The Gospel According to Hollywood: A Critique of Ray Comfort's Theology and the Metanoia He Missed

Ray Comfort recently released a YouTube video with the title, “Repentance: Have I Been Wrong All These Years?” It’s a relatively short 15-minute video, and I watched it just to see what he had to say, not really believing that he would actually admit to being wrong on repentance. And of course, he didn't.

After explaining that the debate centers around the meaning of the word repentance and whether it means “to turn from sins” or if it simply means “a change of mind,” Ray Comfort then says, “I invite you to look at the evidence and decide for yourself.” He then immediately plays a clip from Steven Spielberg's movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where Indiana Jones is muttering to himself, “The penitent man will pass. The penitent man will pass.” Apparently, this is Ray Comfort's idea of biblical repentance! And this is what passes for Bible study these days: playing clips from Hollywood blockbusters! How are we to take such a superficial, and quite candidly, just a worldly (and wrong) view of repentance seriously? Ray Comfort then proceeds to quote several of the Puritan theologians on the meaning of repentance, trying to prove that it means to “turn from sins.” But quoting the Puritans (or other theologians) on the meaning of the English word “repentance” is not exegesis. Maybe Ray Comfort forgot that the New Testament was originally written in Greek, not English!

It’s telling that not anywhere in the entire video does Ray Comfort ever mention the actual New Testament word for repentance: metanoia. This is no doubt because when we look at the New Testament (Greek) word for repentance, metanoia, it doesn’t at all support Comfort’s view of repentance, but rather argues strongly against it. The fact of the matter is that the Greek word metanoia (as used in the NT and elsewhere in early Christian literature) simply means a “change of mind,” not inherently turning from sins. There is overwhelming evidence for this biblical understanding of repentance (metanoia), both from within the NT itself and from other Greek writings of that era. For more information see my article: “The Meaning of Repentance: Quotes from the Ancients, Lexicons, and Theologians” (FGFS, May 28, 2021).

So the question comes down to this: will you base your beliefs on a Hollywood blockbuster or on the Holy Bible? Ray Comfort chose Hollywood. I choose the Bible!