Metanoia Part II
“What an epoch it was! What a meaning lay in the metanoia that was then proclaimed! “The noetic faculty, or the faculty of shaping and conceiving things under their true relations,” entered now upon its work, and the issue was to be a revolution in the whole human conception of life. Christ substituted His own wisdom for the wisdom of the world, and what we see recorded in the New Testament is, first, the natural process of the Metanoia—this wisdom working through the intelligence upon the heart, the conscience, and the life; and, next, the thoroughness of the result in forming a new spiritual consciousness in that age.”
—Treadwell Walden The Great Meaning of Metanoia: An Undeveloped Chapter in the Life and Teaching of Christ
”For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law, these, although they do not have the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written on their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts one after another accusing or even defending them on the day when God judges the secret things of people, according to my gospel, through Christ Jesus.“ –Romans 2:14-16 LEB
Metanoia: Change Your Mind?
The problem with certain doctrines, as long standing as they may be, is that they fail to account for clear portions of scripture and the logical conclusions to which they lead. Metanoia could never be responded to by John’s hearers if three theological conceptions are true:
- A person cannot make choices towards God or that are pleasing to Him because of their sin nature.
- A person must repent of their sin and turn to God if they are to die to said sin nature and become alive toward God, enabling them to do what pleases Him.
- The person involved is completely volition-less in this process—that is, they do not have a conscious role in choosing to repent of their sin, die to their sin nature, and be made alive to God. That is all God’s doing.
I trust the reader sees the contradictions that exist between these three doctrinal concepts.
Metanoia was a call to respond. Yet even if it was a call to the mistranslated “repentance”, it was a call, according to the summarized doctrines above, that could have never been heeded save through intervention of the Divine Will acting upon, through, and for the hearer. In other words, the call to an immersion of Metanoia, to “a change of mind and reorientation of life” was a cruel joke if it could not be responded to.
While I could go on about the inconsistencies of Christian fatalism and hyper-predestinarian theology (which will be briefly touched on in what follows), I’ll refrain, as space and time do not permit me to do so. Suffice it to say, the reader should be advised that my stance is one that leans heavily towards a theology of free will, partnership, possibility, and response. That much will, at least, be clear throughout the remainder of both this article and series.
That being said, let me reiterate our focal point: metanoia was a call to be immersed in a new way of thinking. It was a reorientation toward the kingdom of Heaven. A reshaping and reconceiving of things under and according to their true relations. Such a reshaping and reconceiving could only be accomplished by the mind—the noetic faculty. The inner man. Even the act of repentance, to feel sorrow for and then turn away from wrongdoing, had to be preceded by a change of mind. Otherwise, there would be no change in disposition toward wrongdoing, no sorrow felt, and, therefore, no repentance. The unseen mind of a person was changed before this change was evidenced through different words and actions, different choices. Thus the response to metanoia, the immersion into it, was first the unseen reality of a changed mind, a favorable disposition toward it, that was followed by the outward sign of washing in water.
“And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may approve what is the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.” –Romans 12:2
Many would argue ardently against the notion of free will, claiming it to be unbiblical. I would say that, while I disagree with what I call Christian fatalists and hyper-predestinarians, there is enough scriptural evidence—not biblical, mind you—to form arguments from interpretation for these beliefs. Whether said arguments align with the metanarrative of the Bible is something else entirely. However, with Romans 1:20 in mind, discoveries in Quantum Physics, in my opinion, sway the debate in favor of free will.
The Mind: the Unseen Force behind the Universe
Henry P. Stapp, an American mathematical physicist, wrote a book in 2017 entitled Quantum Theory and Free Will: How Mental Intentions Translate into Bodily Actions, addressing, oddly enough, the debate of fatalism and free will. While the excerpt from Stapp’s book quoted below is fairly technical, it is necessary for our examination to include it. I’ll summarize the point he is making in what follows the citation. I think the reader will find his conclusion fascinating, to say the least.
