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2. The Extra-Biblical Concept. How did the Jewish rabbis understand the OT teaching on repentance?

The rabbinic concept of teshûbah. During the two centuries prior to the birth of Christ, rabbis and other Jewish authors wrote extensively. Their writings reflect a different understanding from the one I have suggested of the use of shûb in the OT. (Teshûbah is the noun form of shûb.)

Rabbis were teachers of the Law of Moses. They taught in synagogues and some of their teachings were recorded in the Mishnah and Talmud.

Regarding eternal salvation the rabbis taught that the condition for having a portion in the world to come was obedience to the Law (cf. Aboth 2:7). However, they also believed in grace. They taught that God would forgive disobedience if one truly turned from his sins and made restitution where necessary.

Commenting on the rabbinic teaching of the condition of eternal salvation Herford writes, "It is not enough merely to know the will of God or to believe in it, or in God whose will it is. Before all else he must do it." (23)

Likewise Moore notes: "For sin…there was but one remedy, the forgiving grace of God, and the conditio sine qua non of forgiveness was repentance, that is, contrition, confession, reparation of injuries to others, and a reformation of conduct undertaken and persisted in with sincere purpose and out of religious motives." (24)

Rabbis believed that the righteous surely had a place in the world to come and that the wicked did not. Concerning their view of the fate of those who were neither totally righteous nor totally wicked Moore comments: "The School of Shammai held that those in whom good and evil were, so to speak, in equilibrium, will go down to hell, and dive and come up, and arise thence and be healed… For them the fires of Gehenna are purgatorial; they are refined like silver and assayed like gold. The School of Hillel maintained that God in his abounding mercy…would incline the balance to the side of mercy, and not send them down to Gehenna at all." (25)

These two major rabbinic schools of thought agreed that all but the very wicked will ultimately have a place in the world to come. "A marked tendency of the Rabbis is to limit, in every possible way, the number of those Israelites who will have no share in the world to come. For those who repent no sin is a bar to the everlasting felicities." (26)

In addition to the rabbinic writings in the Mishnah and Talmud, there were also many books written by Jewish authors in the second half of the intertestamental period. These writings are known as OT Apocrypha (or Pseudepigrapha). They are non-canonical, non-inspired writings.

The OT Apocrypha speaks of God weighing on balancing pans the good and bad deeds of people to determine their eternal destinies (Testament of Abraham 13:1-2, 9-14; 1 Enoch 41:1-2; 61:8). The condition of eternal salvation is specified as obedience to the Law of God (2 Baruch 51:3, 7; 4 Ezra 7:19-22, 33-39; 9:30-37).

The Pharisees in Jesus’ day are a good illustration of this type of legalistic, self-righteous thinking (cf. Luke 18:9-14).

The Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory is at least partly derived from the OT Apocrypha (2 Maccabees 12:39-45).

Evaluating the rabbinic concept of teshûbah. The OT does not support the rabbinic understanding. The OT teaches that eternal salvation is by God’s grace and that it is received by man’s response of faith, not by any acts of righteousness or by turning from any sins (cf. Gen 15:6; Hab 2:4). There is no evidence in the OT of purgatory or that the majority of people will ultimately enter God’s kingdom. While there are a number of OT passages which refer to eternal salvation in some way (e.g., Gen 3:15; 22:1-19; Isa 12:23; 45:22; 49:6ff; 52:1-53:12; Jer 31:7; 46:27; Zech 8:7; 9:9, 16), there are only a few which deal with the human condition of eternal salvation, that is, faith (Gen 15:6; Hab 2:4). (27)

The passage which stands out most prominently as the paradigm for the OT’s teaching on eternal salvation is Gen 15:6: "And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness." Genesis 15:6 is the John 3:16 of the OT. One condition only is given: belief in the Lord.

