Dear Chelsea

Every field has its jargon, and the religio-sphere is no exception. The unfortunate part for me is that so much of it deviates so starkly from God’s word. You’ll hear messages like “accept Jesus in your heart” from the pulpit when such statements have no biblical basis whatsoever. They are frustrating because they are so confusing and only perpetuate the divide between biblical Christianity and contemporary Christianity.

With regard to salvation (or what it takes to be forgiven of all of one’s sins and thus experience being made alive or “born” spiritually), there are many common errors. One of them is the (mistaken) use of the word “repent.” The idea of repentance is common alongside verses relating to salvation:

There is no more important message than the gospel. We can see just how critically important it is by how strongly Paul spoke of those who perverted the message:

⁶ I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; ⁷ which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! ⁹ As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! — Galatians 1:6-9

and again, with the Corinthians, Paul expressed:

² For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. ³ But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. — 2 Corinthians 11:2-4

and described those peddling this message as follows:

¹³ For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. — 2 Corinthians 11:13-15

So, since we understand the importance of the gospel, let’s give some special attention to the words “repent” and “repentance.” Often times, when people are seeking to understand these words, they turn to an English dictionary, and they come away with definitions like the following from Merriam-Webster:

1) to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life

2a) to feel regret or contrition

2b) to change one’s mind

This is the first problem. We must remember that the word of God was originally written in Aramaic and Hebrew (for the Old Testament) and Koine Greek (for the New Testament), and those words are then translated/rendered (in our case, into English) so that we can comprehend them. So in order for us to understand the text as it’s intended, it would do us well to go to the original text, to the original words God sovereignly used to convey His thoughts to us. A concordance is book that pairs the translated words (in this case, the English words) in a specific Bible version to the word in the original language so that we can do proper sleuthing and come to appropriate conclusions. Hear me out: God’s word isn’t meant to be confusing, but just like a medical doctor is expected to put in time to study in order to understand the various cases he/she will see and to understand how to best diagnose and treat them, so also a person explaining the Bible is expected to study in order to accurately share God’s word. In 2 Tim. 2:15, Paul says as much:

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

But furthermore, while Scripture itself acknowledges that some parts are difficult to understand, there’s still a responsibility to rightly explain the Scriptures, and those who distort the Scriptures do so to their own destruction:

¹⁵ and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, ¹⁶ as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. — 2 Peter 3:15-16

Using The Strongest NASB Exhaustive Concordance, we can see that every occurrence of the words “repent”/”repentance” in the NASB 1995 is tied to the Strongs word numbers 3340 (verb) and 3341 (noun). And furthermore, when we look at the words Strongs #3340 and #3341 in the Greek dictionary, they are only rendered “repent” and “repentance,” respectively, which shows that there is no other word that the translators thought be more appropriate in any context.

So, what are the words Strongs #3340 and #3341 in the Greek dictionary? They are the Greek words metanoeo and metanoia, respectively. These mean “to change one’s mind or purpose” and “change of mind, repentance.” So, the word “repent” literally means “to change one’s mind or purpose.” This corresponds with definition 2b in the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, but for some reason, it is only the other definitions (turning from sin; and feeling sorry for your sins) that pastors seem to preach.

Thayer’s Greek Lexicon describes “metanoia” as “a change of mind: as it appears in one who repents of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done (see Heb. 12:17); especially the change of mind of those who have begun to abhor their errors and misdeeeds, and have determined to enter upon a better course of life, so that it embraces both a recognition of sin and sorrow for it and hearty amendment, the token s and effect of which are good deeds (Matt. 3:8, 11; Luke 3:8; Luke 15:7; Luke 24:47; Acts 26:20).”

Topical Lexicon expounds under the heading of the “Conceptual Essence” of metanoia that it “expresses a Spirit-wrought reorientation of mind and heart that issues in a changed life. It is never presented as a mere intellectual shift, or as a work that earns salvation, but as the God-enabled turning that accompanies true saving faith.”

Under the heading “Repentance and Faith,” Topical Lexicon continues with a noteworthy distinction between the two: “repentance faces sin; faith embraces the Savior.”

So, to sum up the common error that we see with regard to the use of the word “repent,” I believe that what we see is a mix-up of cause and effect. For example: if you’re trying to determine the difference between a dry bean and a bean-looking stone, you can put both of them in soil, water them appropriately, and wait for them to sprout. If we assume that the bean is viable (so it’s one that will sprout), then the difference you will notice is that the bean will sprout a day or so later, and the bean-shaped rock will not. The bean sprout will grow leaves, etc. But bearing leaves truly only bears out the fact that it was a bean the whole time, even before our revelatory experiment was ever undertaken. In the same way, true repentance is not mere words; it is sincere and bears itself out in a different attitude (including remorse) and corresponding actions toward sin. But to equate these effects with what repentance is would be like equating the sprout to the bean. The sprout issues forth from the true bean just as these attitudes and actions follow from genuine repentance. We can see that in verses like Acts 26:20 where Paul describes “deeds appropriate to repentance.” In Matthew 3:8, we also see John the Baptist admonishing the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him for baptism to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” These passages establish that fruit issues forth from true repentance but is distinct from the repentance. True repentance comes with fruit, but repentance is not the fruit.

The reason to explain that is to help us cut through ideas put forth in many churches that one must “repent of his/her sins” in order to be forgiven of his/her sins. This is clearly unbiblical if we’re talking about the idea of repentance being “turning from sins” or “feeling sorry for one’s sins.” That is a work, and salvation is not by works. But if we’re discussing the concept of realizing our sinful state (and, thus, our need for a Savior), then that lines up with Scripture.

TLDR: People are often told that “repentance” is a requirement in order to get to heaven/be forgiven of their sins. This is often presented as “turning from or feeling sorry for one’s sins,” but (1) these are works and salvation is not by works (Eph. 2:8-9) and (2) neither of these ideas actually lines up with the biblical definition of the word “repent.” The Greek word rendered repent is “metanoeo” and refers to changing one’s mind. In the context of the gospel of grace, this seems to be a changing of one’s mind about one’s sinful condition, acknowledging one’s sinfulness and inability to save oneself before God. As such, it makes sense that this is presented alongside “faith in Christ [as Savior]” because these would be like two sides of the same coin. Realizing one’s sinful condition and inability to save him/herself would help a person to realize his/her need for a Savior, and hopefully, the unique qualification of Jesus Christ to accomplish a substitutionary sacrifice on his/her behalf to pay for all of his/her sins.