Repent and Believe in Me

N. T. Wright relates a story from Josephus that illustrates the meaning of "repent and believe" in the first century.

Around AD 66, Josephus made a military expedition to Galilee to put down brigands based there. A man named "Jesus" (a common name) plots against the life of Josephus, but Josephus prevails. He tells Jesus that he would forgive him if he would "show repentance and prove his loyalty to me." Wright adds:

The translation is accurate enough, but it could just as well have been rendered 'if he would repent and believe in…