On the Nature of Repentance

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Old covenant to new covenant. We do well to consider how they relate - the continuity and the discontinuity between them. Everything points to and exalts Christ, the living Son. All that went before was a glimpse, a shadowy 'taster' which promised and sketched what God would do, in Him and through Him, at the fullness of time. We understand the old by examining it through the enlightened eyes of the new. Through His own appointed apostle/prophets, Jesus makes known to us, by writing with their hand what they saw and handled and heard, and by expounding in His word,again, by their hand, all that it means for us. We are greatly blessed, greatly privileged, for we have all this in completion, in our hands. And we are endowed with His Spirit to take that living word out of His book and explode it into vital reality in our very beings.

But I want to ask the question 'where and how did these covenants meet?' Where do we observe the transition from one to another? How does this great eclipse occur, the lesser old covenant becoming overtaken and exceeded by the new, which comes, as 2 Corinthians 3 tells us, with 'surpassing glory'? God was evidently active in those Old Testament revelations, in 'many and various ways' revealing Himself (Hebrews 1 vs 1), so that by the time He sends forth His Son, there is a 'backcloth' of reliable and infallible knowledge of God. The Son is born of a woman, is Himself a man, so we can grasp that there is that about Him which we can know because He shares our humanity. And He is born a Jew under the Law, so that we can appreciate that what has already been revealed is not dispensed with and thrown away, but rather gets swept up into and completed by the greater light of His coming and His truth.

We see that Jesus interacts with the old covenant in various ways, uses it to demonstrate that it is all about Him, none other. So do we best see this 'interface' where old becomes new, perhaps, in His "you have heard that it was said ... but I say to you ... " teachings in the Sermon on the Mount? Or is it in His ascerbic exchanges with the scribes and Pharisees? No, it cannot be there, because there He is dealing with their hypocritical twisting of the Law and its practice, not the old covenant as it really was.

The Last Law Prophet

I have come to see that the moving from old to new covenant happens in the relationship and development that occurs between Jesus and His forerunner, John the Baptist. I hope to provide a more extensive look at this in a book I'm working on, which I will call "The Last Law Prophet and the Grace-bringer". Or something a little more catchy, less cumbersome, if I can find it. But the essence of it is that in the relatively short period of overlap between the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus the Son, we do, indeed, see the change occur. And I want to point out that in this period, something unique and never to be repeated is going on. But is this just my fanciful thinking? Or are there grounds - good Biblical grounds - for believing that this is what takes place. Well, in fact, Jesus Himself points up this clearly delimited time slot, and has some interesting things to say about it.

When John is in prison, he sends a delegation to Jesus to ask Him the question,

"Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?" (Matthew 11 vs 3)

Now, I know that some have suggested that John, languishing in jail, was having doubts and wanted to check he had not made some dreadful mistake. But I really find it hard to swallow that the man who had heard from God how this Messiah could be identified, then baptised Jesus and saw the Spirit descend on Him to remain was going to second guess all that had happened. No, I think John is doing something quite deliberate here for the sake of his - John's - disciples. But look at what Jesus says after having sent the delegation back to John with His answer. He now addresses the crowd, challenging them as to what they expected John to be. Then He goes on, in verse 12:

"From the days of John the Baptist until now ... "

That is a very carefully defined time slot:-

• 'From' - the first day of public ministry of John, proclaiming that the kingdom is coming,
• 'Until' - now, when John's ministry is complete, God takes him off the scene, and ... the Son of God is proclaiming that the kingdom of God is here.

In other words, the period in which the last law prophet is succeeded by the Son Himself. And when John is confined, and his public ministry is at an end, we read:

"After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1 vs 14)

Do you see that there is something quite deliberate about the timing of these respective ministries? The old covenant is giving way to the new. John - and with him, the covenant he represents - is to decrease, as Jesus - and the covenant He is instigating - will increase.

Let me take one aspect of that here - John's message of repentance.

"Repent ... for ..."

