(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see why)
Focus Question:
What does it mean to repent?
Intro:
Today is one of those days when our readings in the OT and NT line up usefully. Way back in John’s gospel you remember that Jesus said, “I am the true vine,” and today in Ezekiel you’ll hear a parable about a vine…something it’s likely Jesus’ listeners would know as he made such a declaration. And this, of course, relates to John’s point in 1-3 John where “knowing God” rightly is a big deal…in fact, it makes all the difference in our eternal destinies.
You might also remember that 1 John ended with the line, “keep yourself from idols,” and since idolatry is related to our recent “knowing God” theme, today’s focus question will riff off what we’ll read in Ezekiel as God gets in the business of Israel’s failed leaders — What does it mean to repent?
New Testament segment:
2 John is the shortest book in the New Testament, and he
…builds this epistle around unifying key words. In these thirteen verses John repeatedly uses “truth” (five times), “love” (four times), “commandment” (four times), “walk” (three times), “teaching” (three times), and “children” (three times).(1)
Passage: 2 John
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 13
Words: ~298
A little factoid for you. Today you heard John use
… a rare word, “antichrist,” which appears in Scripture only in 1 and 2 John (see 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7).(1).
So there you go.
Old Testament segment:
As we turn to our OT segment today, recall that in the last few days we’ve experienced another set of visions as God removed His presence from the temple, confirmation of the prophecy that the Israelites would be taken into exile, and today we hear about contrasting false and true prophecies and the consequences of covenantal infidelity. And the vine parable I mentioned at the top of the show.
Passage: Ezekiel 13-15
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 54
Words: ~1577
Wisdom segment:
Passage: Psalm 92
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 15
Words: ~246
The bottom line:
Hey as we get to our focus question, What is repentance?”, I want to point out something we heard in both NT and OT segments today. Part of John’s warning was of teachers who “go beyond the word,” and part of the charges that God brought against false prophets was that they were prophesying out of their own imaginations. See a pattern there?
Repentance. The most common term in the Old Testament for repentance is šûb; the verbal forms appear well over 1,050 times, although translated “repent” only 13 times, and the substantive “repentance” occurs only once in the New International Version. More commonly the translation is “turn” or “return.” A related term is nāḥam, which is translated three times as “repent” in the New International Version. In the New Testament, the most common verb is metanoeō (33 times) and the noun metanoia (20 times). A synonym metamelomai is once translated “repent” (Matt. 21:32).(2)
I’m guessing that many of you knew this, but here’s my point for today’s show. In Ezekiel this word was used explicitly to say what Israel’s leaders had not done and in relation to false prophecies, but there’s an application for us. Specifically, there is a trend in some parts of the church where the trend is to identify sin as ‘not living up to your best self or being the real you,’ and Jesus’ work on the cross was to, essentially, help you find that real you. But I hope you can see that in a biblical sense, repentance is a change of direction and mind. There’s a very real — biblical — expectation that, with the Holy Spirit’s help, you will turn toward holiness and away from sin. “Be holy, because I am holy” as we hear in 1 Peter 1:16…and that’s not exactly a self-help message.
I love you. Amen? Amen!
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) Daniel L. Akin, 1, 2, 3 John, vol. 38, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001), 218.
(2) Walter M. Dunnett, “Repentance,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, electronic ed., Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996), 671.