Repent ye] Repentance is not mere sorrow for sin, but a real change of life. It includes, (1) contrition, i.e. sorrow for sin, regarded as an offence against God; (2) confession of sin, always to God, and, where man has been injured, also to man; (3) amendment of life. The kingdom of heaven] St. Matthew nearly always employs this rabbinical phrase instead of 'the kingdom of God.' 'Heaven' so used is a reverential substitute for 'God.' 'The kingdom of heaven' is, of course, the kingdom of Christ, which the Baptist certainly regarded as spiritual. On the precise meaning of the phrase in this Gospel see the Intro., also the notes on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and on the parables.

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