Repentance

  “Repent of Sin.”  This often-quoted phrase “repent of sin” does not even occur in the Bible.  Most people are quite shocked to find that it does not appear in the Scripture.  Nowhere does the Scripture use the phrase, “repent of sin” to be saved.  Scripture does say in Acts 20:21, “repentance toward God” (change of mind), and “faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

     Repentance is the translation of the Greek word “metanoia”.  The literal meaning of “metanoia” is “a change of mind”.  “Meta” means “change”.  “Noia” means “mind”.  So, therefore, “metanoia” means a “change of mind”.  Before learning about metanoia, I am sure that you are already familiar with a Greek word with the prefix “meta”.  That word is “metamorphosis”.  “Meta” means “change”, and “morphosis” means “form or structure”.  This word metamorphosis is used to describe the change a caterpillar goes through to become a beautiful butterfly.  I am sure that you have studied about this change of form.  Repentance, therefore, (metanoia) is a change of mind.

     This misuse of the word repentance has caused untold confusion among believers and unbelievers alike.  Satan, the author of confusion (I Corinthians 14:33), has delighted in this misuse of the word repentance.  One of the counterfeits Satan is using today is the misuse of the word repentance.  To insist upon a repentance that in any sense includes a demand for a change of conduct either toward God or man is to add an element of works or human effort to faith.

     Let’s define.  Penance is payment for sin.  Penitence is sorrow for sin.  Works and something of self is turning from sin.  But repentance (metanoia) means a change of mind.  Repentance in salvation means a change of mind from any idea of religion that man might have and accepting God’s way of salvation.  Man’s great need is to understand God’s way of salvation and accept His sacrifice.  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).”

     Why do we have the problem?  The problem has come about because “metanoia” should never have been translated into the English word “repent”.  “Repent” (English word) does not mean the same thing as “metanoia” (Greek word).  Perhaps what the translators should have done was a “transliteration” of the Greek word.  For example: the translators of the King James Bible took the Greek word “baptizo”, dropped the “o”, and replaced it with an “e”.  They brought the new word “baptize” into the English language.  This is called transliteration.  They should have done this with “metanoia”, and the problem would have been eliminated.  Can you imagine preachers saying ‘METANOIA’ to their congregations?  At least the correct meaning would be known.

     Understanding the doctrine may relieve some of the confusion you or your friends may have had concerning repentance.  Here is a way to get a handle on it.  Remember this, “A person may ‘repent’ without ‘believing’, but a person cannot ‘believe’ without ‘repenting’.”  A person may “repent” (change their mind) without “believing” (trusting Christ), but a person cannot “believe” (trust in Christ) without repenting (having changed their mind).

     Repentance is necessary for salvation, but keep in mind that it means “a change of mind”.  Dr. C.I. Scofield, in the Scofield Reference Bible (copyrighted in 1909), has the following footnote, “Repentance is the translation of a Greek word (metanoia-metanoeo) meaning “to have another mind”, “to change the mind”, and is used in the New Testament to indicate a change of mind in respect of sin, of God and of self.  This change of mind may, especially in the case of Christians who have fallen into sin, be preceded by sorrow (II Corinthians 7:8-11), but sorrow for sin, though it may “work” repentance, is not repentance.  The son in Matthew 21:28,29 illustrate true repentance.  Saving faith includes and implies that change of mind, which is called repentance.”

     Dr. Scofield clearly points out that “saving faith” includes and implies that change of mind which is called repentance.

     One misunderstanding is to say that the word repentance must be used in order to be teaching repentance.  If that were true, we would have thrown out the gospel of John from the New Testament.  Think of this in light of why John’s gospel was written,  “But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name (John 20:31).”  Repentance, you see, is taught in John 3:16.  A person cannot believe (trust) in Christ as taught in John 3:16 without repenting (changing his mind) in the process.

