Tag-Archive for » shuv «

Ping-Pong Repentance

Sunday, April 14th, 2013 | Author:

“Come, let us return to the LORD, for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.”  Hosea 6:1  ESV

Return – “Although ‘in their distress’ (5:15) the Israelites do indeed resolve ‘come, let us return to Yahweh’ (6:1), the people are not really transformed.  Israel continues to lack insight into its own guilt (cf. 6:2-3 with 14:2-3[1-2]) and does not exhibit constancy (6:4b), steadfast love, or knowledge of God (6:6).”[1]

Not much has changed since the time of Hosea, has it?  Distress leads to a form of repentance.  When things get bad, God comes to mind.  Like the fertility cults of the ancient past, we turn to God in order to improve our lives.  We make promises.  We offer sacrifices (bigger tithes, more services, whatever it takes).  We show penance.  But just like the Israelites, we lack insight into our own guilt.  We think like pagans.  “If we just do this, then God will be happy with us again and life will return to normal,” we say to ourselves.  Perhaps we aren’t even aware of the implicit selfishness of our actions.  Perhaps we don’t see that our motives are not based on God’s perspective but rather on our own desires to remove the pain.  But the result is no different.  We move toward God only long enough to reduce our distress.  But there is no long-term consistency, no abiding faithful loyalty, no true understanding of His heart.  When the pain is gone, so are the vows.

The sad pattern of sincere capriciousness is evident for both corporate and individual.  A nation turns to God in a time of crisis.  Ten years later no one notices any difference.  A man or woman, struck by anxiety and guilt, pleads and prays.  A month later nothing has changed.  It took one thousand years of waiting before God sent Hosea to warn the people about their fickle faith.  I am afraid that we have also used up the clock.  The long-nose of deferred wrath is shortened by our lack of compassion for God.  As the parable of the great debtor clearly shows us, having proven ourselves unworthy of His grace, He may withdraw the benefit and require us to pay.

Hosea’s summary is fitting:  “they turn . . . to powerlessness.”  We turn back to our plans, our attempts to control our destiny, our beliefs that power and money will make us free.  We follow the path of Ba’al, with the same result.  And, by the way, Hosea also makes it clear that the proof of our pagan Christianity is not in our theological constructs but rather in our actions.  If God can describe what it means to be in His image in His self-definition of Exodus 34:6-7, are we compelled to ask ourselves if we can be described by the same terms.  Where is our compassion as intense as the care of an unborn child?  Where is our patient endurance?  Where is unmerited favor poured out?  Where is hesed?  If you made journal entries into your spiritual account based on the characteristics of God’s declaration to Moses, how would you fare?  Are you like Hosea’s Israel or are you like Yeshua’s servants?

Topical Index:  shuv, return, Exodus 34:6-7, Hosea 6:1, Matthew 18:21-35


[1] M. Graupner, shuv, TDOT, Vol. XIV, p. 487.

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 5 Comments

Once More Only

Saturday, April 13th, 2013 | Author:

For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved,
 in quietness and trust is your strength.” But you were not willing, . .  Isaiah 30:15  NASB

Repentance – Once before we looked at this verse, but we didn’t mention that the Hebrew word shuva is a hapax legomenon.  That means this word occurs only one time in all the Scripture.  It is still a derivative of the underlying verb shuv, but in this occurrence it is quite unusual.  Perhaps that’s why various English translations choose different words to try to explain the meaning.  Regardless of the English choice, the idea is clear.  Salvation (deliverance) comes from a change in direction.  It could be understood as turning to God.  It might be turning back.  It could even be turning around.  But somewhere, somehow, things must be different.  Life must change.  Goals must change.  Preferences must change.

The important point about shuv and its derivatives is that it is not primarily cognitive.  Shuv is about movement, not mentality.  It simply is not possible to experience YHWH’s deliverance by changing your thoughts alone.  Unless walking follows talking, there is no change in direction.  So when I proclaim that I have been set free from my guilt by the grace of the Lord, anyone should be able to tell the difference between my former ways of walking and my current ways of walking.  The promise of salvation comes after course correction!  “In changing direction (shuva) and rest (nahat) you will be saved” (Niphal, imperfect).  The verb tense indicates that the action (deliverance) happens to us (we are passive recipients) in continuing occurrence.  In other words, deliverance (salvation) is the continuous experience of the presence of YHWH.  It’s not being transported to heaven.  It’s not the momentary relief of guilt.  It’s not the confident assurance that our sins have been forgiven.  It is fellowship with the Father.  And if that isn’t a present reality in your life, then perhaps you need to examine yourself in light of shuva’ and nahat.

