'Return To Me'

A Biblical Theology of Repentance

Mark J. Boda, Mark J Boda, D. A. Carson

• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9780830826377
• eBook ISBN:
  9780830898848
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

"Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you," (Zech 1:3 ESV).Repentance concerns the repair of a relationship with God disrupted by human sin. All the major phases of church history have seen diversity and controversy over the doctrine. The first of Luther?s famous ninety-five theses nailed to the church door in Wittenburg in 1517 stated that 'the entire life of believers should be one of repentance'. In recent times, two divisive debates within evangelicalism over 'lordship salvation" and "hypergrace" have had repentance at their core.The theme of repentance is evident in almost every Old and New Testament corpus. However, it has received little sustained attention over the past half-century of scholarship, which hasbeen largely restricted to word studies or focused on a particular text or genre. Studies of the overall theology of the Bible have typically given the theme only passing mention.In response, Mark Boda offers a comprehensive overview of the theological witness of Scripture to the theme of repentance in this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume. The key to understanding is not simply to be found in word studies, but also in the broader meaning of texts as these communicate through a variety of words, images and stories. The importance of repentance in redemptive history is emphasized. It is fundamentally a return to intimate fellowship with the triune God, our Creator and redeemer. This relational return arises from the human heart and impacts attitudes, words and actions.Addressing key issues in biblical theology, the works comprising New Studies in Biblical Theology are creative attempts to help Christians better understand their Bibles. The NSBT series is edited by D. A. Carson,aiming to simultaneously instruct and to edify, to interact with current scholarship and to point the way ahead.

Chapter One

Introduction

Despite being an inheritor of the grand Reformation tradition of the sixteenth century I have to admit that until recently I had never read the ninety-five theses of Martin Luther, nailed to the wooden door of Wittenberg’s Castle Church, let alone taken note of the order of the theses (Ferguson 1996: 131–132). Surprising to me was that the first thesis from the list, which would change the course of church history, reads as follows:

i Dominus & Magister noster Iesus Christus, dicendo poenitentia agite &c, omnem vitam fidelium poenitentiam esse voluit.

[1. When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said ‘repent’, he meant that the entire life of believers should be one of repentance.]

The indulgence controversy that sparked Luther’s concern did not prompt him to abandon his doctrine of repentance but rather to pursue a theological conversation with members of the university at Wittenberg and provide correction to the excesses of the medieval period.

Controversies over the doctrine of repentance can be traced throughout all the major phases of church history, and our present age is no exception. Two recent key theological debates have divided the evangelical church in particular, expressed first in the ‘Lordship Salvation’ controversy of the 1980s and 1990s and now the emerging ‘Hyper Grace’ controversy since 2010 (see chapter 14 below). Repentance has been a core topic of debate in both controversies, and this is not surprising in the light of church history.

In this work I am not focused on the arguments mounted by proponents on opposing sides of these recent or ancient debates. Instead, my goal is to return to the Bible to offer a comprehensive overview of the theological witness of Scripture concerning the theme of repentance. The Old Testament will be given the coverage it deserves since it contains over 76% of the canonical witness, with due attention to the New Testament near the end of the study. Patient study of the Old and New Testaments brings to light the striking similarity in their expression of the theology of repentance. In a final chapter I will provide some reflection on the theological implications of the biblical theology of repentance.

Before moving to the biblical witness I want to provide some insight into my approach to writing biblical theology in general and a biblical theology of repentance in particular.

Defining biblical theology1

While the modern discipline of biblical theology is often linked to the inaugural lecture of Johann Philipp Gabler in 1787 and to key developments preceding this lecture in both Pietism and rationalism, the practice of biblical-theological reflection is as old as the Bible and its formative communities. The Old Testament is filled with texts that exemplify an impulse towards summarizing theological truth, whether synopses of the character (Exod. 34:6–7) or activity (Deut. 26:5–9) of Yahweh, or summaries of the ethical message of the prophets (2 Kgs 17:13; Zech. 1:3–4; 7:7–10). Even whole books such as Deuteronomy and Chronicles re-present earlier biblical materials, at times summarizing and focusing on particular emphases within the earlier books.

A similar impulse can be discerned within the New Testament with its short encapsulations of the character and activity of Christ (Phil. 2:6–11; 1 Tim. 3:16) or its summaries of the ethical message of the Law and Prophets (Matt. 7:12; 22:37–40; Rom. 13:8–10; Gal. 5:14). Of course, the New Testament is filled with allusions and citations from the Old Testament, showing its concern to rehearse the theology of the Old Testament found in specific texts. At times the New Testament will trace theological themes through the Old Testament in more concentrated ways, like faith in Hebrews 11 or sin in Romans 3:9–20.