     “Often the idea of believing is expressed by the word, repent (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31; 8:22; 11:18; 17:30; 20:21; 26:20)…The word means to change one’s mind, and by its usage in the Book of Acts it means to change one’s mind about Jesus of Nazareth being the Messiah.  This involves no longer thinking of Him as merely the carpenter’s son of Nazareth, an imposter, but now receiving Him as both Lord (Jehovah) and Messiah.  Thus, repentance as preached by the apostles was not a prerequisite to nor a consequence of salvation but was actually the act of faith in Jesus which brought salvation to the one who repented” (Ryrie, Charles.  Biblical Theology of New Testament. (p. 116,117).

     “Repentance, as it relates to Christ, means to change our minds about Him, who He is and what He’s done to provide forgiveness, and deliverance from our sins.  When we place faith in Jesus as having taken our place personally on the cross and borne the penalty due our sins, then we’re automatically repenting, because we couldn’t accept Him in this way without having to change or minds in some way concerning Him.”  (From the Liberation of the Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsey. (p. 133).

     Salvation is by faith and not by works according to the Scriptures (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5).  Let’s not become tools of the devil to add works to salvation in a subtle way by misuse of repentance.  Let’s give out a clear message!  (I Corinthians 14:8).

* Written by Dr. Hank Lindstrom

The moment you put your trust in Jesus Christ, God who can read your mind knows, saves YOU and gives you the Gift of God, eternal Life.

You do not need anyone to pray over you, or pray for you, because this is between you and God in heaven. Because of your new trust in the shed blood of Jesus Christ you are now a child of God. Before you trusted in Jesus, God was your creator but now and forevermore he will be your father.

You are saved in a moment of time, because you are trusting in the true Savior now, not working your way to heaven day by day which is not even possible.

Once saved you can never be lost, for any reason. This is because you were born spiritually the moment you put your trust in Him. Just like your physical birth which brought you into this human world, your spiritual birth gave you a new spiritual life that is permanent. You were born-again, made righteous and holy in Gods eyes. In fact you have the righteousness of God himself, your are sinless and perfect in God’s eyes now and that’s why you can enter into a perfect heaven. 

My favorite saying is:

God will not save anyone who is trying to be saved, He will only save those who are trusting to be saved.

You MUST put ALL your trust in Jesus to be saved, trust in the blood that He shed on the cross, trust that He is God in the flesh, trust that He made the complete payment for your sins, not just part; He paid for ALL of your sins (past, present, and future)! Trust that He rose again from the dead after 3 days and 3 nights, and in return for this trust, He gives YOU Eternal Life. All false Christians put part of their trust in Jesus and part of their trust the Church and part of their trust in themselves. If you put 99.99% trust in Jesus and 00.01% in something else, you will go to hell. It must be 100% trust in Jesus and what He did and 0% in you or your church! This information in critical… (grace always cancels works!) You are going to hell if it’s by your works or you are going to heaven by Gods grace. It’s as simple as that.

So I guess the question comes down to who are you trusting. Are you trusting yourself to get to heaven by being a good person and giving lots of money to your church or are you trusting Jesus, the lamb of God, that was slain for the sins of the world to get you to heaven? You receive the Gift of God (Eternal Life) as soon as you stop trusting in yourself, your church, your synagogue, your mosque, your money, or any other works and put your trust in Him and Him ALONE, Jesus Christ, Yeshua, The King of Kings, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Alpha and Omega, the Mighty God.

False religions are everywhere and they will find you, the one true God and His plan of salvation must be found.

If all this makes sense to you and you would like to trust Jesus as your personal Savior right now then tell the Mighty God in Heaven of your decision to trust Jesus Christ as your only hope of heaven. Tell Him that you are no longer putting your trust in your actions, or your church, or your church membership, or in your money, or in your Rabbi, or in your synagogue or your Mosque but that you are putting all of your trust in Him and the shed blood of the cross to pay your sin debt. Thank Him for doing it for you! Thank Him for giving you the Gift of Eternal Life that He paid for with His life. There is no greater deed than that of laying down your life for another.