The Meaning of Repentance

Quotes from the Ancients, Lexicons, and Theologians

Compiled by Jonathan Perreault

“True repentance is an inward act of the soul, ‘a change of mind,’ as in later writings Luther so often reminded his adversaries, as he from time to time led them back to the meaning of the Greek word.”1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to Dr. Charlie Bing of GraceLife Ministries for giving me the idea to write this article, and for his thoughts and insights to make it better. I think the following statement from my correspondence with him sums up my thoughts the best: “Doing this research, I kind of feel like I'm going through the Reformation in real-time, or a second Reformation. I think a lot of these statements [on repentance] have been lost to time and forgotten. I feel like I'm going through another Renaissance! I believe that God is blessing this work. Thank you for suggesting it to me. It has been a wonderful study.”

EDITOR’S PREFACE

The quotes presented in this article describe and explain repentance is its true Scriptural signification & meaning, as a change of mind and heart. This is the testimony of both the Old and New Testaments, and of Jesus and the Apostles, viz., “then God laid it to heart [“repented” KJV] that he had made man upon the earth, and he pondered it deeply” (Gen. 6:7 [6:6], Brenton LXX; cf. Augustine’s versions of Genesis, which say the same thing in the old Latin). “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool’” (Isa. 1:18). “Let the wicked man forsake his own way [of salvation] and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon” (Isa. 55:7; cf. Prov. 14:12, 16:25; Jn. 14:6). “But what do you think?” (Mt. 21:28). “Think ye…? (Lk. 13:2). “Or do you suppose…? (Lk. 13:4). “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? (Jn. 3:12). “Finally he came to his senses” (Lk. 15:17).

In the context in which Jesus and the apostles used the word in the New Testament, repentance (Gr. metanoia) is a change of mind and heart about sin, salvation, and the Savior— as Robert Lightner has so eloquently stated in his book by that title. It is not sorrow, although sorrow may, and oftentimes does, lead to and accompany biblical repentance (cf. 2 Cor. 7:9- 10).

Let me just say a few words to preempt those who might dismiss this article out of hand, either by ridicule or otherwise. A. T. Pierson has rightly said, “ridicule is not argument, and leads to no safe conclusion. It is easy to appear to overthrow truth by ridicule.” So for those who might dismiss or deride this paper as nothing more than “Repentance according to internet comments” (or some similar genetic fallacy/“fallacy of origins”), l share the following thoughts. The vast amount of information contained in this article has taken me literally hundreds of hours of intense research to compile (and it stands on its own merits based on whether it is truth or error). For example, Erasmus’ Annotation on Matthew 3:2 was originally only in Latin— there were no English translations to be found! It took me over two-hundred hours to translate it word-by-word and phrase-by-phrase from the Latin into English. (For more information on that research, see my blog post titled “THE ANNOTATIONS OF ERASMUS ON MATTHEW 3:2”.) In addition to translating the statement by Erasmus, I also more recently found a statement by Luther on metanoia that was also only in Latin. To my knowledge it has never before been translated into English. Translating this statement by Luther from Latin into English was also very time-consuming. All this to say that compiling the many quotes contained in this article has taken hundreds of hours of intense research! I tediously sifted through information and meticulously poured over old books page-by-page and word-by-word. I painstakingly collated and typed out my findings, constantly editing and re-editing, slowly putting it all together into chronological order and distilling it down into a 70-page paper of quotations spanning some 2,000 years of church history! I could not have done this (or at least it would have taken much, much longer) without the aid of modern technology, as the Bible says, “in the last days knowledge will increase”. I thank the Lord for giving me the time and ability to do this important research. Ultimately, a biblical understanding of repentance is based upon what the Bible says, and that is why in the following quotes from Bible scholars, they set forth the meaning of the New Testament word for repentance, which is the Greek word metanoia. It is the meaning of this word with which we are concerned, and with which these quotes have to do.

Finally, let me just say a few things about the spelling and punctuation of some of the older quotes that are presented in this article. I have endeavored to retain as much as possible the spelling and punctuation of the original statements. In some of the older quotes, from the 16th and 17th centuries, for example, the words are often archaic (e.g. bade, betokeneth, doth, ye, etc.) and the spelling can be somewhat different from the way that we spell those same words today (e.g. “hart” for heart, “minde” for mind, “agayn” for again, “beleeve” for believe, “eternall” for eternal, etc.). Please take this into consideration when reading the quotes. These words are probably not misspelled; it’s just old English. As you read this article, I hope you enjoy this trip through time in regards to The Meaning of Repentance!

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