Foolishness to Greeks: Repentance

One thing that has been brought to light to me recently is a better picture of the extent to which Christians no longer make sense in society.  This wasn’t always the case, but within the last generation we have shifted away from a society rooted in Christendom and toward a Secular society.  There are a lot of consequences from this shift and I haven’t the time, space, or interest in unpacking all of those here.  However, one of those is that Christians continue to use terms and language that people do not understand.  

So, in an attempt at foreign relations, a task which I am immensely under qualified to perform (as I am not a scholar in Greek or Hebrew nor am I a linguist), I want to try and unpack some of the terms that seem a bit contentious.  To begin, I’d like to look at the idea of repentance.  Repentance has come to be understood as equivalent with an apology.  The term apology is defined as synonymous with regret, confession, admission of guilt, request for forgiveness, act of contrition, and expression of regret.  The term repentance, however, is synonymous with regret, sorrow, remorse, penitence, atonement, shame, contrition, and penance.

The dictionary doesn’t even define these things as being equivalent to one another, rather this is a cultural misunderstanding.  A part of this misunderstanding may be in the common language that both use to express themselves.  When we are apologizing we say “I’m sorry”.  This is a part of what is done when a person repents.  We have to ask forgiveness from those we have wronged when we repent.

However, when a Christian speaks of repentance it is not simply a matter of “saying I’m sorry to their imaginary friend in the sky.”  It’s also not as simple as just saying I’m sorry (and saying this to the person that was wronged, not a third party).  Repentance is predicated upon the recognition of wrong doing, and therein lays the largest distinction between the two ideas.  We apologize all the time, but we do not always admit we have done something wrong when we do so, and we certainly don't always make a change to ourselves.  It seems “I’m sorry” a lot of the time not for an action we have taken, but rather we are sorry for the reaction that was caused by our action.  

In Hebrew, there are multiple words that are translated repent. שׁוּב shuwb {shoob} is one (Ezekiel 14:6).  It means to turn back, or to return.  It does not always connect to the idea of returning to a starting point.  In some ways this might be a good thing to note.  From some actions, even if a person acknowledges wrong doing, they will have burned bridges that are not able to be repaired. נָחַם nacham {naw-kham'} is another. This is connected to the idea of sorrow, grief, but also to the idea of comfort.  A strange connection perhaps, but admitting we are in the wrong and wish to cease this, while it may be painful to go through is necessary if propitiation is ever to be reached.

This point is driven home in 2 Corinthians 7:9, 10:

⁹ As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, 

but because you were grieved into repenting. 

For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

¹⁰ For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation 

without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

The Greek word for repentance used here is μετάνοιαν.  Its root is μετάνοια metanoia {met-an'-oy-ah}.  This is a change of mind.  Taken subjectively this is a compunction that drives one to reformation, and by implication is a reversal. 

So, I hope that helps clear up what repentance means in the Biblical sense.  This is no simple apology, this is declaring that we are in the wrong without excuse or exemption.  Admitting our wrongdoing to the party we have wronged is a part of this.  But we must also turn our backs on our wrong doing.  We can't persist in wrongdoing, that is not repentance.  Repentance demands actions on our part.  Not all bridges can be rebuilt.  Some trusts may never be restored and some fences may never be mended, even if a person forgives someone for wronging them.  But if we don't repent, and meld our apology with our actions; we can't even begin to try.