“Fruit of Repentance!”

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Matthew 3:7-8 ESV)

Matthew Chapter 3 picks up the story of Jesus many years after his family’s return from Egypt to Nazareth. Matthew does not include the details of Jesus' teaching in the Temple at the age of twelve (Luke 2:41-52); it isn’t a mistake that Matthew didn’t include this detail; it just wasn’t pertinent to his account of Jesus’ ministry. Matthew picks up on the story of the life of the Messiah to introduce Jesus’ adult ministry, with the Baptism of Repentance being performed by John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin. But before he introduces Jesus into this event, it is very interesting that Matthew presents a conflict between John the Baptist and the leadership of the Jewish faith, the Pharisees and Sadducees. The religious leaders constantly tried to force the Jews to follow the written Law of Moses and the Oral traditions that they had collected over the centuries. They were hypocrites, as Jesus said, "They do not practice what they preach” (Matt. 23:3), and they thought themselves righteous by following the 613 Laws of Moses and the oral teachings of their predecessors.

John the Baptist knew these religious leaders well, was constantly at odds with them, and knew of their deceitful lives. So, when John the Baptist was performing Baptisms in the wilderness of Judah, which was outside of Jerusalem, the religious center of Judaism, the word of John’s ministry was spreading. So much so that not only did the common Jew come to John to receive his Baptism of Repentance, but even these religious leaders came, not to repent of their evil deeds but to see what was being preached.

When John confronts them in 3:7-8, he states, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance?” To understand what John the Baptist was saying, we first need to understand what the Baptism of Repentance meant. This Baptism of Repentance was an outward act of those Jews who were confessing their own personal sins and desired a spiritual cleansing and a commitment to follow God’s Law in preparation for the coming Messiah. This baptism was a cleansing or purification ceremony that prepared people’s hearts to receive the promised Messiah. The common Jews knew the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings of what we call the Old Testament, and they knew that they spoke of the coming promised Messiah and were ready to receive Him. You see, the word “repentance” means “a change of mind”, and of course, if we have a change of mind about something, we will naturally change our actions (our fruit).

In the Old Covenant of the Mosaic Law, as well as in the New Covenant of God’s grace, repentance has always been about changing our minds about how we can please a Holy, Righteous God. We read in the Psalms that God did not desire the sacrifice of bulls and goats but “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17). Another way to say this is that God has always wanted a “repentant” heart. One who was willing to say, not my way, Lord, but your way. People could never do enough good deeds to earn God’s salvation. They could never be good enough to make up for the sins they had committed. That’s why God needed everyone who was to come to Him to have changed their minds about how they could be saved. They had to put away the idea that they could “earn” God’s favor and accept God’s plan of salvation as a gift from God, through faith in Jesus, the promised Messiah.

So, when John the Baptist challenged the Pharisees and Sadducees to produce proof of their change of mind, their “repentance” by their actions, they could not, for they would not change. You see, these leaders were depending on their being descendants of Abraham to save them, and John told them that their ethnicity had nothing to do with God’s salvation. They needed to change their minds and confess their sin of disbelief and produce actions that showed that they had “repented” and were eager for the coming Messiah.

There is a big difference between the Baptism of Repentance of John and Believer's Baptism. But both are an outward symbol of something that has taken place in the heart of the individual, and both require “repentance”. In the Baptism of Repentance, those baptized publicly stated that they recognized that they needed a savior and were willing to accept the promised Messiah. In Christian Baptism, we publicly state that we recognize we need a savior and believe God has provided the promised Messiah. The object of both is the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. The Baptism of Repentance looks forward to God fulfilling His promise to provide the Messiah, and Christian Baptism is looking back to God having fulfilled His promise to provide the Messiah. The object of faith has always been the Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

So, how do we apply this to our lives? Are you living a life that shows you have “changed your mind”? Do your life choices match your confession of faith? Are you walking your talk, or does your life closely follow that of the Pharisees? “They do not practice what they preach” (Matt. 23:3). Are you showing the “fruit of repentance”?

 "Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"