Some Hebrew terms like shuv are almost bi-polar.  They contain both positive and negative components.  So shuv can mean “to turn to God” and it can also mean “to withdraw from God.”  It isn’t the action that matters.  It is the direction.  It is possible to demonstrate all the apparently religious actions but be going in the wrong direction.  That is a very scary thought.  Perhaps this is what Yeshua had in mind when He addressed those who claimed such religious fervor but still heard the words, “I never knew you.”  Don’t examine your religious behavior and think you have settled the issue.  Inspect your direction.  Look where you are going by making sure it isn’t where you have already been.  Then you will understand that the sign of repentance is only visible when you are confronted by the same circumstances but you act differently.

Topical Index:  repentance, shuv, shuva, return, withdraw, Isaiah 30:15

 

 

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , , ,  | 11 Comments

The Return of Reason

Friday, April 12th, 2013 | Author:

“But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
 And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.”  Daniel 4:34  NASB

Returned – Nebuchadnezzar experienced a degradation of life that we can only imagine in some sort of science-fiction movie.  He became like an animal in the field.  After God’s chastisement, he made a statement that reveals just how typical the reality of his experience really is.  “My reason returned,” says the king.  But we should not think of this as the return of rationality.  The words are not Greek.  They are Aramaic (mandei yetuv).  We are familiar with the verb in Hebrew (shuv), meaning “to turn around, to return.”  But what is it that returns to Nebuchadnezzar?  It is manda, not reasoning ability but rather knowledge and understanding.  The word is derived from yada’, “to know.”  In fact, the ancient Mandaeans who were Aramaic Gnostics got their name from this word.  So it is not about the ability to think logically.  It is about understanding the true foundation of life.  Nebuchadnezzar’s understanding of the sovereignty of God returned to him and he saw how the world really is.  That’s why the result of this return is his declaration of praise!  “I blessed the Most High,” says Nebuchadnezzar, because when he understood, he knew who God is – the Sovereign of the Universe.

It took animal existence for Nebuchadnezzar to come to his senses.  It appears to me that most of the world’s population is still waiting for that day.  Most of the world’s population are grass-eaters.  They just don’t know it because their “reason” has not returned.  They don’t understand that there is only One True God – YHWH – melech ha’olam.  They are still mindlessly chewing like cattle, consuming the earth without acknowledging its Creator.  It’s pretty much what Paul said in Romans 1.  Failure to acknowledge sovereignty results in darkened minds.  The fact is that very few return to reason in spite of the fact that most claim to be thinkers.

Nebuchadnezzar’s insight is important for each of us.  He had to become an animal in order to understand what it means to be human.  So do we.  We might not spend seven years in the field, but we can easily spend a lifetime chewing.  To be human is to be able to praise the Creator and to praise the Creator requires manda – yada’.  Don’t be fooled by thinking.  Thinking is not the sign of being human.  Submission to the King is the sign of being human.  Choose your Sovereign today.  Start by praising His benevolence and grace.  Your mind will improve.

Topical Index:  mind, reason, manda, yada’, return, shuv, Daniel 4:34

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , , , ,  | 9 Comments

What Should I Do With You?

Thursday, April 11th, 2013 | Author:

“You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: When men fall, do they not rise again?  If one turns away, does he not return?”  Jeremiah 8:4  ESV

Turns away/return – Doesn’t God’s broken heart ache for His children?  It’s difficult for us to imagine what that pain must be.  The perfect Father who wishes only to provide shalom to those He loves with an intensity that is the very foundation of the universe watches us turn away again and again.  A thousand years of patient hope and yet we rebel.  And it’s not as if we don’t know what we are doing.  Yes, Yeshua asked for forgiveness for those who were involved in the crucifixion, but they were ignorant of the cosmic implications of their hatred.   Can we claim the same ignorance?  Hardly!  To us it has been revealed, that marvelous disclosure of God’s handiwork in preparation for the coming world of joyful obedience.  What excuse do we have?

