testament are conjoined through the exhortation of repentance. We can tell that there is an apparent intention from the literary point of view that John was to represent one horizon, and Jesus the other. In a sense two horizons converge through the appearance of John and Jesus, though the discontinuity is apparent. That is rather an interesting dynamic we should be able to read.

We turn to Ch. 11 and see how Jesus defines John. It is interesting for us because we see how two characters are represented from the redemptive-historical point of view. The first point that draws our attention is John’s question in v. 2, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” John representing the old dispensation questions about who Jesus is. It is rather a typical question that all the students of the Bible have to solve before getting any further serious about the Bible. The apostle Paul had a similar issue with Christ in the 3rd chapter of 2 Corinthians, where he demonstrated the literary analysis of Christ set over against Moses representing the old dispensation. 

The second point is Jesus’s remark on John in v. 9. He praised John as one who is “more than a prophet.” If you are able to connect it with what Jesus says in v. 13, that is, “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John,” John is certainly more than a private person. He has a role in redemptive history from God’s point of view that he draws the old dispensation to an end and gets it ready for the coming of the new one through Jesus. 

The third point which is the greatest remark pronounced by Jesus in this connection is v. 11, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” John is the greatest of the old dispensation, and yet his role is up to that point and finishes there. Make no mistake! Jesus is not talking about John’s personal salvation. Rather it is about what he represents for the progress of the kingdom of God. The significance of the kingdom is captured in “the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” 

However, there is a grace of God that continues from the old to the new. That is the grace of repentance. John’s repentance is the one of the Mosaic tradition. He preaches to “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matt. 3:8). His perspective of the kingdom is more the immanent one, the one of the law. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Luke 3:7) “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt. 3:10). 

The repentance of Jesus is the one of the gospel. It is a way of life in the new kingdom. You no longer tremble before the law because of your wrong doings but have grace to repent that your standing and privileges in the kingdom are reinstated through the grace of repentance. You do not fall off from the grace but you do not continue to sin either. You repent! You turn away from the past way of life the kingdom of earth to a new way of life the kingdom of heaven. 

John the Baptist and Jesus put together in this conjunction achieves something rather magnificent from the biblical point of view. The imagery of John expires as the one of Jesus thrives, just as John the apostle testifies on John the Baptist. “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

So much to say on this but for the sake of application I would like to include at least two points. I am not a huge fan of form-and-content dichotomy but still would like to borrow it for the sake of convenience. First, the form of repentance! The meaning of “repentance” based on the study of both Greek and Hebrew of biblical languages is to turn away from the sinful life and to God not only in mind and heart but also in action and life. Repentance is an action more than a sentiment or feeling that makes a sharp contrast from the past to the present and future. It is an action that breaks away from the past and the sins and that comes ever so close to the Lord Jesus. It is one move but involves two steps, a step away “from” the past and a step “to” the new. To break away “from” sin and “to” God is one action. There is no repentance that breaks away from the sins but not turning to God or that turns to God not breaking away from the sins of the past. In terms of the “form” repentance is to turn from the former ways and to the new way, and in the context of today’s passage it is to turn from the kingdom of earth to the kingdom of heaven, from the city of earth to the city of God in Augustinian language. 

Repentance, as a way to satisfy the “form” dichotomy, involves a move that is simultaneous “from” one kingdom “to” another. There is an eschatological tension with the word that has to pulsate through our skin. There is a paradox that catches us off guard that we live in the present world and yet belong to the future to come. The dynamic of this grace is manifested when the new kingdom was ushered in by the Lord Jesus but only foreseen by John and the alike from a distance. The taste of the new kingdom is real and true for us and yet only hinted to the ancestors of the past. You repent because you belong to the new kingdom. You belong to the new kingdom because you repent. 

In terms of the “content” of repentance we must be reminded of the command from the Lord that you should love God and love your neighbors as yourself. We remember from our previous studies that the whole scriptures hang on one command, that is, to love God and to love your neighbors as yourself. The will of God that lasts even in the new kingdom is to love your neighbors as a matter of practicum of the new world. 

What is to repent for us? We repent for what we failed to obey and deliver. What makes of our repentance must include our failure to deliver the life of the new kingdom, that is, to love your neighbors as yourself. “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25). We failed to understand the will of God because of the hardness of our heart when it is vividly revealed in the Word. To love your neighbors is not an option for Christians but the way of the new kingdom. It replaces the old order for the old has gone. The kingdom life is to love one another in Christ, as God is love. We, however, give in to the sinful desires in the name of love. We rather forge our versions of love in the name of agape. We conveniently pick and choose whom to love based on our own definition. We pride over ourselves custom-fitting the Word of God to us. 

Let us remember that repentance is not works or the law that judges us. It is grace from God. You don’t repent to get into the life of grace but do repent because you are already in the life of grace. Repentance is a privilege and status because you are already in the kingdom of God. You should feel rather grateful that your sins and wrong-doings are forgiven so that you may continue to enjoy the relationship with your God. You don’t give a prayer of repentance because the law demands it. It is not the law but the grace of God. God wants to keep you in His kingdom and wants you to continue to enjoy the kingdom life with Him. 

It is time again to close a year and get ready to begin a new one. Let’s be grateful and humble about how God is giving us ways to start afresh once a while like a new year, a new month or a new week. We still have some time till the end of this year. Meantime, may you continue to reflect on the year of 2022 and settle the matters with the Father. May God bless you!