Why Is 'Repentance' in the Bible?

The Question:

The title of this blog entry might be confusing. So, to be clear, the question is not about the concept of repentance, but the word itself. 

In recent blog entries I have shown that the underlying meaning of repentance is a ‘change of mind’ or more accurately ‘a change of perception.’ That underlying meaning is based on the meaning of the Greek term that is translated repentance in our English Bibles. Oddly, the English word repentance has connotations of sorrow and regret. In great contrast, the Greek term is a thinking word and deals with the perceptions of the mind. So, how did a ‘sorrow’ word find its way into our English Bibles where the Greek text had a ‘thinking’ word?

That’s Greek To Me:

Without being overly technical, the Greek word that is commonly translated repentance is metanoia. Its verb counterpart, repent, is metanoeo (pronounced: me-ta-no-EH-o). The two words were used to indicate a change of mind/perception. The change of perception was often followed by regret over the embarrassment of having previously been in error. 

A few modern translations and paraphrases use the phrase change your mind/heart or change the way you think instead of repent where the Greek verb metanoeo appears in the text. That is a great improvement, but most English translations still have repent/repentance, so… 

Why were the terms repent and repentance used in the first place? 

The Translation of Metanoeo:

One way to answer this question is to follow the history of the way the Greek term for metanoeo was translated in early English translations and their predecessors. 

The King James Version (KJV) of 1611 used repent to translate the Greek term metanoeo in every instance. An earlier translation that was a major influence on the KJV was made by William Tyndale in about 1535. The English Bibles before Tyndale used do penance to translate metanoeo. Under strong objection by the Roman Catholic Church Tyndale replaced the phrase do penance with repent.

Tyndale was among the earliest English Bible translators to use the ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible. Earlier English translations were primarily translations of the Latin Vulgate, a Latin translation of the Bible that had been adopted by the Roman Catholic Church as the official Scripture text. 

The Latin Vulgate had a form of the Latin word poenitentia for every occurrence of the Greek term metanoeo. The Latin poenitentia derived its meaning from the Latin verb poenteo meaning: to punish or torment; and later, to make repent; to displease; to feel sorrow or regret.

When the Roman Catholic Church endorsed an English translation of the Bible, the Douay-Rheims Bible (DRB) of 1609, the Latin Vulgate was the source text. It was no surprise that metanoeo was translated do penance which retained the idea of sorrow and punishment for one’s sins.

For comparison, the familiar text of Luke 13:3 is shown below from the Douay-Rheims Bible and the King James Version. Boldface type is used where metanoeo appears in the Greek text.

DRB: "No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish."

KJV: "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

Another familiar repentance verse, Acts 17:30, is shown below:

DRB: "And God indeed having winked at the times of this ignorance, now declareth unto men that all should every where do penance." 

KJV: "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent."

['Winked at' in this text meant to 'overlook.']

The same wording for metanoeo is found throughout the Douay-Rheims Bible. This raises yet another question: Why did the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible use a term for sorrow/punishment to translate the Greek metanoeo? 

Doctrine over Accuracy:

The Latin Vulgate was a Latin translation of the Bible completed in about 405 A.D. by a Roman Catholic priest, Jerome. He had been commissioned to by the pope to translate the Bible because of a wide variety of unreliable translations that were circulating in his day. He searched for the oldest and most reliable Greek and Hebrew manuscripts as the source for his translation. Overall, the Latin translation of Jerome was an amazing work. However, for every occurrence of metanoeo in the Greek New Testament Jerome translated using a form of the word poenitentia.

Jerome’s word choice reflected the Roman Catholic doctrine of penance that originated in a work by an early Christian writer named Tertullian. His ‘Sacrament of Penance’ stated that upon sinning there must be contrition, confession and satisfaction.

• Contrition is the sorrow felt within the sinner for sin;
• In confession a person admits their sin in public or in private to a bishop; and
• Satisfaction is any number of acts ordered by a bishop for the purpose of satisfying one’s debt of sin.

With this doctrine firmly in place in the Roman Catholic Church by the time of Jerome it is understandable that he would use a Latin term to promote and preserve this doctrine, and indeed he did. The Latin Vulgate became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church and remained the text of Scripture for the western world for more than a millennium.

So, the reason for Jerome’s word choice appears to have been linked to the accepted doctrine of penance. Because of the acceptance of his Latin translation the true meaning of the Greek metanoeo was obscured for centuries. When the first English translations appeared the Latin Vulgate was used as the source text. It was not until Tyndale and others who insisted on using the Greek texts as their source that penance was taken out of English translations. Even then, the doctrine of penance had made an indelible mark in the minds of people. 

Tyndale’s choices of the English repent and repentance were tremendous improvements over the infused doctrine of penance, yet they still did not convey the true meaning of the Greek metanoeo: To change the mind/perception. 

Conclusion:

The chart labeled “Figure 1” (below) shows the development of the two English words: penitence and repent. A strong case could be made that the words repent and repentance should not translate the Greek metanoeo. They both descend from Greek and Latin words for punishment and payment for doing wrong. The Greek term poine (see chart) from which the words repent, repentance, penitence and penance descend is not even found in the Greek text of the New Testament.

So, why do the words repent and repentance appear in our English translations? 

In short, they were early English word choices that were improvements over the concept of penance which was introduced into a 5th Century Latin translation of the Bible by a Roman Catholic priest; a translation that has strongly influenced the western world for a millennium.

Can/should English translations do better? Absolutely!

The English language is certainly not lacking with words sufficient to convey the meaning of the Greek term metanoeo (change of perception).

To replace the Greek metanoeo with words that convey sorrow, regret, or worse, penance is inexcusable. Yet, until improvements are made in English translations, Bible readers will do well to learn and remember the meaning of the Greek terms in the Bible behind repent and repentance. They will want to mentally transfer the more accurate and meaningful expression of change one’s perception to the words repent and repentance when they appear in the English text of the New Testament.

Mark Stinnett

December 23, 2019