“Each probing action, initiated by an ego, influences—by means of nature’s response to that action—the macroscopic behavior of the atomic-particle-based material universe. Thus our minds become endowed, by means of the quantum mechanical dynamical rules, with the power to influence the macroscopic properties of matter, without themselves being totally predetermined by material properties alone! This empowerment of our psychological aspects is a fundamental feature of standard quantum mechanics. This change in the basic ontological structure eliminates, by means of an advance in science, the absurdity of a consciousness that can do nothing but delude us into believing an outright lie—that our minds are causally inert—which, if believed, would surely be detrimental to the ambitions of anyone who accepts as veridical the findings of science. For an acceptance of the belief in the total physical impotence of one’s conscious efforts would seriously undermine the mental resolve needed to overcome the obstacles that often stand in the way of our efforts to create what we judge to be a better world. The empowering message of quantum mechanics is that the empirical data of everyday life, and also our intuitions, are generally veridical, not delusional; and hence that our mental resolves can often help bring causally to pass the bodily actions that we mentally intend. The role of our minds is to help us, not to deceive us, as the materialist philosophy must effectively maintain.
Thus the pertinent-for-us essence of quantum mechanics is the causal dynamical linkage that QM specifies between our conscious thoughts and our atomic-particle-based brains.
The quantum mechanically entailed causal effects of our mental intentions upon our material brains is in complete harmony with our normal intuition, which is based on our lifetimes of first-hand empirical evidence. Our minds are promoted by quantum dynamics from the absurd role of impotent witnesses of events they cannot affect to causally effective instigators of intended bodily actions. Our minds thus have a natural reason to exist, which is to help us to achieve what we value, not to deceive us into believing we are something we are not!
The conclusion here, and in what follows, is that the realistically interpreted orthodox quantum conception of reality provides not only dynamical explanations of all well-established ordinary empirical data, but, automatically, also the foundation of a rationally coherent dynamical understanding of how our conscious minds can affect our material brains, and hence our material bodies, in ways concordant with both our conscious intentions and the empirical data of everyday life. Those ubiquitous first-hand data, which seem to confirm the causal power of our mental intentions, need not be interpreted as “illusions’’ or “delusions”, as the Newtonian-particle-based materialistic physics appears to demand. Likewise, the problem of the seeming incompatibility of “free will” and “determinism” is resolved by noting that the QM law of evolution incorporates the inputs from our “free” (not-materially-coerced) choices into the causal dynamics!
…ontologically, by arguing that the detailed behavioral properties of the various parts of the orthodox structure suggest that the mental and material aspects of reality are lodged in an overarching nonlocal reality that is fundamentally mind-like in character: the mental and material aspects of the quantum dualism tend to merge, upon detailed analysis, into an underlying mental monism that includes mathematically described properties conceived to be embedded in a 4D space-time continuum. In the end it is indeed true that “all is one”, and that that “unity” encompasses both our mental and material aspects. That idea, that the underlying reality is fundamentally mind-like, has been advanced often before, on the basis of all sorts of reasons. But that conclusion is often thought to involve going beyond science, and, indeed, going against science. Here that conclusion arises from science-based considerations alone.”
—Henry P. Stapp Quantum Theory and Free Will: How Mental Intentions Translate into Bodily Actions
What Stapp is addressing here is the fundamental belief—and I stress belief—of classical physics. Like hyper-predestinarian theology, classical physics believed that the course of time was fixed and all action made on the macro and micro level were both predetermined and unchangeable, their fate predetermined by the external and material. In other words: fatalism. He then states that Quantum Physics, on the other hand, disagrees with, even contradicts, this belief. He shows this via scientific data. However, the pertinent-to-us, as he puts it, dichotomy he focuses on is the mind/brain problem, which is, simply put, reconciling that the material brain and the seemingly immaterial mind are, in fact, distinct but inseparable. He goes on to challenge the thinking behind fatalistic classical physics—and unintentionally, hyper-predestinarian theology—by showing the incoherence of the individual possessing a mind that can conceive of a myriad of possible choices but is impotent to choose any but the one that has already been determined for it by an indiscriminate external material force.
Using discoveries made in Quantum Theory, Stapp shows that not only is the mind capable of making free will decisions but that the underlying reality of the universe is fundamentally mind-like.
Did you catch that? Reality is fundamentally mind-like. Intelligence and free will are designed into the invisible fabric of creation.
