Language Studies

Greek Thoughts

METANOIA* - εχηγεομαι (Strong's #1834)
Repentance

(Please note that all Biblical quotes are taken from the Literal Translation.)

Last week we began a series of studies of three Greek words associated with repentance in the New Testament. The first word we studied was μετανοὲω (Strong's #3340), "to make a decision for change." This week our focus is on its noun form, μετὰνοια (Strong's #3341), "a change of mind or purpose." The second word in our series, which we will consider next week, is ἐπιστρὲφω (Strong's #1994), "to turn to, to be converted." Then we will look at a third word, μεταμὲλομαι (Strong's #3338), which means, "To regret, to be sorry." The understanding of these words and their relationship to each other is necessary for the accurate perception of the Biblical concept of repentance.

As we learned last week, the verb form, μετανοὲω (Strong's #3340) is associated with a person's perceptive awareness that he needs to make a decision to change the direction of his life. Μετανοὲω comes from two Greek words. The first is the preposition μετὰ (Strong's #3326), which, when used in a compound word, means "a change in location or circumstance." The second part of the compound comes from the word νοὲω (Strong's #3539), which expresses a person's perceptive ability. The verb form is a call for the action of making a decision to change the direction of one's life. The related noun form expressing this concept is μετὰνοια (Strong's #3341), which states the condition of change.

As presented last week, John the Baptist is the first to give the call to repentance saying, "Repent (the imperative, or command form of μετανοὲω), for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near." (Matthew 3:2) John also states, "Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance (μετὰνοια)." (Matthew 3:8) In this context, John announces that a person who has made the decision to change the direction of his life and has reached the condition of repentance will bear the fruit of his decision. In the context of Matthew 3:9-11, John stands in opposition to the Jewish leaders who are claiming to be in right standing with God based upon their ancestral relationship with Abraham. John proclaims that the fruit indicating repentance is a person's decision to turn from trusting in Judaism to receiving the ministry of the Messiah to change him. John calls the Messiah's ministry to those who surrender to Him, "being baptized in the Holy Spirit." Therefore, the fruit produced by turning from trusting in religious practices to the saving faith of the Messiah is the presence of the Holy Spirit. Repentance, as we understand it thus far, is represented as the surrendering of one's life to Christ and the reliance on Him to make the necessary change of life by the agent of His Holy Spirit.

Jesus and the early church present this same teaching after John is imprisoned. Jesus said, "...for I did not come to call righteous ones but sinners unto repentance." (Matthew 9:13) In the Lord's commission to the apostles (Luke 24:46-47), He said, "In this way it has been written, and in this way it is necessary that the Christ should suffer^F1 and that He should rise up^F2 from out of the dead the third day; and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached^F3 upon the basis of His name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem."

The first messages after Pentecost carried the same good news. Peter said (Acts 2:38), "Repent and let each of you be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ, toward forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Peter calls for people to repent, to be baptized toward forgiveness of sin, and, as a result, they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Note that the preposition εἰς, Strong's #1519, is translated "toward" the forgiveness of their sin. εἰς does not denote time sequence, but rather that baptism is for the forgiveness of sin whether the forgiveness took place in the past, present, or future). Here Peter presents that the result of genuine repentance is the reception of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is the fruit of a person's repentance.

When Paul calls for the elders of Ephesus to come to the island of Miletus, he tells them that he publicly and from house to house was "thoroughly testifying both to Jews and Gentiles repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 20:21) Then, when standing before King Agrippa, Paul says, "I did not become disobedient to the heavenly vision, but I declared first to the ones in Damascus and Jerusalem, and unto all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent^F4 and that they should turn^F5 to God, while producing works worthy of repentance (μετὰνοια)." (Acts 26:19-20) Paul is proclaiming the same message as that of John, Jesus, and Peter, continuing to present that repentance is necessary for salvation and that the fruit or works worthy of repentance (literally, a continuous process under the control of the Holy Spirit) indicate true repentance.

The Bible also teaches that repentance is a gift from God. In Acts 5:31, Peter and the other apostles tell the Sanhedrin, "God exalted this One to His right as Ruler and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." Then, after Peter explains his calling from the Lord to go to the Gentiles with the message of salvation (), his Jerusalem brethren respond by "…glorifying God, saying, 'Then God also gave to the Gentiles repentance unto life.'" (Acts 11:18)

In our day and age, the condition of repentance is largely absent from the message of Christian salvation. Too often salvation is offered as a free ticket to Heaven, a ticket costing us nothing. However, the Bible teaches that both the call to repentance and the condition of repentance are absolutely necessary for the salvation process to take place: The verb form μετανοὲω expresses the call for the action of making the decision to change the direction of one's life; The noun form μετὰνοια states the condition necessary for salvation. Only when these two are present, will the fruit of repentance follow. Simply put, a person must perceive that he needs a change in the direction of his life. He must make the decision for change, and then surrender his life to Christ, receiving Christ's Spirit into his own spirit. Herein lies the cost, the surrender of his life. This is necessary because, as Biblical language makes clear, no person has the ability to change himself; spiritual change comes only from God. The good news is that repentance is God's gift to all who surrender to Christ.

Next week we will add to our understanding of the concept of repentance, as presented in the New Testament, by our study of the Greek word ἐπιστρὲφω.

* METANOIA is the English font spelling of the Greek word μετὰνοια.

Technical Notes:

F1: The infinitive παθεῖν, "to suffer," is translated by νὰ͂πὰθῃ, "that He should suffer."

F2: The infinitive ἀναστῆναι,"to rise up," is translated by νὰ͂ἀναστηθῃ, "that He should rise up."

F3: The infinitive κηρυχθῆναι, "to be preached," is translated by νὰ͂κηρυχθῇ, "that...should be preached."

F4: The infinitive of purpose μετανοεῖν, "to repent," is translated νὰ͂μετανοῶσι, "that they should repent."

F5: The infinitive of purpose ἐπιστρὲφειν, "to turn," is translated νὰ͂ἐπιστρὲφωσιν, "that they should turn."

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