（申30）悔改与行动 (Deut 30) Repentance and Action
（ChatGPT was applied for English translation from Chinese. 中文在后面)
Deuteronomy 30:11: “For this commandment that I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far from you.”
This verse used to be very hard for me to understand, because the Mosaic law has hundreds of commandments. Just in dietary matters there are already many requirements: for example, the distinction between clean and unclean, not eating blood, not eating certain kinds of fat, separating milk and meat, and so on. How can it be said that the commandment is not difficult?
It turns out that here the word “commandment” is singular. From the context, this is the commandment of repentance, that is, the commandment for those who violated the commandments to repent and decide anew to accept all the commandments: (Deuteronomy 30:8) “And you shall turn back and listen to the voice of the LORD, and do all His commandments which I command you today.”
Moses then explains that repentance is not difficult. One does not need to go up to heaven or cross the sea. The commandment of repentance only requires confessing with the mouth, and resolving in the heart to act according to the will of the LORD, and then it can be carried out. This is what is said in the following (Deuteronomy 30):
- It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who will go up for us to heaven and get it for us, that we may hear it and do it?
- Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us, that we may hear it and do it?
- But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
It is very clear: this repentance, although it can be done only with mouth and heart, still carries the purpose and resolve of “that you may do it.”
For example, many years later there was a prophet, Jonah, who did not listen to the command of the LORD to go to a foreign nation and prophesy, and as a result he was swallowed by a great fish. There, he could not do many of the LORD’s commands—for example, he could not go abroad to speak prophecy, he could not go to the temple to offer thanksgiving sacrifices—but he could still repent with mouth and heart. Yet his repentance carried the purpose and resolve of action. We see in the book of Jonah that in the belly of the fish he expressed his desire to offer sacrifice, and when the fish spat him out he went to the foreign nation to speak the word of the LORD.
This line of thought about repentance, see Sefaria, Deuteronomy 30:11 with Ramban, comes from a Jewish traditional interpretation. I suspect that such a line of thought very likely has been passed down since the time of Moses.
Interestingly, these verses are applied by the apostle Paul in the New Testament, Romans chapter 10, to the concept of justification by faith, namely (Romans 10):
- If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.
- For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
These teachings in Romans about justification by faith, and the teachings in James that emphasize deeds, seem to be in contradiction. But from the interpretation and comparison with Deuteronomy 30, I think Paul very likely knew the traditional explanation of the Old Testament verses about repentance. If so, then Paul’s saying “confess with the mouth and believe in the heart” should be understood as expressing the resolve and having the purpose of corresponding action, namely to follow Jesus in doing the will of the Father. Concerning confessing Jesus as Lord, Jesus himself also said that corresponding action is required: (Matthew 7:21) “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven.”
Some have said that even if a person accepts Jesus only at the moment of death, unable to do any good works, he can still be saved. But I think this is not in contradiction to what Jesus said, because a person who accepts Jesus has merely fallen asleep, like Jonah in the belly of the fish—his inability to act is only temporary. When Jesus returns and the dead are raised, if that person truly repented and accepted Jesus before death, then after resurrection he will surely do the will of the Father, and then he can enter the eternal kingdom of heaven. The Lord transcends past, present, and future, so for a dying person, the Lord, out of mercy, may regard a resolve about action as if the action itself had already been carried out.
（申30）悔改与行动
申命记30：11 “我今日所吩咐你的诫命不是你难行的，也不是离你远的。”
这节经文对我来说曾经很难理解，因为摩西律法有几百条诫命, 光是饮食上就有很多要求，比如有洁净与不洁净的区别，不能吃血, 不能吃某些脂油，奶与肉分开吃，等等。怎么能说诫命不是难行的呢？原来，这里的”诫命”是单数，从上下文看，这是悔改的诫命，就是对违反诫命的人悔改并决心重新接受所有诫命的诫命：（申命记30：8）“你必归回，听从耶和华的话，遵行他的一切诫命，就是我今日所吩咐你的。”
摩西接着解释悔改不难，不需要上天或过海，悔改的诫命，只要口里认错，心里下决心按主的旨意行，就能执行，这就是下文所说的（申命记30）：
12. 不是在天上，使你说，谁替我们上天取下来，使我们听见可以遵行呢？
13. 也不是在海外，使你说，谁替我们过海取了来，使我们听见可以遵行呢？
14. 这话却离你甚近，就在你口中，在你心里，使你可以遵行。
很明显，这里的悔改虽然是只需要用口与心即可实行，但是带有“使你可以遵行”的目的和决心。比如说，多年后有个先知约拿不听从主的命令去外邦说预言，结果被大鱼吞在肚子里，在那里他无法行很多主的命令，比如不能走到外邦去说预言，无法去圣殿献感谢祭，但他仍然可以用口和心悔改，但他的悔改是带着行动的决心和目的的，我们看到约拿书里他在鱼腹里表达的要去献祭的愿望，和他被鱼吐出后去外邦为主传话的行动。
这个关于悔改的思路，参见https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.30.11?lang=bi&with=Ramban&lang2=en
，所以这是出于一种犹太人的传统解释，我猜测这样的思路很可能是从摩西时代传下来的。
有意思的是，这些经文在新约罗马书第10章被使徒保罗应用于因信称义的概念，就是（罗马书10）：
9. 你若口里认耶稣为主，心里信神叫他从死里复活，就必得救。
10. 因为人心里相信，就可以称义。口里承认，就可以得救。
罗马书这些因信称义的教义，和雅各书注重行为的教导看似相互有矛盾, 但从申命记30相关经文的解释和对比，我觉得保罗很可能知道旧约经文关于悔改的传统解释。如果是这样，那么保罗所说的口里承认心里相信，是应该表示有相应的行动的决心和目的的，就是要跟随耶稣行天父的旨意。关于认耶稣为主，耶稣自己也说到需要有相应的行动：（马太福音7：21）“凡称呼我主阿，主阿的人，不能都进天国。惟独遵行我天父旨意的人，才能进去。”
有人说过，人即使到临死前才接受耶稣，没法做任何好事了，也能得救。但我觉得这与耶稣所说的并不矛盾，因为接受耶稣的人只是睡了, 就像鱼腹里的约拿，他的不能行动只是暂时的, 在耶稣再来死人复活时，那人如果是死前真心悔改接受了耶稣，那他复活后一定会行天父旨意的，将来就可以进入永恒的天国。主超越过去现在将来，所以对于临终之人，主出于怜悯，也有可能会把一个关于行动的决心，当成行动本身的已经实施。