Israel’s obstinacy continues in our own history,  both corporate and individual.  I am not like Joshua, capable of vowing, “As for my house, we shall serve . . .”  I know his path.  I see his path.  I hear his path, and yet, I falter.  “If a man falls, will he not get up?”  Yes, but how many times, Lord, must one fall before he can not fall again?  The assumption in God’s question is that we will get up, but the reality is that falling damages our chances.  Yes, we can get up.  Yes, the Father of lights wishes us to get up.  Yes, the Spirit hovers over us with anticipation.  But bones break.  Minds ache.  And the reality is that getting up hurts more the one-hundredth time than it did the second time.

Perhaps that’s why this common Semitic word is of such enormous importance.  Shuv isn’t particular to Hebrew.  It is found throughout the languages of the ancient world, and what is particularly important about this word and all its cognates is that it is a word of the will.  It always means, “Get up and turn around again.”  In this verse, the verb is used twice in the second question.  Shuv is both “to turn away” and “to return.”  Both verbs are Qal imperfects.  They describe a simple, continuing action.  Fall down – get up!  Turn away – turn back!  The implication is obvious:  sin is not supposed to permanently derail you!  If you find you are going in the wrong direction, turn around!  It doesn’t matter how many times you have to make this course correction.  Do it – again!

In other ancient cultures of the Middle East, this action was usually associated with returning to the worship of the pagan gods.  Appeasement was required.  It was necessary to get the god to turn back toward you.  But YHWH is different.  He isn’t looking for appeasement.  He is looking for the joy of embracing the child who has turned home.  It isn’t God who needs to turn around.  It’s us!  The signpost for a U turn is already in the ground.  The RSVP has been sent.  All that is required is the will to walk a different way.  And one step in reverse is enough to get started.

Ready?  About face!  March!

Topical Index:  return, shuv, repent, teshuvah, Jeremiah 8:4

 

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 8 Comments

The Once and Future King

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013 | Author:

Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place – unless you repent.  Revelation 2:5  NASB

Remember – Do you remember those days, the days when you first experienced the joy of fellowship with Him, the days when that burden you carried was lifted away, the days when you knew His presence as clearly as you knew your own being?

The man in the rowboat remembers God’s markers in his past because his course is true.  He looks back to see that he has not drifted away, he has not changed direction.  That is the purpose of remembering – to stay aligned with God’s handiwork in your life.  But sometimes when we remember, we see something else.  We see the shame of a life busy with everything except the true course God intended.  Sometimes when we remember we see a time that is no longer part of our present reality, a time that we long to recapture but seems always out of reach.  Sometimes when we remember, we are humiliated by our neglect of devotion and obedience.  We used to have passion for the Master.  Now we struggle to pray.  We used to rush to His Word.  Now we can’t find the time.  We know His calling but we knew His love.

The Greek word here is mnemomeue.  You will notice its similarity to the English word “mnemonic” (an aid to memory).  The Greek term reminds us that “remember” is a deliberate action of bringing something to mind.  Perhaps that’s why Abraham Heschel said, “To believe is to remember.”  Perhaps we need to remember that today.  The exercise of faith has no past tense.  Today is the day of our deliverance.  The reason that we are to remember is to exercise the capacity to see what God has done in order to be aligned with what God is doing.  The value of God’s past acts is found only in the transformation of His present servants.  Ours is not a faith in historical ancestors.  It is a faith in the living God, the One Who meets us today as we trod the road of restoration.

If you and I have lost that infatuating first love, there is a solution.  Repentance.  It’s a simple solution.  It doesn’t require penance, therapy, theology or more charity.  It asks only for turning around – now!  Would you be surprised to know that Hebrew has no special word for repentance?  Repentance is woven into the fabric of the entire religious practice of the Jews.  It shows up in fasting, liturgies, festival days, rituals and days of penitence.  It is simply part of everyday living.  The Hebrew word shuv means both “turning back” and “turning from.”  So Hebrew repentance is not simply a return to the former course.  It is also turning away from any course deviation.  Repentance is all about direction.  It’s not only where you’ve been; it’s where you’re going.  But this much is clear.  It’s not about standing still.

When you remember, does it hurt?

Topical Index:  remember, mnemomeue, shuv, Revelation 2:5, repentance

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 7 Comments

Who Redeems Whom?

