Read Matthew 3 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
This entire chapter makes its own Chiastic Structure Teaching Tool.
Matthew 3:1-17 Chiastic Structure
Therefore bring forth fruits worthy of repentance … Mat 3:8
Repentance is Strong’s G3341, in Greek, μετάνοια metanoia.
According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, metanoia means, “a change of mind, especially the change of mind of those who have begun to abhor their errors and misdeeds, and have determined to enter upon a better course of life, so that it embraces both a recognition of sin and sorrow for it, and hearty amendment, the tokens and effects of which are good deeds.”
The Jewish translators of the Septuagint translated the Hebrew asur, אשור, Strong’s H838 (in Pro 14:15) into metanoia. Asur is an abstract concept meaning, “one’s way of walking,” from Strong’s H833, אשר ashar, a primitive root meaning, “to be or go straight.” The ancient Hebrew pictographs are aleph + shin + resh.
aleph א = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
shin ש = two front teeth, thus sharp, press, eat, two, again
resh ר = the head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
The concrete noun that is formed from the verbal root gives a clue as to the story. The noun is cord, and it is tied to the meaning of straight, in that when a weight is attached to one end of a cord and held above the ground, the cord hangs exactly vertical to the ground as a plumb line, and can be used to ensure that a wall is being straightly built. In ancient days, a cord was made when two (shin) strips of leather or sinew were attached at the top (resh) and then twisted together in such a fashion so as to lock their fibers. The story the pictographs are telling is of a strong (aleph) cord (shin + resh) as a straight plumb line, so also upright.
What is the Hebrew Root Word Teaching Tool telling us about the abstract concept of repentance? Repentance is a change which is borne out by the fruit of the life, fruit which aligns with the plumb line of righteousness, that is, God’s way of walking, which is encoded in Torah.
Now we know why John told the Pharisees to bear fruit worthy of repentance. If there is no righteous fruit, then there has been no repentance.
The Gospels introduce baptism as an outward act of repentance indicating an inward change of heart, borne out by accompanying fruit. The practice of baptism is not new with the Greek Testament; John was immersing people in a mikvah, a pool of water used for purification, translated by the Greek baptizo, “to dip, to plunge, to immerse, to submerge.”
If there are questions, these are good resources:
2 Corinthians 7, Godly sorrow produces repentance, part one, and part two – Christine Miller
Ashar, “To be straight, right,” Strong’s H833 – Christine Miller
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