“The 3 R’s of God’s Kingdom”

Repentance and Righteousness are defined differently in the Bible according to which one of the Five Main Covenants is under discussion. That is just one reason this Blog initially focused on the differences among the five main covenants in general and, in particular, between the Mosaic Covenant of Law versus Jesus’ New Covenant of Grace – which Jesus made with God at Calvary on our behalf. When we believers understand these drastic differences, we can then avoid the trap of mixing the opposing terms of these last two covenants, which Jesus revealed to Paul to be a heresy – Galatianism.  

Typically, most Christians today connect the term “repentance” with “forgiveness of sin” and /or “turning away from sin.” Why? Well Mark 1:4 reinforces this assumption with this statement: John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Additionally, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, under #3341, defines the Greek noun “metanoia” as “to feel compunction for guilt – including reformation, reversal (of another’s) decision, repentance.” So this too, includes a sense of guilt for wrong doing.  

However, many translations render the Hebrew word for “repent,” such as in 1 Samuel 15:29 as: Also the Glory of Israel (God) will not lie nor repent for He is not a man that He would repent.

Similarly, in Genesis 6:6, So the Lord repented (was sorry) that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And in Exodus 32:14 So, the Lord repented (relented) of the harm which He said He would do to His people.

The Greek counterpart for the Hebrew used in this verse is under #3340, which is the verb “metanoeo” which means “to think differently, to reconsider,  … repent.” There is no “sin” involved here because God cannot sin.

So, as is usual with most words, it depends on where the words “repentance” and “repent” occur in the Bible – and the context of that particular passage – on how to accurately determine their meaning. Note: If you take a text from its “context,” you will risk being “conned.” We know God does not “sin” or feel “guilty” so the word can mean in both Hebrew and in Greek “to think differently” or “to change one’s mind” about something. This happens all the time – especially when we get better informed about a particular concept, for example.

So, John the Baptist connected repenting with “forgiveness of sin” because he lived under the Mosaic Law Covenant which “aroused sin and caused death.” The very terms of this behavior-based covenant required admitting one’s “lawbreaking” to God to be forgiven to avoid being “cursed.” This was the stated consequence for sinning under the terms of that specific law-based covenant. (Fortunately, God never gave the Mosaic Covenant to Gentiles. But, unfortunately, you would never know that today with whole denominations still preaching on “keeping the Big Ten” to stay “right with God.”)

However, because the New Covenant began at Calvary, where God totally forgave the sin of the whole world, the word “repent” obviously means “to change one’s mind” about how God now views our sin after Calvary, as previous Posts have documented. Because Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin – and paid that debt in FULL for the entire human race unilaterally – there is no need to ask God to forgive you of your wrong doing because He already DID that 2000 years ago. You would be asking for something you already have.

So which definition of the term “repent” is the correct one for all Christians today? It would be “to change one’s mind” to think like God does about everything. However, for most Christians today, who have been taught by Law-minded pastors and teachers, it is still, unfortunately, “sin-related.”

Therefore, true repenting about the topic of “sin” for Law-minded Christians today means “changing your mind” to agree with God about what He has done about “The Sin Issue,” as presented in the last Post. And more amazingly, God has not only totally forgiven all your sin through Jesus’ Sacrifice 2000 years ago, but He also chooses NOT to be mindful of your sin – or anyone else’s sin.

The only way for a reborn saint in Christ to “fall from Grace” is to go back under “law-keeping.” See The Harsh Realities of the Law Post. Hopefully, that revelation will enable you to “change your mind” to realize how wonderful Father-God really is – and make Romans 2:4 more understandable: Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance.  

As you let this revelation renew your mind to think about how much He loves you, your love for God will grow exponentially, enabling you to come into the freedom of forgiving all others as He has totally forgiven you of all sin – with no strings – as Ephesians 4:32 encourages us to do when Jesus says through Paul:

Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other, in the same way God forgave you in Christ.

This is another expression of His Total Grace towards you!