What did Abraham believe about the Lord? He believed that the Lord would take away his sins and grant him a place in His coming kingdom. Of course, it may well be that at the moment of faith Abraham’s understanding of the Messiah and His substitutionary work was not fully developed. (28) His understanding probably grew as a result of God’s asking him to offer up his one and only son and then at the last moment providing a ram as a substitute (Genesis 22). (29) However, it is clear from the Pauline use of this text that it is salvific, referring to Abraham’s justification by faith alone (Gal 3:6-14; Rom 4:1-25). While Abraham did many good works, none of them contributed to his justification before God in any way.

A second OT passage, Hab 2:4, also teaches that the sole OT condition for eternal salvation was faith in the Lord. The context concerns the Babylonian invasion. A proud people would be used by the Lord to judge Israel. Since proud people are not pleasing in the sight of the Lord, they will ultimately fall. (Pride goes before the fall.) "Shall live" here is not so much a promise as it is a statement of potential or a command. A man who has found acceptance with God by faith alone has the potential to live, to escape the temporal judgment of God. He realizes that potential by living in accordance with the righteous standing he has with God.

Paul’s use of this verse confirms this understanding. He used it to show that one obtains the righteousness of God by faith alone (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11). Nygren forcefully demonstrates that when Paul quoted Hab 2:4 in Rom 1:17 he was joining "the righteous" and "by faith" in such a way that they are viewed as a unit: "he who through faith is righteous." (30) In Romans 1-4 Paul elaborates on the expression, "he who through faith is righteous." Then in chaps 5-8 he deals with the attending words of Rom 1:17, "shall live." The one who is righteous by faith alone is free from God’s wrath (Romans 5), from sin (Romans 6), from the Law (Romans 7), and from death (Romans 8). All of these are true of believers in our position and are the basis of our striving against the flesh to live out our new natures (cf. Rom 6:11-13; 8:12-17; 12:1-15:13).

One obtains righteous standing before God by faith (Rom 1:17-4:25; Gal 3:6-14). Yet only by living out his new life does the one who is righteous by faith maintain his temporal life (Rom 8:13; Heb 10:37-38). Romans 8:13 contains an explicit allusion back to Rom 1:17 and Hab 2:4. There Paul tells believers, those who are righteous by faith and who are eternally secure (Rom 8:38-39), "if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

As mentioned above, a number of OT passages (Ps 22:27; Isa 6:10; 10:21; 19:22; Jer 24:7) refer to a future turning of Israel and other nations to the Lord in faith. They confirm our understanding of Gen 15:6 and Hab 2:4 -that the one and only OT condition for obtaining eternal salvation was believing wholly and solely upon the Lord and His ultimate provision for one’s sins.

This understanding of the OT teaching on the human condition of eternal salvation is confirmed by several NT passages.

In commenting on the OT’s teaching on eternal salvation, Paul wrote in Rom 4:3-8: "For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.’"

Likewise, in Gal 3:6-14 Paul wrote: "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "The just shall live by faith." Yet the law is not of faith, but "The man who does them shall live by them." Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

So also, the author of the Book of Hebrews noted in Heb 10:1-4: "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purged, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins."

Luke 18:9-14 and John 1:29, both pre-Cross passages, also confirm that eternal salvation according to the OT was by grace through faith and not as a result of works.

The OT conditioned eternal salvation upon faith alone. The sacrificial system was designed to lead worshipers to see their sinfulness and to place their faith in the Lord as their only hope of kingdom entrance (cf. Luke 18:13-14; Heb 10:lff).

Why were so many so wrong? One may wonder why it is that when Jesus came the vast majority of Jews rejected Him and His message (John 1:11). If the OT taught that the sole condition of eternal salvation was faith in the Lord, why did most think that the condition was faithful observance of the Law?

From what we can tell from the NT, much of Judaism was very much in the grip of legalism, as evidenced by the attitude of the Pharisees (Matt 23; Luke 18:9-14). Most of the nation rejected Jesus Christ (John 1:11). They were not willing to own up to the fact that they were sick and needed deliverance (Luke 5:31). Most tried to approach God on their own terms-trying to establish their own righteousness rather than accepting the righteousness which God freely offered (Rom 10:2-3; 1 Cor 1:23).

The way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it (Matt 7:13-14; John 14:6). That was true in the intertestamental period and in Jesus’ day, and it remains true today.

