This meme reminds me of a cartoon I saw the other day about the meaning of repentance. In the picture there were two men standing outside in what looked like a city park. One was a sidewalk prophet holding a sign that said: "REPENT"! The other man was a bystander out for a walk. After reading the sign, the bystander just had one question: "Wouldn't I have to pent first?" he asked.[1]
This is what we are unfortunately dealing with when it comes to the word "repent". Most people have no clue what it means! And worse yet is that the explanations they are given are usually either unclear or just plain wrong. But if instead of the word "Repent" (whatever that means!) I were to say, "Change your thinking" -- now that's a lot more clear!
Let's keep the gospel clear by explaining what biblical repentance is: a change of mind (e.g. see Hebrews 12:17, KJV, the marginal note for "place of repentance" says: "or, way to change his mind").
Reference:
[1] See the CartoonStock cartoon by Crowden Satz, "Wouldn't I have to pent first?" (Search ID: CS565496), uploaded March 6, 2022. https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS565496
I mentioned Hebrews 12:17 above, and I can anticipate someone objecting by saying, "But in Hebrews 12:17 the context is not salvation." Quite right, but Bauer's Lexicon lists Hebrews 12:17 alongside (in the same gloss definition) other N.T. Bible verses that have a soteriological (salvation) context. So to change the meaning of "repentance" (metanoia) in soteriological contexts as meaning something other than what it means in Hebrews 12:17 is unsupported and merely shows theological bias on the part of the interpreter.
ReplyDeleteFor more information see my article "The Meaning of Repentance: Quotes from the Ancients, Lexicons, and Theologians" (available in the Grace Research Room at gracelife.org, or in the Free Grace Library on my blog).