The Divine Mind
There have been many attempts to define the mind-like reality to which Stapp refers. But none are more well-known, nor more relevant, to our examination than that of Herclitus. A Greek philosopher, Heraclitus first used the term Logos around 600 B.C. as a designation for the divine reason or law which coordinates the changing universe. For Heraclitus, the Logos was the rational structure or ordered composition of the world. Of his surviving works, one fragment reads: “Listening not to me but to the logos, it is wise to agree (homologein) that all things are one.” Another fragment reads: “[hoi polloi] … do not know how to listen [to Logos] or how to speak [the truth].”
Heraclitus’ Logos doctrine may also be the origin of the doctrine of natural law. Heraclitus stated “People ought to fight to keep their law as to defend the city walls. For all human laws get nourishment from the one divine law.” Heraclitus argued that the human law partakes of the law of nature, which is at the same time a divine law, i.e. the Logos.
Many argue against the attribution of the Logos concept to Heraclitus because, frankly, they do not like the fact that the teachings of a Greek pagan philosopher provide the contextual pretext for the apostle John’s use of Logos (though it could be argued that John’s use of Logos goes hand-in-hand with the personification of Wisdom in ancient Israelite thought. See Proverbs 8). Oddly enough, most who detract from the notion of Heralcitus’ as the conceptual predecessor of John’s Logos, fall into the theological categories mentioned prior. But Justin Martyr’s words concerning him pose a serious challenge to said detractors:
“We have been taught that Christ is the first-born of God, and we have declared above that He is the Word of whom every race of men were partakers; and those who lived reasonably are Christians, even though they have been thought atheists; as, among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus, and men like them; and among the barbarians, Abraham, and Ananias, and Azarias, and Misael, and Elias, and many others.”
Though hardly a convincing argument for the Christianity of the philosopher, especially since he died long before Jesus’ day, the comments made by Justin Martyr regarding Heraclitus are interesting. He seems to say that, though secular, the conclusions Heraclitus came to were not far from, and even aligned with, revelatory truth. Romans 1:19-20 speaks to this very real possibility:
“19 because what can be known about God is evident among them, for God made it clear to them. 20 For from the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, both his eternal power and deity, are discerned clearly, being understood in the things created, so that they are without excuse.” –Romans 1:19-20
Not only does this portion of scripture speak to the fact that what could be known about God by the “unrighteous”, as stated in verse 18, God made clear to them, but Paul goes on to say that God’s invisible attributes, his eternal power and deity, are clearly discernible and understandable via creation so that humanity is without excuse. It is then perfectly reasonable and scripturally acceptable for a Greek philosopher such as Heraclitus to have discerned and understood certain attributes that, inherent to the created universe, were reflections of God’s eternal power and deity. However, the text allows the boat to be pushed out a bit further. That is to say, what could be known about God (the Logos doctrine) may have been made clear by God Himself to one such as Heraclitus. It may have been to him a metanoia of sorts. For though he did not fully envision the Substance, he was certainly oriented toward his shadow.
“1 In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. 2 This one was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and apart from him not one thing came into being that has come into being.” –John 1:1–3
Things Under their Truest Relations
“The office of the intellect in the apprehension of divine truth is not given its due consequence. “The noëtic faculty, or the faculty of shaping and conceiving things under their true relations,” to use De Quincey’s expression, is foremost in all human action—it is first.”
—Treadwell Walden The Great Meaning of Metanoia
Without a mind capable of change, of reorientation, of metanoia, or even of repentance, any such call, no matter how insistent, would not, for it could not, receive a response. It is our consciousness—our mind—that informs and drives our decisions. We are not mindless automatons, helpless but to fulfill the wishes of our impulses—impulses we were predestined to have and are powerless against, according to the doctrines of Classical Physics and Predestinarian Theology. Mankind cannot be “without excuse” for rejecting God if there is no real possibility of doing so. There is also the flip side of that. If humanity is able to reject God then it is also able to accept Him. To respond to the call of Metanoia. That this soteriological notion is offensive to the adherents of certain theological bents is, in my opinion, incredibly myopic.
