Quote:
Originally Posted by Pressing-On
Good post, CS.
Repentance is far more encompassing and more involved than forgiveness and I think that Acts 19:4 and Mark 1:15 explain that well. We must have a change of mind and believe on Christ Jesus and the Gospel.
"Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people (certain DISCIPLES), that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." (Acts 19:4). They were disciples of the doctrine of a soon coming Messiah. This was the crux of the message that Paul illuminated to them. It was about making a choice.
"And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. ( Mark 1:15)
And finally, Mark 16:16 says that we will be saved if we believe and are baptized and if we don't start with belief, we will be damned. |
PO, this word repentance also comes with the connotation of "to reconsider". So what is it the apostles were exhorting their listeners (or letter recipients) to do?
Acts 19:4-
Reconsider Jesus as the Messiah and repentance towards Him instead of John's baptism of repentance. One Greater than John has arrived.
Mark 16:15-Jesus is saying that the kingdom (invisible Kingdom of God) is NOW, in other words. In order to enter this kingdom, you must
reconsider any ideas you may have about it and instead believe that I am the Messiah, the One Who was to come. I am the fulfilment of all prophecy. I am the good news for mankind. I am the I AM. Believe this. Reconsider what you have previously believed that I am Who I say I am.
BTW, there is a stream of belief that holds that
John 3 is a synthetic parallelism. There is no denying that it is a valid viewpoint, since it is the ONLY NT scripture that mentions in (partial) context birth of "water' and "spirit".
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