Sunday, September 30th, 2012 | Author:

“He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”  Ruth 4:15  ESV

Restorer – Most biblical students are familiar with the Hebrew concept of the kinsman-redeemer.  Christians often consider the Tanakh’s use of the term as a type of the Christ.  But they might be shocked to discover that the real redeemer in the story of Ruth is Ruth herself, an outsider, a rejected one, a woman.  Read again what the women of Bethlehem say to Naomi after Ruth conceives.  The child of Ruth (later named Obed by the women) is called the redeemer of Naomi.  That child is the product of Ruth’s hesed.  It is Ruth’s actions that actually redeem Naomi’s life and provide Naomi once again with a reason to relish her own name.

Are you just a bit surprised to find that one of the strongest symbolic narratives about the kinsman-redeemer casts a woman, and a Gentile woman at that, in the role?  Does this shake up your fixed idea of the gender specific bias about God’s actions in the lives of human beings?  Does it add just that one extra bit of evidence that God does not relegate women to sub-par spiritual roles?  If this Gentile woman from a prohibited ancestry can play the role of the redeemer, isn’t God ready and willing to have women play any role He chooses?

There is one other upside-down implication to this verse and its context.  The story of Ruth turns out to be a story about Naomi.  The beginning focuses on the emptiness and bitterness in Naomi’s life and her willingness to blame God for her misfortune.  The end of the story focuses on the fulfillment, joy and subsequent significant consequences for Naomi and all of Israel.  Although Ruth is the central figure in the plot, she is the vehicle by which God exercises His plans for Naomi and Israel.  The two themes are interwoven in ways that demonstrate once more the invisible hand of the Lord behind the visible actions of men and women.

The Hebrew phrase, meshiv nephesh (“one who restores your life”) contains a wordplay since meshiv (restore) is derived from the root shuv (to return).  Naomi used the same verb in 1:21 to complain that God returned her to Bethlehem empty.  Now the women of the village remark that God has not abandoned her but instead has returned her life through the redeemer, the child of Ruth.

Perhaps Ruth is a story far deeper than merely a part of the genealogy of David and ultimately of Yeshua.  Perhaps it is worth meditating on the invisible hand of God in the apparent tragedies of life.  Perhaps it would be worthwhile considering the vital role God gives to this woman – and to all women who demonstrate hesed.

Topical Index:  redeemer, restorer, meshiv nephesh, shuv, Ruth 4:15

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 16 Comments

Double Deal

Sunday, July 08th, 2012 | Author:

Thus Naomi returned from the country of Moab; she returned with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabite.  Ruth 1:22  JPS

Returned – Did you ask, “Why is this verb repeated?”  Isn’t it enough to say, “Thus Naomi returned”?  Why say it twice – unless there is something for us to learn from this reoccurrence?  The literal translation would read, “Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, the one returning . . .”  Perhaps the second occurrence isn’t about Naomi at all.  Perhaps “the one returning” describes Ruth.  Eskenazi notes that this awkward construction caused the rabbis to ask, “In what way does Ruth return?”  After all, Ruth had never been to Bethlehem.  Ruth was an outsider, a prohibited stranger.  How can she be returning to Israel?  The rabbis suggested several explanations.  Some thought that this construction described Ruth’s repentance and conversion.  Others thought that this alluded to the turn around in the history between Moab and Israel represented in Ruth.  Let’s examine both of these and see what we discover in the deeper levels of this text.

First, suppose that this really describes Ruth’s turn from pagan Moab to faithful Israel.  We would usually report this as a “conversion” experience.  But with the verb shuv we see something a little deeper.  Conversion is return to the Lord.  That implies that we were once in His company and, with conversion, are returning to that place.  How can this be for pagans?  Perhaps our return is really a statement about how He designed us, how we strayed from His purposes built into us in the womb, and how we are not returning to that original design.  Perhaps the use of shuv brings to mind an even bigger picture; a picture that takes us all the way back to Genesis 2.

Secondly, suppose that this Hebrew construction is about Ruth’s role in turning around the schism between Moab and Israel.  That would take us back to Abraham and Lot (Genesis 13).  The rabbis noticed that Ruth’s hesed heals a broken relationship between family members; a broken relationship of generations of tribal animosity.  Perhaps Ruth’s “return” to Bethlehem is really a pilgrimage of reconciliation, although even she doesn’t understand all the consequences at the time.  But God understands what is transpiring.  His invisible hand is mending fragmented lives and restoring unity.  Naomi returns to a life she once knew.  Ruth “returns” to a life she never knew.  Both women return to God His lost people.