"In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”" (Matthew 3 vs 1)

“I baptize you with water for repentance." (Matthew 3 vs 11)

"Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”" (Acts 19 vs 4)

 Realistically, all the Law - all of it - could ever do was to lead Israel to this end, the confession of their sins. It had been given to 'lock them up'; the Law was their custodian. All through the period of time in which it ruled, the old covenant era, its task had been to consign them until God's promised one would come. And once He appeared the wait time would be over, and God-fearers would be brought to explicit faith. Galatians makes this plain. John's preached repentance is preparatory repentance. It paves the way for the coming Lord. So that when God's Son is revealed, the hearts of many are already set to receive Him, even though the majority rejected Him.

Repent ... and ...

But John does not advocate mere lip service. How rife with that plague Israel's history has been! Repentance must be accompanied by life change:

"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance"

he flings at the Pharisees. And there is practical advice as to what this fruit would look like:

"What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
“Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”" (Luke 3 vs 10 - 14)

This is no less than the old covenant teaching applied - all of the prophets were preachers of the Law of Moses. And this is really my point.

The repentance John the Baptist commands is - was - repentance under Law, something which would never be required again once Jesus had come, had died, and had risen. This is NOT to say that there is no repentance required when sinners turn to Christ - that is the gospel. But there is a difference.

• John's message was - 'repent and wait'
• The gospel message is - 'repent and believe'

Believers in Christ, under the new covenant are never exhorted to show the 'fruit of repentance'. They are told to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. But of course, at the time of the Baptist, the Spirit had not been given.

The Fruit of the Spirit

Our church Homegroups are about to embark on a series of Bible studies on the fruit of the Spirit as listed in Galatians 5. The study book we are using pitches right in with no introduction. But I thought it is important to understand how these attributes of the new Christ- nature come about in the life of the believer. So I have added an introduction session.

Really, this is precisely 'where the rubber hits the road' as we consider what the theology of the new covenant actually means to us. If we are not to live by 'mechanical' obedience to laws and commands, how do we function? Well, Paul leaves us in no doubt. This is 'new-nature obedience'.

One of the crucial verses in Galatians 5 is v5 -

"For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope."

How does this fruit, outlined in v22, get into our living? It grows, as fruit does. It is not produced by 'acts', or 'works'. It does not arise from 'the flesh', the desires of which produce the unrighteousness Paul lists. So what do we 'do'? Are we to passively sit while God does His bit in us? No, here is our part -

Galatians 6:8 (NIV): whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Sow to grow

If this fruit is to grow, we sow. Then we wait to see it spring forth. But isn't 'waiting' just passive? Ah, but it's 'eagerly await'. This is the jumping-up-and-down excited waiting of the child anticipating the promised birthday treat, who just can't wait to see it. This is waiting without wearying - waiting in faith, in certain knowledge that God's Spirit will bring forth in us what He promises.

How do we sow?

Ch5v6 - we express our faith in our love

Ch5:13 - by serving one another humbly,

like this:

Ch6:10 - Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

In doing this, we are 'sowing to the Spirit'. This is why physical fellowship is so vital. Without it there is no 'ground' to sow in. Think about it. Every interaction with another human being is an opportunity to sow.

The Harvest

And what is sown will quickly result in the crop of ...

... the righteous living that God requires and desires, fulfilling every God-given law we could imagine. Against this, there is no law. None is necessary. It is the outgrowing of our abiding in Christ, and He in us.

So ...

Is there an aspect of this fruit that you see yourself lacking? Are you so easily not-patient or not-self-controlled? Does your walk lack for joy? Must you then reach out to the heavens to bring these things down to you? Well, no, because God says His Spirit has already placed them within you - they come as a 'package' with His indwelling. It's God's promise, and you can 'wait' expectantly for Him to show them in your life as you prayerfully seek to be changed into the likeness of your Saviour more and more.

