Under God's Rule: The Meaning of Repentance
Rev. Sang Ho Bae's 9th expository work on the gospel of Matthew explores the relationship between repentance and the kingdom of God.
Jesus proclaimed:
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
This statement shows that the kingdom of heaven and repentance are inseparably and deeply connected. The “kingdom of heaven” Jesus speaks of here does not refer only to the future heaven we will enter one day. In the New Testament, the concept of the kingdom of heaven is repeatedly presented as the idea of rule or reign. Wherever God’s rule comes, that is the kingdom of heaven.
A nation is composed of people, territory, and sovereignty. Among these, the most essential is sovereignty. Even if the land is mine, if another nation rules over it, it is not truly my nation. During the Japanese occupation, Korea had its own land and its own people, but because it lacked sovereignty, it was not recognized as a nation on the world map. Likewise, the kingdom of heaven in the New Testament refers to the realm where God’s sovereignty reaches—even if that realm is on this earth.
The future kingdom is the place where God’s rule is perfectly fulfilled, while the kingdom experienced on this earth refers to the believer’s heart or the community of believers—the church—where God’s rule, though imperfect, is present. In the Kingdom of Heaven parables of Matthew, the field contains both wheat and weeds, and the net gathers both good fish and bad fish. One might expect only good people to be in the Kingdom, yet there are people like weeds and people like bad fish. This refers not to the future, perfect kingdom but to the present, still-unfinished kingdom unfolding on earth. That is why within the church there are people like wheat and people like weeds.
If we reverse the statement “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near,” it means that the one who does not repent is someone who has not entered the realm of the kingdom, someone who is not under God’s rule—in other words, someone who does not follow His word. And the one who is not within God’s present rule cannot enter the future Kingdom either. In this sense, the present kingdom and the future kingdom are inseparably connected.
People often think of repentance merely as feeling remorse and confessing sins. But repentance contains something more essential. Repentance includes two elements: conversion and confession. The parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 illustrates this best. The prodigal son realizes his wrongdoing and returns to his father to ask for forgiveness. Returning to the father is conversion, and asking for forgiveness by confessing his wrongdoing is confession.
Conversion—returning to God—is called “repentance unto salvation” in theology. This conversion happens only once in a believer’s lifetime. Confessing sins, however, is repeated. Confession—recognizing one’s sin and asking God for forgiveness—is not repentance for salvation but for the restoration of one’s relationship with God. Just as a son’s relationship with his father is restored when he admits his fault and seeks forgiveness, so the believer’s relationship with God is restored when he confesses his sin.
Confession is closely related to sanctification. As believers confess their faults and correct their conduct, they grow spiritually. If one sins but does not confess, the heart becomes spiritually dull, and if this continues for a long time, the conscience becomes numb. Therefore, confession is essential. Some people wrongly teach that one must confess every sin in order to be saved. But if salvation required confessing every sin, no one could be saved. We commit countless sins each day without even realizing it. Who could remember and confess every unconscious sin—such as hatred, greed, or pride? When we become aware of sin, we must confess it, but confession is not the condition of salvation. The essential condition of salvation is turning back to God from a life apart from Him—that is, conversion.
When conversion occurs, a person is born again and experiences a change in perspective. Just as the apostle Paul was completely transformed after his conversion, one’s values and worldview change. When a person converts, spiritual eyes are opened, Scripture begins to make sense, and one becomes aware of being a sinner. Thus, the new life in Christ begins with conversion. A person who has converted and been born again gains a new sensitivity that recognizes sin the moment it enters the heart. Therefore, only the converted can truly confess their sins.
True repentance does not stop at merely confessing sin. True repentance always bears fruit. As John the Baptist said, there must be fruit in keeping with repentance. The fruit of repentance is that the one who committed sin cuts it off and does not return to it. In Acts, the people of Ephesus, after receiving the gospel, gathered their magic books and burned them. These books were worth fifty thousand pieces of silver, yet they did not sell them—they burned them. Repentance that pays a price—this is the evidence of true repentance that breaks with sin.
Christian baptism is the baptism of repentance given to those who have returned to God. The meaning of baptism is dying to sin. Just as all relationships are severed when a person dies, dying to sin means being cut off from the sinful old way of life. Scripture explains Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea as a form of baptism (1 Cor. 10:2). Israel’s passing through the sea symbolizes being buried in death in the sea and thus being cut off from Egypt, the symbol of their former life. They became a people who could never return to Egypt. Likewise, the believer who has repented and been baptized must never return to the old way of life.