To presume God ordains prophets, heralds, and evangelists to proclaim His ordinances, expectations, and desires in order that the hearers should recalibrate themselves to keep them, yet the same hearers are incapable of doing so apart from God doing so through them—and only the few He has elected—insinuates that God is capricious, makes demands He knows cannot be met, then punishes those who fail to do so. This is not only incoherent but it is not aligned with the witness of scripture in its entirety. It’s what I would call “cut-and-paste” theology. (See On the Interpretation of Evidence for more.)
Since that is not the case and metanoia was a call that could be responded to, we now have in view that which John the Immerser had in mind; albeit, like Heraclitus, not fully. What metanoia was meant to prepare the hearts and minds of the people toward was the Logos: the divine reason—the Divine Mind—that coordinated the cosmos. It was to clear the way for the recentering of the cosmos around the One who upholds all things by the word of His power.
Metanoia was to bring, front and center, the kingdom of Heaven and it’s coming King. To wheel into view the true Center. And to call the faltering hearts and minds of those who claimed allegiance to this coming King and His kingdom back to that center. The mind had to change—it had to be reoriented toward the spiritual and the heavenly reality of things—if it was to recognize the close proximity of the kingdom of Heaven.
Furthermore, a change of mind was required for any individual to be effective in participation in the kingdom. External ritualism alone wouldn’t cut it (not that it ever did).
“It is the intellect which awakens that inmost interior. It receives the crowd in its magnificent areas, it reports the situation outside, and the secret heart, brooded upon by the Spirit of God, takes in the situation; the mystic circuit is complete; upon that heartfelt consciousness the character is formed, and upon that character the life. It is a divine dependence ordained in the structure of our nature, and the process of it ought to be vividly before our minds if we would understand the operation of the Metanoia…”
—Treadwell Walden The Great Meaning of Metanoia
“1 Although* God spoke long ago in many parts and in many ways to the fathers by the prophets, 2 in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world, 3 who is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, sustaining all things by the word of his power.” –Hebrews 1:1-3
The Real Need for Metanoia
”For our momentary light affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure and proportion, because we are not looking at what is seen, but what is not seen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is not seen is eternal.“ –2 Corinthians 4:17-18 LEB
The need for such a reorientation or change of mind, both individually and collectively, towards spiritual, heavenly, and eternal realities indicates a preoccupation with that which was natural, physical, and temporal. What seemed to have been lost by the majority of Yahweh’s people, and thus needed to be brought back into focus, was the understanding that there was, is, and has always been an overlap of the physical and spiritual “realms” or regions (ἐπουράνιος). That is to say, all that occurs in the natural “realm” has implications in the spiritual or heavenly “realms”, and vice versa. Yet there is also a distinction between realms or regions.
“The concept of realm distinction and cosmic geography go hand in hand. Ancient Israel’s journey to the promised land reiterated some point in regard to who they were and their purpose on earth.
Israel needed to understand that being Yahweh’s portion meant separation from the gods and the nations who stood ready to oppose them. The concept of realm distinction was fundamental to the supernatural worldview of ancient Israel.
Yahweh’s complete otherness was reinforced in the minds of Israelites through worship and sacrifice. Yahweh was not only the source of Israel’s life—he was life. Yahweh was complete in his perfections. Yahweh was not of earth, a place where there is death, disease, and imperfection. His realm is supernatural; ours is terrestrial. The space he occupies is sacred and made otherworldly by his presence. The space we occupy is “profane” or ordinary. Yahweh is the antithesis of ordinary. Humans must be invited and purified to occupy the same space.”
—Dr. Michael S. Heiser The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible
After a remnant of Israel returned from Babylon to Jerusalem; Ezra rediscovered the book of the Law and reestablished the temple beginning what is known as the Second Temple period; Nehemiah rebuilt the walls; the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi attempted to correct the people and leaders; and the Maccabbean revolts took place, there was throughout all of this a slow decline away from the theological framework of realm distinction, cosmic geography, and overall cosmology in first century Yahwism (Israelite religion. It did not become known as “Judaism” until later).