God's multi-fruit

It is well noted - and worth repeating - that this is 'fruit' not, as is often misquoted, 'fruits'. The word is singular. What we, in English, call a collective noun, denoting many of the same kind, like 'sheep'. I heard it explained this way: An apple, an orange and a banana - that is 'fruits'. More than one apple is 'fruit'. So here, these are what I have referred to as attributes of Christ-like character. If we want to see them perfectly modelled, we have but to look at the Saviour, who lived out His Spirit-filled human life as is evidenced and expounded in our Scripture. That is a worthy study.

Non-optional attributes

As such, God does not operate these like gifts, granting one or a few to each person. Rather, they are a description of what He is bringing about in and through us as we are being transformed day by day into His glorious likeness. How? By the ongoing renewal of our minds (Romans 12:1,2). Neither are they optional. This is not supermarket stuff; we do not select the ones we need and leave the others 'on the shelf' for later! We all must grow all of them. In John 15, Jesus talks about our essential 'spirit-organic' bond with Him. He is the vine, we are His branches. His 'sap' flows through us, providing us with the very life-sustaining force that invigorates us. He is in us and we are in Him. Without that union, even if there is superficially a 'join' we are just sticks, destined for the burning. And in that wonderfully full picture, we are shown that our Heavenly Father is the perfect Gardener, tending and cultivating the growing believer.

Fruit, not 'works'

Back in Galatians, Paul contrasts the outcome of flesh-living with Christ-living. He calls the former 'the works of the flesh'. In my mind, I picture a factory, with all of the machinery and noise, hammering out finished - but non-alive - products. Contrast that with the orchard, where by the natural processes of growing, trees bring forth their produce powerfully and quietly. That 'just happens'! What does the vine-branch have to do to bring forth fruit? Why, nothing but 'abide' in the vine. Then, it just happens. It's a natural outcome. It is the work of the Spirit in us to produce His fruit, as only He can. We can't!

So if I detect that my patience is lacking, what am I to do? "ABIDE", Jesus says. God gives us the promised right to expect His Spirit in us to 'grow' it, and we look to Him to do that. By spending time with the Lord, using all of the 'means of grace' - prayer, His word, fellowship, preaching ... - we can see ourselves change. 'That's just the way I am' is never a Christian sentiment to excuse a lack of fruit. That ISN'T the way you are. It might be the way you WERE. But in Christ, you have a new nature and the old is passed away. So, not to be too harsh, you need to grow up. And out. and in!!!! The power of a growing seed can split concrete. The power of the growing Spirit of God in you can change your life.

Complementary fruit

Another aspect of this 'fruit' allegory that strikes me is that these nine attributes are interactive - they work together. So we can test ourselves by asking 'is my love joyful love'? Is it 'patient love'? Is it 'self-controlled love'? Do you see?

In mathematics, there is a function called a factorial. It describes the number of possible combinations of a given selection of items. If that confuses, let me illustrate:

Imagine you have a red, a green and a blue ball in a bag. Without looking, you pull one ball at a time out. How many possible combinations of colour could result? Well ...

1. First draw - you could get any one of the three. Now there are two left, so

2. Second draw - you could get any one of the two remaining

3. Last draw - only one option left

So you could have any one of 3 x 2 x 1 = 6 different combinations.

(This is the kind of thing I consider 'fun'!)

So with the complementary fruit of the Spirit, you have 9 factorial ways of putting them together - is your joyful love also patient? And good, and kind, and faithful etc. That works out as 9 x 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1. A total of 362,880 combinations.

What's the point of all that? In the old covenant, there are 614 - possibly more - different commands of Moses. The Pharisees sub-divided those making thousands more. In law-observance, imagine trying to keep them all. But in the new covenant, for every single action or thought in which we live to please God, ALL of the fruit of the Spirit should be manifest! If the new covenant was a law-covenant, we would be striving to obey in all 362,880 ways.

And that is precisely why Paul is so insistent in Galatians that we 'fulfill' - FULFILL - the 'law of Christ', the perfect rule of God's loving through us, by walking in the Spirit, not obeying commandments. You see, the outcome grows in us, it is not 'manufactured'. And it does so to the glory of God, as the world, and our brothers and sisters in Christ, rejoice to see that serving them.

Praise His glorious name.

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