The Geneva Bible's Definition of "Repent" in Matthew 3:2

The Geneva Bible is particularly well-liked by Calvinists because it contains marginal notes that promote the theology of John Calvin. The Geneva Bible may as well be called "The John Calvin Study Bible" because it was Calvin who first penned the marginal notes found within its pages. The Preface to the Geneva Bible also features a 16-page letter written by Calvin in which he endorses the Geneva Bible. In light of all this, it's interesting what the Geneva Bible's marginal note for the word "Repent" in Matthew 3:2 says, because the marginal note actually supports the Free Grace definition of repentance!

Those who are familiar with the history of the Geneva Bible know that the marginal notes have been updated since it was first published, which I will get to in just a minute. So in order to understand what I'm talking about in this post you need to understand that there are the original marginal notes and the revised marginal notes. Of course the original marginal note for Matthew 3:2 written by John Calvin in the 1560 edition of the Geneva Bible conveys his view of repentance: sorrow for sin and changing one's life for the better.[1] Calvin's marginal note for the word "Repent" in Matthew 3:2 reads: "Or, be sorry for your past faults, and amend." But is this the true meaning of the Greek word in the New Testament?

In 1576 Laurence Tomson (1539-1608), a staunch Calvinist, revised the text and marginal notes of the New Testament in the Geneva Bible.[2] Tomson's notes on the New Testament are based largely on his translation of Theodore Beza's text and Annotations. (Beza was a disciple of John Calvin who lived most of his life in Geneva.) What's interesting is that in contrast to John Calvin, Tomson (following Beza) actually goes back to the original Greek of the New Testament to define the word "Repent"! In updated editions of the Geneva Bible with Tomson New Testament, the marginal note for the word "Repent" in Matthew 3:2 now says: "The word in the Greek tongue signifieth a changing of our minds and hearts from evil to better." This is very significant because Reformed theologians such as Wayne Grudem, for example, argue that the Free Grace "change of mind" definition of repentance is not supported by any standard lexicon or other reference work on the meanings of Greek words in the New Testament.[3] But here in the Geneva Bible we have a Calvinist saying exactly the opposite!

Unfortunately, the updated Geneva Bible sometimes still translates the word "Repent" as "Amend your lives" (e.g. Mt. 4:17; Lk. 13:3, 5, Acts 3:19, etc. in the Geneva Bible), but that's what I would expect from a Bible written largely under the influence of John Calvin. Do people have to "amend their lives" to get saved? That's works salvation!

Thank you Laurence Tomson for going back to the original Greek, at least in Matthew 3:2, to define the word "Repent"!

ENDNOTES:

[1] Although the marginal notes in the 1560 edition of the Geneva Bible may not have been personally written by Calvin himself, the Genevan revisers were at least "in consultation with" him. For more information see the article "The Geneva Bible (1557-1560)", excerpted from the article "English Versions" by Sir Frederic G. Kenyon in the Dictionary of the Bible edited by James Hastings, and published by Charles Scribner's Sons of New York in 1909 (www.bible-researcher.com/geneva6.html). Irene Backus furthermore notes that the Genevan revisers were "considerably influenced by" Calvin's 1558 revision of the French Geneva Bible. For more information see the doctoral thesis by Irena Dorota Backus, "Influence of Theodore Beza on the English New Testament", p. 20.

[2] For more information see the book: Hope's Anchor: A History of the Geneva Bible, Vol. 6 (London: The Olive Tree, 1974), by Lewis Lupton.

[3] Wayne Grudem, "Free Grace" Theology: 5 Ways It Diminishes the Gospel (Crossway, 2016), pp. 63-64.