At the beginning of Jesus ministry – after His baptism and His trials in the desert – He went to Galilee, and in Mark 1 we read:
14Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Jesus goes to Galilee and starts preaching the gospel – a declaration from the kingdom of heaven.
There is an amazing Wikipedia entry about an inscription found on a rock where the word Gospel is used – the relic itself is dated to be from around 9BC – and it is called the Priene Calendar inscription. The inscription itself is in currently in the Berlin Museum.
The inscription features the term “gospel”, which is the Old English translation of Greek εὐαγγέλιον, evangelion, meaning “good news”. As exemplified in the Calendar Inscription of Priene, dated from 9 BC, this Koine Greek term εὐαγγέλιον was used at the time of the Roman Empire to herald the good news of the arrival of a kingdom – the reign of a king that brought a war to an end, so that all people of the world who surrendered and pledged allegiance to this king would be granted salvation from destruction. The Calendar Inscription of Priene speaks of the birthday of Caesar Augustus as the beginning of the gospel announcing his kingdom, with a Roman decree to start a new calendar system based on the year of Augustus Caesar’s birth. Into this context, the words of the Gospel of Mark are striking: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1 ESV) Jesus is thus heralded as the king who ends war by conquering people’s allegiance, in contrast to the Roman Caesar (title).” (From Wikipedia)
So, in essence, Jesus comes and starts preaching – a revolutionary message – declaring that the Kingdom has come and urging us to repent and believe in this good news – to take this declaration seriously. Jesus comes to confuse the norms; He comes to interrupt the status quo. His followers, those listening to His message, were quite familiar with the term ‘kingdom’. They had heard of the kingdom of Herod, they were familiar with the kingdom of Rome, but now they are introduced to a new kingdom – the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. He comes to bring us a revolution of the heart – to overthrow the ruler of this world, and to establish His throne in our hearts.
I like what the Koine Greek definition of the word ‘gospel’ conveys: “The arrival of a kingdom – the reign of a king that brought a war to an end so that all who surrender and pledge allegiance to the KING would be granted SALVATION from DESTRUCTION.”
This is what Jesus asks us to accept when He declares that the Kingdom has come. This is what He offers us when He asks us to believe in the Gospel.
He also asks us to repent.
In the Greek, the word used here is metanoeō (G3340 in the Strong’s concordance), and can be defined as follows:
to think differently or afterwards that is reconsider. (Strong’s)
The proper definition of metanoeō therefore is to have a change of mind.
Romans 12:1-2: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Metanoeō therefore does not just imply a sense of regret, its not a list of ‘thou shalt nots’ but rather a call to action, calling us – not to just stop sinning – but to start thinking differently. Calling us to be transformed through the renewing of our minds. Paul admonishes us over and over to be imitators of Christ. Even when he says: imitate me, as I imitate Christ (1 Cor 11:1) he is not telling us to be exactly like him, he is telling us that in this ONE thing we must imitate him – we must be imitators of Christ.
How do we imitate Christ? We must have the mind of Christ.
Philippians 2:1-4: ”Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
He goes on to explain the type of mindset that Jesus had. This is true repentance – becoming one with Christ. Being united with Christ and the change of mindset that comes with it.
When we start to allow God to renew our thinking, our actions will change. When we value each other more than we value ourselves, we will not steal, we will not gossip, we will not hurt one another. The change in the way we think will reflect in our behaviour. Changing what you think will change what you do.
Repentance is the loss of self-interest. Repentance is to start putting others before yourself. Repentance is to be transformed by love.