While some might argue it still existed based on the Jerusalem leadership’s obsession with the Temple, it is important to note that the same leadership accepted the changes made to the calendar regarding the feasts and holy days. What’s more, it was the Jerusalem leadership that sanctioned the selling of animals for sacrifices in the Temple (these were the tables that Jesus overturned and the money-changers he chased out on threat of violence).
Though the Jerusalem leadership was “zealous for the Law”, it was an outward zeal done in public. It was these same zealots that Jesus calls hypocrites, snakes, and white-washed tombs full of dead men’s bones. Though it is presumed they knew their theology, it did not shape how they lived their lives.
The Essenes were the only known sect of that time to have taken the spiritual realm seriously. So seriously, in fact, it led them to break away from mainline Second Temple Yahwism and go out and serve Yahweh in the wilderness as participants in the priesthood of Heaven. A revisitation to the quote by Bergsma and Iyengar should sufficiently support that:
“Of all the communities and movements within Second Temple Judaism, arguably it is Qumran that exhibits the most profound similarities and resonances with the early Church,1 and therefore study of the Scrolls pays dividends for patristics and the broader study of Christian theology and spirituality. For example, the Qumran “monks” believed they ascended into the heavenly worship through their liturgies, becoming like angelic priests.”
—John S. Bergsma/Luke Iyengar Patristic Spirituality
The issue with the Jerusalem leadership and its various sects was that it was so focused on technicalities, that the weightier matters of the Law were neglected entirely. Even the approach taken by those who were aware of and interacted with “spiritual evil” (Israelite exorcists) was focused on rites, rituals, and incantations; invoking the authority or correct name to which the “spirit” would submit. Yet perhaps the most poignant example of the theological/cosmological decline in first century Yahwism were the Sadducees. This sect was what I would describe as hyper-naturalists. They did not believe in the spiritual realm and went as far as to deny that there would be a resurrection. That such a sect existed, was taken seriously, and considered among the greater Jerusalem leadership, indicates how far first century Yahwism had strayed from that of the “Old” Covenant.
Metanoia was a clarion call back to the overlap of natural and spiritual realities; to the intersection of earth and heaven; to the cosmic warfare that marked the history of ancient Israel; to the present state of the universe (κόσμος); and forward to the near-distant coming of the divine warrior, the Anointed One, and the inauguration of His Kingdom.
A Clash of Invisible Kingdoms
If we connect what we have covered thus far, we see that John’s proclamation of metanoia was a real call that could be responded to, a call that was meant to reorient and reawaken the heart and mind to the spiritual realm and heavenly realities, in order to prepare the hearer for the coming of the Messiah and the kingdom of Heaven with him. What is often overlooked is the spiritual implications John’s proclamation had in the heavenly realms. The Israelites may have become disinterested in realm distinction and cosmic geography but the forces of darkness in the heavenly regions certainly had not. As such, John’s immersion of metanoia in preparation for arrival of the Anointed One was a shot fired across the bow of the kingdom of darkness. The Jerusalem leadership may have ignored John’s message, but the Powers that be were paying attention.
Though we will cover this in greater detail later in the series, I feel it is necessary to touch on the issue of spiritual warfare in the introductory phase of the series. I will call on the aid of the late Dr.Heiser again to do so.
“The New Testament portrays the Christian life—even the very Christian existence—as prompting a spiritual turf war. But we often don’t pick up on the messaging. Sacred space and realm distinction are not just Old Testament concepts. We talked at length about these two concepts in earlier chapters in regard to the Israelite tabernacle and the temple. But New Testament language about them takes the reader in fascinating directions. Believe it or not, you are sacred space. Paul in particular refers to the believer as the place where God now tabernacles—we are the temple of God, both individually and corporately. This is most transparently seen in English translations in two passages where Paul tells the Corinthians, “You are God’s temple” (1 Cor 3:16), and, “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 6:19). The former speaks of the church corporately as the temple; the latter focuses on each believer individually.31
If we could see with spiritual eyes, we would see a world of darkness peppered with the lights of Yahweh’s presence, spreading out to meet each other, inexorably pressing and spreading out to take back the ground of the disinherited nations from the enemy. Of course we would also see those lights surrounded by darkness. The imagery requires perspective. At one time, not long ago, there was one light, meandering its way through the domains of hostile gods. That light nearly went out, scattered to all parts of the known world in tiny embers. But then another solitary, but great, light shone in darkness (Isa 60:1; Matt 4:16). That light would turn the darkness into light (Isa 42:16), and the nations would be drawn to it (Isa 60:1–3). The New Testament portrayal of the spiritual war doesn’t hide the task from the reader. The people of God, in whom is the Name, the presence of Yahweh, are surrounded, as they have been before. The apostles understood that but were not faint of heart. There would be no surrender of holy ground in the midst of darkness. Some of the things they taught early believers to observe in fact commemorated the unseen conflict raging around them. Everyone had to choose a side.
