A Biblical Theology of Repentance

metanoe'w  metanoeo (3340)

(This word study is in process.) 

Matthew 3:2. ¹Now in those days John the Baptist came^*, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ²“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” John was commanding the people of Israel continually to be changing their minds in view of the fact that the kingdom of the heavens had drawn near to them in a spatial sense. Presumably, if the kingdom of the heavens was near his Judean listeners, the King of the kingdom was also near. Matthew (3:3) identified John as the one Isaiah the prophet referred to in Isaiah 40:3, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the LORD, make His paths straight.’” Whether or not John’s listeners made this connection is uncertain, but certainly Matthew did. In any event, many people in Judea were deeply moved by John’s message, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, openly confessing their sins (Matt. 3:6).

Changing their minds (metanoeo) in preparation for the kingdom that had approached them from the heavens included first, anticipation of the King, second, spiritual cleansing to qualify for participation in His kingdom. It is worth noting that John perceived that many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism were insincere. He called them a “brood of vipers,” and wondered who had secretly warned them to flee from the coming wrath! He commanded them to bear fruit worthy of a change of mind (metanoia, 3341). [As it turned out, most of these Pharisees and Sadducees were unregenerate, as their subsequent rejection and crucifixion of Jesus demonstrated.] He warned them not to reply upon the fact that they were physical descendants of Abraham, for judgment was already approaching! (Matt. 3:7-10). Moreover, he warned of One mightier than he who was coming. The mightier One would baptize with superior baptisms, that of the Holy Spirit and of fire. His Spirit-baptism would place respondents (wheat) in God’s granary of salvation, but His fire-baptism would burn rejecters (chaff) with unquenchable fire, a tacit reference to gehenna (hell) (Matt. 3:11-12)!

Matthew 4:17. ¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It should be observed that, since giving an account of John’s baptism and preaching at the Jordan, Matthew recorded four other note-worthy events: (1) Jesus had also come to be baptized by John in order “to fulfill all righteousness.” At the same time, God had anointed Him with His Spirit, thus denoting Jesus not only as His Beloved Son, but as His Messianic, Davidic King (Matt. 3:13-17). (2) Jesus successfully passed His Spirit-induced temptation by Satan during a forty-day fast in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11). (3) John had been arrested and was removed from his preaching ministry (Matt. 4:12). (4) Jesus left Judea and moved to Galilee (Matt. 4:12-16), settling in Capernaum, by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This, Matthew recorded, was deliberate, and fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah (9:1-2), in which the prophet had predicted a glorious future for the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, near the sea, Galilee of the Gentiles. Isaiah, interpreted by Matthew, had accurately predicted the region of Messiah’s ministry (Matt. 4:12-15) and the impact of Messiah’s ministry – glory (Isa. 9:1) and the dawning of great light for those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death (Isa. 9:2; Matt. 4:16). It was from that point and with that background that Jesus began to announce and to command, “Have a change of mind, because the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near (to you in the Person and Presence of the King!) (Matt. 4:17).

So in context, the change of mind Jesus commanded (metanoeo) had to do with perceiving the glorious dawning of new light for those who had previously experienced contempt (Isa. 9:1), and who were presently sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. So the change of mind Jesus was promoting covered three factors: (a) The kingdom from the heavens had drawn near to them; (b) they should respond appropriately to the King (obviously Himself); and (c) His presence heralded and constituted the dawn of a great light of life for them, for they were experiencing death! It should be noted that, though Jesus would later certainly talk about sin (see Matthew 5-7), this initial change of mind does not mention sin.

Matthew 11:20-21. ²⁰Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. ²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Unfortunately, we English speakers are so conditioned to connect sin with the word repent that we assume Jesus condemned Chorazin and Bethsaida because they did not repent of their sin. But I do not believe that is primarily what Jesus had in mind. Much time has elapsed during Jesus’ ministry as recorded in Matthew 4-11. It is true that Jesus certainly emphasized the appropriate behavior necessary to participate in the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5-7). But Matthew summarized Jesus’ ministry in brief statements such as those found in Matthew 4:22-25; 8:16-17; 9:35-38; 10:1-8; 11:1; 11:2-6. It is clear that through His ministry, Jesus was searching for those who would recognize Him as the Messiah He was, accepting Him by faith. Most egregious in their rejection of Him were the Pharisees and other leaders, who not only rejected Him as the Messiah, but stated that He cast out demons by the power of Satan (Matt. 9:34; 10:25; 12:22-32). It would appear that Jesus pronounced woe upon Chorazin and Bethsaida because, despite all the miracles performed among them, they still did not believe He was the Messiah! From this they needed to change their mind. Had Jesus performed these miracles in the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed their mind about him in sackcloth and ashes long ago. In other words, the people of the Gentile cities would have been appalled at their neglect of Jesus and would have placed their confidence in Him!

Matthew 12:41. ⁴¹“The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here." A superficial assessment might lead one to conclude that metanoeo has to do with a change of mind about evil. And a good case can be made for that conclusion. When Jonah had cried out that the city of Nineveh would be overthrown in forty days, the king of Nineveh issued a proclamation that included the following words, ⁸“But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. ⁹Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish” (Jonah 3:8-9). But that is not the end of the story, either in the book of Jonah or in the gospel of Matthew. After Jonah cried out, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4), the text reads immediately, ⁵“^“Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them” (Jonah 3:5). So we can conclude two things from the account in Jonah: (1) The people changed their minds about continuing in their “evil way” and “violence” because they believed in God. (2) The people changed their minds about their “evil way” and “violence” because they believed in Jonah. Let’s see if anything of the kind exists in Matthew 12.

In the extended context of Matthew 12, (a) “the Pharisees” accused Jesus’ disciples of breaking the Sabbath by picking heads of grain, shelling them by hand, and then eating them as they passed through a field (Matt. 12:1-8). (b) Jesus left and entered their synagogue, apparently on the Sabbath. Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on there on the Sabbath. But the Pharisees left, seeking a way to kill Jesus (Matt. 12:9-14). (c) Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. The amazed crowds were all but willing to assign to Jesus Messianic status. Unable to deny the factuality of the miraculous sign, the Pharisees, however, completely distorted the miracle. They asserted, apparently not in Jesus’ presence, that he was able to cast out demons only by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. Jesus, aware of their thoughts, pointed out the absurdity of their conclusion, and then concluded that they had committed the unpardonable sin by attributing Jesus’ power source to the devil instead of to the Holy Spirit (Matt. 12:22-32). They would be judged by their words (Matt. 12:33-37).

Unbelievably, some of the scribes and Pharisees then requested a sign from Jesus! The immediate context of Matthew 12:41 reads as follows (Matt. 12:38-42):

³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” ³⁹But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; ⁴⁰for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹“The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. ⁴²“The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

The scribes and Pharisees were requesting a miraculous sign presumably sufficient enough to induce them to believe in Jesus as their Messiah. But in view of their complete rejection of Him, Jesus refused any signs for “an evil and adulterous generation” except for the sign of His burial and subsequent resurrection – which He called the sign of the prophet Jonah. The people of Nineveh had changed their mind about God and Jonah, and had believed both, responding by changing their mind and behavior about their sins. The Queen of the South came from afar because she gave credence to the wisdom of Solomon. But both the people of Nineveh and the Queen of the South would stand in judgment upon Israel and her leaders because someone far greater than either Jonah or Solomon had come, but they had not believed He was the Messiah! They had totally rejected Him, (and in fact, would conspire to crucify Him)!

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