The God Culture: What is Repentance and Obedience?

Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture continues his Foundations series by asking "What is Repentance?" Surely everyone knows what that is, right? It's a turning FROM our sins and TO Jesus Christ. If you have been following this series, you know that Timothy Jay Schwab has already redefined faith as works, covenant as renewed Torah, and righteousness as law-keeping. It should come as no surprise, then, that his definitions of repentance and obedience follow the same pattern: Christ is absent, and the law is all.

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FOUNDATIONS - WEEK 11

What Is Repentance?

Repentance is one of the most important words in Scripture, yet it is often misunderstood.

Many think repentance simply means feeling sorry for sin.

But the Bible describes something deeper.

Repentance means turning back to the ways of Yah.

It is not just emotion.

It is a change of heart that produces a change of direction.

Deuteronomy 30

Moses spoke of repentance long before the prophets and apostles.

“When thou shalt return unto YAHUAH thy Elohim, and shalt obey his voice…”

Repentance is described as returning.

Returning to the Creator.

Returning to His voice.

Returning to His commandments.

Ezekiel 18

Through the prophet Ezekiel, Yah calls His people:

“Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions…”

Repentance is not simply acknowledging sin.

It is turning away from it and choosing life.

Joel 2

The prophets also remind us that repentance begins in the heart.

“Turn ye even to me with all your heart…”

True repentance is not outward ritual.

It is a heart that turns back to Yah.

Matthew 3

John the Baptist began his ministry with a simple message:

“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Before Messiah’s ministry even began, the call was clear:

Prepare the heart.

Turn back to Yah.

That is the entire theme of the Old and New Testaments in a transition that never changes such.

Acts 3

After the resurrection and ascension of Messiah, the apostles preached the same message.

“Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out…”

The call to repentance did not disappear in the New Testament.

It remained the first step toward restoration.

The Foundation

Biblical repentance means:

• Turning away from sin

• Returning to the ways of Yah

• Renewing the heart

• Walking in obedience

Repentance is not about condemnation.

It is about restoration.

This Week’s Reading

Take time this week to read:

• Deuteronomy 30

• Ezekiel 18

• Joel 2

• Matthew 3

• Acts 3

Let Scripture define repentance.

Foundations Series – Week 11

Because restoration always begins

with returning to the foundation.

Yah Bless.

According to Tim "Repentance means turning back to the ways of Yah."  As has been seen in all the other definitions Tim has covered, that means keeping the law. It is interesting Tim says "It is a change of heart that produces a change of direction." Who effects that change of heart? Tim does not say but presumably that power lies in the free will of man who is naturally dead in his sins and apart from the power of Jesus Christ.

Repentance is directly tied to obedience so it will be necessary to see what Tim has to say about that. 

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In Scripture, obedience is not legalism, control, or ritual performance.

Biblical obedience is love expressed through action.

From the beginning, Yahuah defined obedience as a response of the heart, not mere outward conformity.

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 (KJV)

Hear, O Israel: Yahuah our Elohim is one Yahuah:

And thou shalt love Yahuah thy Elohim with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Obedience begins with listening. The Hebrew idea of shema means to hear, understand, and act. To hear Yahuah is to obey Him.

Moses made this unmistakably clear:

Deuteronomy 30:15–16 (KJV)

See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

In that I command thee this day to love Yahuah thy Elohim, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments…

Obedience is a choice that leads to life.

The prophets reinforced this truth when obedience was replaced with ritual:

1 Samuel 15:22 (KJV)

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

Yahuah never desired outward worship without inward submission. Obedience has always mattered more than ceremony.

Yahusha taught the same without alteration:

John 14:15 (KJV)

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Obedience is not the enemy of faith.

Obedience is the fruit of faith.

The Biblical Conclusion

Obedience is not about earning favor.

Obedience is not about tradition or control.

Obedience is not optional.

Obedience is love in action.

It is how covenant faith is lived, preserved, and revealed.

Where obedience is absent, covenant is broken.

Where obedience is present, life follows.

This is Biblical obedience.

Again, Tim has tied obedience to the law. He writes "obedience is not legalism" but that is a distinction without a difference. If obedience means keeping the Torah and if that obedience is presented as the condition of covenant standing ("where obedience is absent, covenant is broken"), then it is functionally legalism regardless of the disclaimer. The Apostle Paul called this exact teaching a return to "bondage" (Galatians 4:24) and warned that if righteousness comes by the law, "Christ is dead in vain" (Galatians 2:21). 

Notably, Tim does not say we are to be obedient to the law yet that is the implication of it especially based on his previous definitions of faith, righteousness, holiness, and covenant which were all Torah directed. 

This is a Christless repentance and obedience. The Bible repeatedly says we are to obey the Gospel. 

Romans 1:5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

Romans 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

Romans 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 

Romans 16:26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: 

Notice what these verses do not say. They do not say obedience to the Gospel means keeping the Sabbath, dietary laws, or feasts. They say obedience means believing the gospel, receiving the message of Christ's death and resurrection. Paul can even speak of "the obedience of faith", collapsing the distinction Tim tries to maintain. Faith is obedience and obedience is faith when the object is Christ.

Obedience to the Gospel means repentance from dead works to trust in the living God. 

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

Tim says repentance is a a return to those very same dead works, i.e. keeping the Torah. That is the exact opposite of Biblical repentance. Tim's very foundation is dead and rotten being stripped bare of Christ.

The transformation of the heart which enables one to obey the Gospel by repenting and having faith toward God is done not by ourselves but by God Himself.

Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 

2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 

5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 

6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 

7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

It is simply amazing that this man pretends he is preaching a restored Gospel. All of his doctrine is devoid of the Gospel. For Tim the ultimate foundation of not Christ but keeping the law. He has no need for Jesus Christ whatsoever in his religious system. As Tim has said before, the law is what redeems us and faith in Christ is not enough. 

So this is another example that we aren't to just have faith in Yahusha. That’s not enough. That’s not it.  No, no, no, no. We are to keep His commandments.

Sabbath Series: Part 5: The End Times Sabbath at 19:30

The law written by the very finger of Yahuah Himself.  The law is what redeems us.

The Law of Sin and Death. What is it? NOT The Law of Moses! WHAT DID PAUL SAY?" at 39:35

If the law redeems, then Christ is reduced to a teacher or example, not the Savior. Paul's warning applies directly: "If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Galatians 2:21). Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has built a system in which Jesus Christ is dead in vain.