Now we must ask, “What restoration do we initiate when we ‘return’ to the Lord?”  Are we aware of the healing of generations?  Do we see how our individual actions become a part of the bigger reconciliation God desires?  Did you even imagine that when you came back to God you were bringing unity to history?

Topical Index: return, shuv, reconciliation, conversion, Ruth 1:22

 

If you have enjoyed these studies in Ruth, you might consider listening to the audio files about Ruth on the web site.

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 7 Comments

The Partial Future

Monday, July 02nd, 2012 | Author:

But Naomi replied, “Turn back, my daughters!  Why should you go with me?  Have I more sons in my body who might be husbands for you?”   Ruth 1:11

Turn back – Once again we encounter the verb shuv in this story.  One commentator points out that shuv in Jeremiah has seventeen different nuances.  We should not be surprised to discover several in this story.  Naomi has implored her daughters-in-law to return to their mothers’ homes.  Now she uses a stronger metaphor.  Since she is unable to have more sons, if the women accompany her they will be relegated to the life of a childless widow.  It seems like a very good reason not to go to Bethlehem.

But Naomi isn’t telling the whole truth.  In fact, one of the undercurrents in this story is how much information Naomi does not reveal to Ruth.  The question is why she leaves out certain crucial pieces.  For example, at this very point Naomi leaves out the fact that there is a kinsman-redeemer in Bethlehem.  She leaves out the fact that her late husband has property in Bethlehem.  She conveniently forgets to mention the levirate obligation.  Later she “forgets” to mention who Boaz is or the fact that Ruth may be in danger in the fields.  As we shall see, at crucial junctures Naomi reveals only part of the future.  There are invisible forces working in Ruth’s life, at least they are invisible to Ruth.  This makes Ruth’s demonstration of hesed all the more powerful.  She acts with compassionate benevolence even when she doesn’t know all the facts.

Now we need to try to answer the question, “Why would Naomi leave this out?”  The answer, although only speculation, implies something about human behavior even among the most spiritual of us.  Is it possible that Naomi, who truly loves her daughters-in-law, is really trying to protect her reputation and status in the community of Bethlehem?  At this point, no one from her Israelite village knows that her sons married Moabite women.  No one knows that the commandment of Deuteronomy 23:4-9 has been violated.  If Naomi returns alone, she can simply report that her husband and sons died in Moab.  No scandal needs to come to the surface.  But if she comes back with Moabites who claim to be relatives, even by marriage, Naomi’s status in the community will diminish.  Her husband’s name will suffer.  She will have to explain things.

How many times have we “returned” without providing the full explanation of our “away from home” events?  How many times have we conveniently left out a bit of crucial information that might encourage someone else to make a different decision, one not necessarily favorable to us?  How many times have we “blessed” someone else but really hoped that he or she would just go away?  Maybe we know Naomi far better than we thought.

When God asks us to return to Him, do you suppose He leaves out a bit of information crucial for the decision?  Do you suppose He welcomes us back but really doesn’t want to hear the whole story?  Oh, but God isn’t like a man, is He?

Topical Index:  shuv, return, Naomi, Ruth 1:11

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , ,  | 13 Comments

In and Out

Wednesday, June 20th, 2012 | Author:

 So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.  Ruth 1:7  NASB

Departed from/ to return – Doesn’t this verse seem redundant?  Doesn’t it say the same thing too many times?  You’ve probably never asked why the author bothered with these two verbs in the same sentence.  If we were grading his short story in Creative Writing class today, we would probably point out this stylistic error and suggest he delete one of the words.  But this is Scripture and things work a little differently in God’s Word.

The first verb is yatsa’.  It is just a bit strange.  Yes, it means “to go out, to come out or to come in,” but its use in Scripture is often modified by the context, rendering meanings such as the birth of the child, the fruitfulness of vegetation, to descend (in death), to escape free and to take away.  Perhaps some of those meanings, including the ironic ones, find their way into this story.  Naomi doesn’t just pack up and leave.  She departs.  Ironically, her actions are motivated by the opposite of birth and fruitfulness.  Furthermore, there is a sense in which she is escaping the grip of death on her life (although she in not aware of it at the time).  In fact, in its noun form (yotse’t) the word means “captivity.”  With this linguistically nuanced background, perhaps the author wishes us to ask, “How is Naomi leaving captivity behind?”

