What You Might Not Know About Repentance

“REPENT! THE END IS NEAR!”

As soon as you read or hear the word ‘repent,’ what comes to your mind?

I don’t know anyone who consistently uses the terms repent and repentance the same way they were used by Jesus and His disciples.

English dictionaries only reflect how ‘we’ English-speaking folks have used the word ‘repent,’ but not necessarily how the Bible did. The definition is presented as a kind of menu selection:

• To do penance (i.e. deeds to pay for sin);
• To feel sorrow;
• To change behavior; or
• To change one’s mind/heart.

Do you know how repentance is used in the New Testament...every time?

The Greek term behind repent and repentance meant to change one’s mind/heart. More literally, it meant ‘to perceive afterward.’ Let me explain.

There are two times that people think about things: before they decide, and after they decide. The wise person thinks ‘before’ making a decision. He investigates, thinks, ponders, studies, and processes. From that he forms a perception upon which he will base his decision. All of that comes before the decision; and as a result, he does not have to change his mind later. The Greeks called that pronoeo (perceiving beforehand). That’s wise.

In great contrast is the person whose investigating and thinking and pondering and processing comes after making a decision. Circumstances occur that prove their decision to be a poor decision based on wrong perceptions. With embarrassment that person, upon coming to terms with their poor thinking, has to change his mind; all because he did his thinking afterward. The Greeks called that metanoeo (perceiving afterward).

The Greek term metanoeo was most often used in a negative sense. It was a sign of foolishness because it followed the surprise or even shock of coming to terms with a previous false perception. Understandably, a sense of sorrow or regret usually preceded metanoeo, but often lingered.

Follow a perfect example of metanoeo in Scripture, when the Apostle Peter preached the first gospel sermon: 

Fifty days after the crucifixion of Jesus, Peter faced a crowd of people on the temple grounds in Jerusalem. Among those people were some (many?) who had been among those who had called for the death of Jesus.

Peter appealed to Old Testament prophecy and showed the crowd that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the long-awaited Messiah and Lord.

They were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 
 —Acts 2:37

Having previously perceived Jesus to have been a fraud, they called for his crucifixion. Then, Peter had showed them the error in their thinking. Their pierced hearts revealed their shock and sorrow regarding their previous erroneous perception.

Peter answered their question: “Repent!” They heard, “change your minds,” or more accurately, “change your perception.” He called for them to change their perception about Jesus of Nazareth from blasphemer to Lord and Messiah.

Their repentance was a change of perception that would affect all future thought and behavior. Everything coming into their minds would be filtered through this new conviction: Jesus is Lord and Messiah. The natural result was a change in all of their future decisions, behavior and speech.

The next time you come across repentance in your Bible reading, remember that it is a change of perception which will naturally result in changed thinking, changed speech and changed behavior. 

But it is first an internal change of perception.

Mark Stinnett
November 17, 2019