Many modern people, particularly in developed countries, like to think that diplomacy and neutrality provide a more enlightened path. But some wars—and some enemies—don’t offer that option. When an enemy wants nothing but your defeat and annihilation, neutrality means choosing death. The war raging in the unseen world for the souls of human imagers of Yahweh is that kind of war. Neutrality is not on the table.
—Dr. Michael S. Heiser The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible
Most believers in America, in my opinion, either think too little (if at all) about spiritual warfare or incorrectly. The majority think too little. They have no interest in it. Some disdain it altogether. It’s too weird—too spooky. They prefer to live in a world where God is far off in Heaven, the powers of darkness are borderline fairytales, and all that they need to concern themselves with is showing up to Church once a week and go about enjoying their lives as best they can. Very Sadduceaical.
Then there are those who think about it incorrectly. That is, they assume that hours of prayer, endless musical worship sessions, shouting declarations, and searching for demons to confront is true spiritual warfare. While there is nothing wrong with or unbiblical about prayer, musical worship, declarations, or addressing the demonic, none of these things, in and of themselves, are spiritual warfare.
Dr. Michael Lake put it best when he said that “spiritual warfare is more about our everyday decisions than it is anything else.” It is our conscious decisions that have the greatest impact in the spiritual battles we are faced with. It is our inner posture of loyalty towards God that informs our actions and causes them to run contrary to the world system and the dark forces behind it. As Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthians:
”For although we are living in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but powerful to God for the tearing down of fortresses, tearing down arguments and all pride that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.“ –
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 LEB
And in his letter to the Ephesians:
”Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil, because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.“ –
Ephesians 6:11-12 LEB
This is what metanoia was meant to reorient the mind towards: the cosmic struggle raging in the heavenly regions. And though the Anointed One has conquered sin and death (also a point we will address in greater detail later in the series), the battle over the souls of humanity against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places continues. Dr. Heiser comments on this:
“It would be a mistake, however, to presume that the gods of the nations would not resist—or that they saw such resistance as pointless. This is not the view of the spiritual world the New Testament presents to us.
Although Yahweh told these elohim that they would die like men (Psa 82:6–8)—that he would strip them of their immortality—there is no indication that the threat tempered opposition to Yahweh. The New Testament makes it clear that, once the powers of darkness understood that they had been duped by the crucifixion and resurrection, there was a sense that the timetable of their judgment had been set in motion (Rev 12:12). The judgment against the elohim in the divine council meeting of Psalm 82 had been linked to the repossession of the nations (Psa 82:8; “Rise up, O God, judge the earth, because you shall inherit all the nations”). So long as that could be forestalled and opposed, the struggle would continue. And since Yahweh had linked that repossession to human participation, the forces of darkness had good reason to suppose that they could drag on the long war against Yahweh.”
—Dr. Michael S. Heiser The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible
Set against the backdrop of the cosmic attrition, metanoia takes on another layer of meaning. The ancient Israelite expectation was that when the Messiah came, he would take the role of a militaristic leader and violently deliver them from their enemies. With this in mind, John’s declaration of metanoia and the arrival of the kingdom of Heaven in preparation for the coming Messiah would have been, in the mind’s of first century Isralites, a call to prepare for war. Yet this declaration of war, true to the reorientation of metanoia, was spiritual in nature, as was the gospel of the Kingdom that made it. That gospel will be the next topic of interest in our series. But first, a word On the Interpretation of Evidence.