The Burning Bush - Far Eastern Bible College

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The Burning Bush 16/1 (January 2010)Apostles concerning the relation of repentance to the gospel andsalvation.Biblical Definition of RepentanceIn order to better understand repentance, it must first be necessary todefine what repentance is in light of the Holy Scriptures.Old TestamentIn the Old Testament, there are two main Hebrew words that aretranslated as “repent” in the English Bible. The first word is nachamwhich is often used to convey the idea of simply regretting or changingone’s mind. Of the close to 40 times when it is translated as “repent”,“repented”, “repenteth” etc., it is often applied to God, who “repents” ofthe judgement which He threatened to bring upon wicked men. Examplesof such would be verses like Genesis 6:6 “And it repented the LORD thathe had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart”, and Jonah3:10 “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; andGod repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them;and he did it not”. In the context of such verses, it is clear that God wasnot repenting from sin or from any evil that He had done, but was simplyusing anthropomorphism to express His grief and sorrow over the eviland wickedness of men, and His withholding of judgement on conditionof man’s repentance. 8 It ought to be noted that “God is not a man, that heshould lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent (nacham)” (Num23:19). Thus, depending on the context, this Hebrew word has a range ofmeanings, even in the various instances in which it is translated as“repent”, what is repented of is also different, and whenever used of Godit is anthropomorphic.There are instances in which the word nacham is applied to man tomean a regretting of a decision made or a changing of mind about acertain thing, for example Exodus 13:17, “And it came to pass, whenPharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way ofthe land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lestperadventure the people repent when they see war, and they return toEgypt”. Here, God was explaining His reason for not leading theIsraelites through the way of the Philistines lest they should change theirminds, or regret leaving Egypt and desire to return.8
REPENTANCE IN SALVATIONThe other word that is sometimes translated “repent” would be theHebrew word shub, which is commonly translated as “turn” or “return”.It is a very common word with over a thousand occurrences in theHebrew Bible. In a few instances, it is rendered as “repent” in the KJV.This would be in verses such as 1 Kings 8:47, “Yet if they shall bethinkthemselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent,and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried themcaptives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we havecommitted wickedness”, Ezekiel 14:6, “Therefore say unto the house ofIsrael, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from youridols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations”, and Ezekiel18:30, “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every oneaccording to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselvesfrom all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” It is veryclear from the context that in these instances the repentance beingdescribed by this word is the repentance from sin, wickedness, idolatry,transgressions and iniquity. Thus inherent in this word used is the ideathat God is calling men to repent, meaning to turn from their sins andtowards the Lord their God.Thus from the Old Testament, it is clear that repentance whenapplied to God is anthropomorphic, conveying either His grief andsorrow over man’s sinful disobedience or rebellion against Him or Hiscompassion and mercy in withholding judgement when sinners confesstheir sins and seek His mercy. When repentance is applied to man,depending on the context, it can mean either the changing of the mind orthe turning away from sin and wickedness.New TestamentIn the New Testament, there are also two different Greek wordscommonly translated as “repent”, having two slightly different meaningsthemselves.The first and more common word used in the New Testament toexpress the idea of repentance would be the verb metanoeo and its relatednoun metanoia. Etymologically, they come from two words, meta(“after”) and noeo (“to think” or “to perceive”), and speaks of a changeof mind or perception after a certain thing is known. This is the word thatis always used when sin is rebuked or when the gospel is preached. Forexample in Luke 13:3 where it is declared, “I tell you, Nay: but, except9
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The Burning Bush - Far Eastern Bible College

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