What Jesus Taught

by Osborne J. P. Widtsoe

As always, Jesus presented very clearly the doctrine He wished the people to learn to understand. For nearly three years. He had Himself ministered to His people. Yet, He could find no fruits of repentance. In the long-suffering of God, the people would be spared yet a little while. But their end was inevitable. Unless they should repent, they should all perish, even as did the Galileans, and the eighteen men buried under the tower at Siloam. And this doctrine of repentance was fundamental in the ministry of Jesus. First, John had come, crying in the wilderness of Judea, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Then Jesus Himself had gone to Galilee, after John had been put into prison, and had preached, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." And when He sent out the twelve apostles two and two. He instructed them to preach everywhere that men should repent.

Jesus's exclamation against the wicked.

That the people did not observe the word of Jesus is, however, very evident from the way in which He upbraided them, and pointed out to them that the lot of the wrongdoers who repented would in the end be better than that of the selfrighteous who repented not. "But whereunto shall I liken this generation?" exclaimed Jesus one day. "It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he hath a devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. . . . Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee."

Repentance a universal principle.

It is evident, then, that in the teaching of Jesus, repentance from evil is absolutely necessary if one would enjoy the blessings of the Lord. This is so self-evident a truth that it should not be necessary to state it. In all the affairs of life—in business, in politics, in the industries, in science, in art, in war, in what not—repentance is a fundamental principle of true success. In our daily work we are accustomed to calling our wrongdoings mistakes; but we have to correct those mistakes before we can achieve the end for which we are working. Sometimes the mistakes we make are of such a nature that we cannot correct them. Then we have to begin over again, and have to try to avoid those serious mistakes; but the memory of those mistakes remains with us forever, and the waste, or loss, or suffering, caused by them can never be made right. In the great world war now raging, many costly mistakes have been made. Officers and men have often been forced to repent; and many men, because they have violated their orders, have lost their lives. For them, repentance in this life has been made impossible. So it will be also with those who persist in evil. The day will come when they will be taken away suddenly. Then the opportunity to repent in this life will be lost. Jesus would have us repent here and now, and devote ourselves to works of righteousness that we may gain eternal life.

Things of which to repent.

But of what would Jesus have us repent? The learned apostle, Paul, who, it seems, understood perfectly the spirit of Christ's teachings, which to wrote certain instructions to the Ephesians which reveal exactly what kind of men Jesus would have us be. Malice, dishonesty, immorality in thought or word or deed—these things unfit a man for an inheritance in the kingdom of God. Paul expresses the doctrine, in part as follows:

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

The service principle of the Gospel.

This is the true spirit of the Gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Those who would hold membership in His Church, and receive the blessing of His love and redeeming sacrifice, must have faith in Him, then they must add to their faith works. And the first bit of work to be done is to repent of all evil—repent "after a godly manner," as Paul says, which will lead to salvation. Thus repentance becomes the second fundamental principle of the Gospel. And "by this," said Jesus to the great American prophet, "ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins. Behold, he will confess them and forsake them."