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Repentance

Repentance

In the NT repentance primarily relates to the Greek words metanoéō and metńoia, meaning to understand something differently after thinking it over. This change of mind necessarily leads to changed actions, in keeping with the Greek view that the mind (noús) controlled the body. Repentance comprises a central theme in the preaching of Jesus, Peter, and Paul.

Jesus began his ministry with a call to repentance as the prerequisite for entering the kingdom of God (Mark 1:15; Matt. 4:17). Mark 6:12–13 summarizes Jesus ministry by saying that Jesus preached repentance, cast out demons, and healed sick people. At the conclusion of his earthly ministry Jesus commissioned his disciples to preach repentance and forgiveness to all nations in his name (Luke 24:47). A call to repentance characterizes the content of his preaching.

Peter, Paul, and the rest of the apostles proclaimed a gospel of repentance (Mark 6:12). Peter’s sermon at Pentecost instructed people to repent and believe in Jesus (Acts 2:38); later, he echoed this message before the Sanhedrin (Acts 3:19). Paul also condensed his gospel as a call to repentance and righteous living (Acts 17:30; 26:20). Because the Gospels emphasize the centrality of repentance in Jesus’ preaching, and both Peter and Paul taught that repentance was the correct response to the gospel, the importance of repentance to the theology of the NT cannot be overemphasized.

The early church fathers gave little attention to the doctrine of repentance, but by the 2nd century church tradition equated repentance with the act of baptism, leading to the difficulty of Christians gaining forgiveness for post-baptismal sins (Herm. Man. 4:1–3). Tertullian attempted to resolve this problem by positing a public confession of sins (exomologḗsis) to cleanse post-baptismal sins, but denied it to those who were guilty of adultery, fornication, murder, or idolatry.

By the Middle Ages the Church had developed the idea of public confession into the doctrine of penance. Repentant Catholics were to make confession to a priest at least once a year. Thomas Aquinas itemized penance into the elements of contrition, confession, satisfaction, and absolution. Abuse of indulgences provoked a rejection of the sacrament of penance among Reformation writers, although they discussed repentance in connection with the Calvinist/Arminian debate over free will. Calvinists regarded repentance as an absolute gift of God, while Arminians thought repentance involved human response to God’s initiative.

Repentance, faith, and election form a closely   p 1119  interwoven set of ideas which express the gospel. God’s elective call for people to enter God’s kingdom arises as a summons to repentance. Faith in the word of God initiates repentance (Rom. 10:11–17; Hos. 6:1–6; Joel 2:32 [MT 3:5]). The person who repents repudiates the wickedness of sin, understanding it as serious and repulsive. The Holy Spirit generates life within human believers through repentance and faith. The elect accept the call to turn from their rejected status of not being God’s people, to those whom God claims as children (Rom. 9:25–26; Joel 2:25).
LINDA OAKS GARRETT


Garrett, Linda Oaks. “Repentance.” Ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck. Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible 2000 : 1118–1119. Print.

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