RIGHTOUSNESS – Right Standing with God

Now that we know that sin-centered repentance in the Mosaic Covenant is quite different from the definition of repentance in the Grace-based New Covenant, we can better understand that a similar distinction needs to be made about the term “righteousness” because of what Jesus accomplished on Calvary. It has always meant “right-standing with God.” But the question is whether we humans are or can become righteous – i.e. justified – in God’s sight and, if so, how does that happen?

The Bible reveals that, initially, Adam was in right-standing with God as a perfect human being who then lost that “right-relationship” with God when he rebelled, choosing to eat of the Law Tree instead of the Jesus Tree in the Garden. From then on, no one born of Adam could become justified by his or her own doing and all mankind is legally hell-bound – just by being in Adam. (I know, it doesn’t sound fair to our warped minds, but God’s love and wisdom is infinitely higher than ours.)

Out of His Love and Mercy for mankind, God made a way for both Noah and Abraham to be “credited” with (i.e. imputed) “right-standing” with God by a Grace-based covenant  through simply believing in and receiving God’s promises to them, even though they remained in Adam spiritually. He could justly do this in anticipation of what Jesus would do in the future for all mankind. (God can do that because the “past, present and future” timetable we live in is His All-knowing “Now!”)

From God’s perspective, the Israelites were legally under the Abrahamic Covenant of Grace as descendants of Abraham. Unfortunately, however, they rejected the offer to be in right-standing with God through Abraham. So God offered them a covenant based on their “Law-keeping” – rather on than relying on His Grace and Mercy as Abraham had.

Under these new terms, right-standing depended on their continuously perfect “right-doing” – an impossibility because they were in Adam and, therefore, corrupt by nature. Those terms of the Mosaic Law Covenant were in force until Jesus’ perfect Blood sacrifice on Calvary legally enabled God and Jesus to offer a New Covenant, made between them on mankind’s behalf, based on Jesus’ perfect “doing” – not on our imperfect “doing” like the Israelites had foolishly agreed to.

REBIRTH Causes IMPARTED RIGHTEOUSNESS

So now, like Abraham, we have the option to choose to be included into a covenant by Grace through faith that is not dependent on our “doing” but belief in Jesus’ perfect “doing.” But it is a far better covenant than even Abraham enjoyed. By being reborn of God Himself, we actually enter into Christ Jesus supernaturally, through a “Divine Exchange” of His perfect nature and right-standing with God for our fallen and unrighteousness nature in Adam. This miracle is the centerpiece of Jesus’ Finished Work, described in Galatians 2:20 and 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.

Everyone who is in Christ by faith in Him alone, enjoys everlasting right-standing with Father–God, regardless of our imperfect behavior. This is true even if you have not yet “repented” – discovered and “changed your mind” – about all the benefits of being born of God in Christ that are now legally yours.

Amazingly, what is true for Jesus the Man is now also true for you too – as God’s favored child. God imputed the gift of right-standing to Abraham and his family because he believed and received God’s promises by faith. But for all who are reborn through and in Christ, God imparts Jesus’ right-standing permanently to us as His beloved children because we are one with Jesus spiritually. “For you were once of Darkness but now we are Light in the Lord so walk as children of the Light,” Ephesians 5:8.

The main purpose of this Blog is to help believers learn to “repent” according to your New Covenant status before God by 1) learning to think like God thinks about what He has done for you through Jesus, 2) to enjoy the fantastic benefits of His New Covenant and 3) to be His Ambassador to spread the wonderful Good News of Jesus’ Grace Gospel that He Revealed directly to Paul – the Fifth Gospel.

According to Paul, any other gospel is no gospel at all – because it is not totally Good News when it is mixed with Moses’ Law-keeping covenant, now “obsolete.” Total Grace means total Gift. There are no “strings.” So, “repent” by keeping your eyes on what Jesus has done for you by making you His precious, Born Again child, by His Grace through His gift of Faith. I included the song Born Again this week to help you scrub your mind to see yourself as Daddy-God does!