It would be a mistake, however, to think that all of the Jewish people rejected Jesus’ free offer of salvation. Some did accept His offer and believe in Him (John 1:12). Indeed, John and Luke report that many (indicating a great number, not a majority) of the priests and Jewish leaders came to faith in Jesus Christ (John 12:42; Acts 6:7). Even Saul of Tarsus, an archenemy of the Gospel of Grace and the Cross of Christ, came to trust in Jesus Christ as his only hope of heaven and, indeed, to become the Apostle to the Gentiles (Gal 1:11-3:14).

C. Conclusion

The term shûb was used in the OT to refer to Israel’s turning toward or away from the Lord and also to His turning toward the nation with blessings or away from her with curses. In most contexts temporal blessings or curses were in view. In a few passages, however, the expression "turning to the Lord" was used in reference to the future eternal salvation of the nation. In such contexts "turning to the Lord" was used as a circumlocution for faith.

Extra-biblical Jewish sources (OT Apocrypha, Talmud, Mishnah) show that the rabbis of the intertestamental period and Jesus’ day held a legalistic view of the condition of eternal salvation. They believed in salvation by grace through faithfulness instead of the OT teaching of salvation by grace through faith.

Naham

The term naham in the OT means "to be sorry" or "to comfort oneself." (31) It occurs 108 times in the Old Testament, but only three of those uses (Jer 8:6; 31:19; Job 42:6) deal with the repentance of men.

The non-technical nature of this term is shown in that most of its theological uses refer to the so-called "repentance of God." (32)

Two of the passages which use naham to refer to the repentance of men concern temporal, not eternal, salvation. Jeremiah 8:6 indicates that because the nation was not sorry for her wickedness (i.e., her idolatry) temporal judgment resulted. Job 42:6 concerns Job’s remorse over foolish words he had spoken during his ordeal.

Jeremiah 31:19 says that after Israel turns back to the Lord, she will be grieved as she recalls her former actions. This passage refers to the future restoration of Israel by the Lord. After the nation returns to the Lord in faith, she will be grieved over her long history of disobedience and disbelief.

Conclusion

The concept of human repentance in the OT is twofold. First and foremost it means turning toward or away from something (shûb). A second but rare meaning is to be grieved over previous actions or attitudes (naham).

The OT conditions temporal salvation upon turning from one’s sinful behavior. God promised Israel blessings if she obeyed and curses if she disobeyed. There are numerous examples in the OT of the nation and of individual Israelites experiencing curses when they turned away from the Lord and blessings when they turned back to Him.

The OT nowhere, however, conditions eternal salvation upon turning from one’s sinful behavior. Eternal salvation in the OT was conditioned solely upon turning to the Lord in faith.

Eternal salvation has always been and always will be by grace through faith. That is why the Messiah had to die on the cross for the sins of Adam’s race.

All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way.
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:6)

Dr. Bob Wilkin (Th.M., Magna Cum Laude, and Ph.D. in New Testament from Dallas Theological Seminary) was born and raised in Southern California. After graduating from college he joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ, serving two years each at Arkansas State University and North Carolina State University. During his seminary studies, Bob served in a variety of ministries including a year each in college and high school ministry, a year as a hospital chaplain, and three years as a pastor. After receiving his doctorate, Bob taught at Woodcrest College (formerly Dallas Bible College) in Lindale, Texas and then at Multnomah Bible College in Portland, Oregon.

Feeling that there was a great need for an educational and networking organization for Christians who believe in the freeness of the Gospel, Bob started Grace Evangelical Society in June of 1986. In July of 1987 he left his teaching position to devote full time to heading up this ministry. Since its inception, readership of the bimonthly newsletter, Grace In Focus, has grown from 30 to over 9,000. (www.FaithAlone.org)

Dr. Wilkin has written a book, Confident in Christ: Living by Faith Really Works, two booklets, You Can Be Sure, and There's a New Day Dawning, and hundreds of newsletter and journal articles. He regularly speaks across the country.

Bob and his wife Sharon live in Highland Village, Texas.

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