But that isn’t the end of the verbal story.  The redundant verb isn’t yatsa’.  It is lashuv.  As Eskenazi and Frymer-Kensky point out, “Technically, only Naomi is ‘returning,’ whereas the other women are actually leaving their homeland.  Yet, the narrator paints all three as setting out to return, showing their unity of purpose.”[1]  While shuv is a major theme in Ruth (the idea of return), it is perhaps most poignantly used here to distinguish between going out (of captivity) and returning to (security).  Doesn’t Naomi have to leave behind the land of her trials, the place of her pain, in order to find the peace and security she seeks?  Doesn’t she actually have to be rescued, even if she is the one walking the path, from the place of the dead in order to encounter the God of the living?  Maybe the two verbs aren’t really redundant after all.  Maybe they express a necessary transition.  Maybe we all must leave the dead past and go out to a place God will show us if we are to return to Him and to His people.  Ten years in the wilderness was enough for Naomi.  Ten years in a place where she and her husband and sons sought to provide for themselves.  Ten years that disintegrated into nothing but graves.

And now she must go out in order to return.

What about you?  How long will you stay by the graveside instead of returning to the land you left?

Topical Index:  return, depart, yatsa’, shuv, Ruth 1:7


[1] Tamara Eskenazi and Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Ruth: The JPS Bible Commentary, p. 9.

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 4 Comments

Turn-Around Specialist

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 | Author:

but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.  Acts 26:20  ESV

Performing deeds – It takes more than simply changing your mind.  That’s the Greek word for “to repent” – metanoeo.  Literally, “to notice afterward, to change one’s feelings, purpose or opinion.”  As you will notice, the Greek verb locates this action in the nous, the mind.  Perhaps that’s where we first got off track.  We began to believe that Christianity was first a mental change and only afterward a change in behavior.  We forgot that the basis of the New Testament metanoeo is the Hebrew verb shuv (to return, to turn back, to repent).  And in Hebrew, there is no turning unless it is accompanied by the required behavior.  That’s why this verse immediately adds “performing deeds” that fit the change in direction.

Even the Greek text pushes us in this direction.  “Performing deeds” is erga prossontas.  You’ll recognize the first word from our English words like “ergonomics” and “ergometer.”  Work!  It’s not just deeds, but rather all effort, all purposes, all actions, whether religious or secular (is there a difference in Hebraic thought?).  Erga is what you do.

Prasso is how you do it.  Prasso is the sheer activity of human beings.  It does not stress the outcome so much as it stresses the effort.  One of the derivatives is pragma.  You’ll recognize this in the English word “pragmatic.”  Prasso is about what we attempt, perform, complete, take as a task or concern ourselves with.  Notice that Paul connects repentance directly with all subsequent action.  In other words, if repentance is true, everything changes.  It is simply impossible for a man to repent and then continue to act in the old ways.  Repentance demands change.

Let’s get practical about all this.  Far too many believers have been told that repentance and forgiveness are states of the mind or the soul.  The Greek separation of human beings into body, mind and soul lends itself to this false understanding of repentance.  We come to believe that repentance is a spiritual activity.  We think that once we experience confession and the warm feeling of forgiveness, we have arrived at a new state called “saved.”  But this is utterly foreign to Hebrew thought.  No man is rescued who continues to side with the enemy.  A servant of the Lord is a traitor to the world.  Where there is no change in behavior, there is no reconciliation with the King.

Of course, this is usually not an instantaneous transformation.  Consider Israel in the wilderness.  Forty years of failure.  Hopefully we won’t have to learn that lesson.  But the demand of Yeshua is just as harsh.  If you side with the world, you are an enemy of the Messiah.  Change must occur.  You must begin to experience confrontational nausea when those old behaviors present themselves.  You must learn to be sick of sin.

Turn around.  Stumble if you must.  Back peddle.  Wrench your side.  But get going in the other direction.  Things won’t look familiar because you are seeing them from a different perspective.  But that’s what’s supposed to happen.  If it’s not, then something else is wrong.

Topical Index: repent, metanoeo, shuv, perform, prasso, work, erga, Acts 26:20

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , , , , ,  | One Comment
« Previous Entries