The kind of biblical-theological reflection represented in the present book continues this biblical tradition. I have defined it elsewhere in the following way:

Biblical theology is a theological discipline that reflects on the theological witness of the Bible in its own idiom with attention to both its unity and diversity. In partnership with sound exegetical theology, understood as disciplined reading of the individual pericopae and books of the Bible that seeks after their theological messages to their historical audiences, biblical theology discerns macro level connections within the biblical witness without ignoring disconnections between these various texts and books. The emphasis in biblical theology is on the messages of whole books, canonical sections, entire testaments, and the Bible as a collection and the connections between individual texts and these larger literary-canonical units.2

Underlying my approach to biblical theology lie six basic theological convictions concerning the Scriptures (Boda 2012a: 127–135). First, the Scriptures are communicative in character, that is, God communicated effectively through these texts to their ancient audiences (Heb. 1:1–3; Acts 1:16). Thus we can expect to understand these texts even though we are fully aware of the finite and fallen character of our human condition and our need for the illumination of the Holy Spirit and disciplined study of the texts to grasp the message of the Scriptures (Boda 2011c).

Secondly, the Scriptures are incarnational in character, that is, God communicates through human figures in human language and forms at particular times in history (Heb. 1:1; Acts 1:16; 2 Peter 1:20–21; 2 Tim. 3:15–16). This means then that disciplined study of the texts will entail careful attention to the ancient languages through which and the ancient history in which these texts were written. It will seek to hear the theological message of the text as it was intended for the ancient community of God first before reflecting on how this message relates to our communities of faith today.

Thirdly, the Scriptures come to us in ‘inscripturated’ form, that is, while the Bible contains much text that reflects an original oral form, like proclamations of prophets (2 Peter 1:20–21), the focus of biblical theology is on the written form, and it is this that is called ‘God-breathed’ and ‘holy’ in 2 Timothy 3:15–16 (my tr.; cf. Rom. 15:4). We are thus not focused on the study of pre-canonical forms of the Scriptures, that is, presumed oral or written sources for the biblical books.

Fourthly, the Scriptures are authoritative in their final canonical form, providing normative theological and ethical truth (e.g. Matt. 5:17–20; Acts 24:14; 2 Tim. 3:14–17). This means that the present study is not merely descriptive in character. The description of the theology of repentance is by nature also prescriptive, making demands on those individuals and communities who embrace these Scriptures as canon.

Fifthly, the Scriptures are cumulative and progressive in character, that is, the Bible assumes an overall eschatological perspective, a movement towards a climactic future sometimes referred to as ‘the last days’ and associated in Hebrews 1:1–3 with the era inaugurated by Jesus Christ. This eschatological perspective did not result in the elimination of earlier stages of inscripturated revelation, since the Old Testament witness fills the pages of the New Testament, providing the theological foundation for most of its message. The post-canonical early church also continued to embrace the Old Testament as their Scriptures, drawing their arguments from Old and New Testaments alike. Nevertheless, it is clear that the earlier cumulative witness of the Old Testament must be seen through the final and climactic level focused on Jesus Christ.

Finally, the Scriptures are cohesive in character. This cohesion is seen in the outer shape that comprises two testaments, each of which has its own subcollections and orders of literary units. The present book follows the ancient Hebrew canonical shape of the Law, Prophets and Writings, taking the lead from Christ’s description of the Old Testament canon (Luke 24:44; cf. 11:51).3 The New Testament order is that found in all major manuscripts. Cohesion is also seen in the inner core of each testament. The Old and New Testaments witness to a single true God, revealed as Yahweh in the Old Testament and the triune God in the New Testament. The triune God Yahweh is identified as creator of the universe and redeemer of humanity. The Old and New Testaments also witness to a common human community. Obviously the human community reflected in the Old Testament from creation onwards reflects the same human community in view in the New Testament (e.g. Gen. 1; John 1). So also the redemptive community that gathers around Yahweh in the Old Testament and the triune God in the New Testament are treated as a single community of the people of God, evident in the use of identical terminology for both communities (e.g. Exod. 19:5–6; 1 Peter 2:9).4

This theological foundation shapes the following agenda f...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Titles in this series
• Title Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Series preface
• Author’s preface
• Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Repentance in the Torah
• 3 Repentance in the Former Prophets
• 4 Repentance in the Latter Prophets: penitential process
• 5 Repentance in the Latter Prophets: Isaiah
• 6 Repentance in the Latter Prophets: Jeremiah and Ezekiel
• 7 Repentance in the Latter Prophets: the Twelve
• 8 Repentance in the Writings: wisdom and worship
• 9 Repentance in the Writings: exile and restoration
• 10 Repentance in the Writings: Chronicles
• 11 Repentance in Old Testament theology
• 12 Repentance in the New Testament
• 13 Repentance in New Testament theology
• 14 Theological implications of repentance
• Bibliography
• Index of authors
• Index of Scripture references
• Index of ancient sources
• Notes
• Praise for ‘Return to Me’
• About the Author
• More Titles from InterVarsity Press
• Copyright