Greek Thoughts Archives
First available on January 11, 2009

METANOEO* - to repent

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	Author Bio
	Bill Klein has been a pastor, counselor, and educator for the past 36 years. He has had extensive training and education in biblical languages, and has authored a Biblical Greek course. He is currently serving as Professor of Biblical Greek at Master's Graduate School of Divinity, and president of BTE Ministries - The Bible Translation and Exegesis Institute of America, a non-profit organization located in California that provides Bible study tapes and Greek study materials through their website BTEMinistries.org.

Please note that all Biblical quotes, in this and all other lessons posted to Greek Thoughts, are from The Literal English Translation of the Bible produced by BTE Ministries - The Bible Translation and Exegesis Institute of America.

This week we begin the study of metanoe/w (Strong's #3340, pronounced mĕ tä nō ĕ ō**). This word has been understood by the Christian community as a whole to mean "to change the mind." However, such a general definition does not express the pure meaning of the word—a meaning which has associated with it a person's perceptive awareness that he or she needs to make a decision to change direction in life. Metanoe/w comes from two Greek words, one of which is the preposition meta/ (Strong's #3326, pronounced mĕ tä**). When used in a compound, it means "a change in location or circumstance." The other word, noe/w (Strong's #3539, pronounced nō ĕ ō**), expresses a person's perceptive ability. Therefore, metanoe/w represents a person's decision to change direction in life based upon the perception, given by the Holy Spirit, of this need. (Further understanding can be obtained from our 8-part study on nouÙv and our 6-part study on no/hma, which can be found in the archives.)

Metanoe/w in Classical Greek meant "to perceive afterwards." It was used as the opposite of pronoe/w (Strong's #4306, pronounced prō nō ĕ ō**), which meant "to perceive beforehand." Metanoe/w later came to mean "to change one's mind or purpose." This meaning was carried over into the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament). It is the word used to express what Samuel said to Saul: "The Lord has torn your kingdom of Israel out of your hand today, and will give it to your neighbor, the one good over against you. And He will divide Israel into two, and he will not turn away nor change His mind (metanoe/w), because He is not a man so that He should change His mind (metanoe/w)."^F1 (I Samuel 15:28-29 or I Kings 15:28-29 in the Septuagint) Samuel is saying that God does not change His mind or the purpose in what He does. This same concept is used again in Proverbs, only this time it is applied to Man: "It is a snare for a man to sanctify quickly something of his own, for after vowing comes changing of the mind (metanoe/w)." (Proverbs 20:25) Teaching that it cannot be taken back after dedication, this proverb warns against quickly dedicating some possession to the Lord; and then wanting to change the mind afterward. This idea of changing one's mind or purpose was carried into the New Testament as well.

Metanoe/w was first used in the New Testament by John the Baptist as he called Israel to repent, or make a decision to change its trust for salvation from Judaism to the coming Messiah: "Repent (the imperative, or command form, of metanoe/w), for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near." (Matthew 3:2) After John was cast into prison, it is recorded in Mark 1:15 that Jesus came preaching the gospel saying, "The time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near; repent (again, the imperative or command form of metanoe/w) and believe in the gospel." So we see Jesus continuing the message of the need for people to repent and to believe in the gospel to be saved. He also emphasized the importance of repentance when He said, "I say to you that in this way joy will be in heaven over one sinner repenting (metanoe/w) than over ninety-nine righteous ones, who have no need of repentance." (Luke 15:7)

Paul says, in Acts 17:30, "Indeed therefore, God having overlooked the times of ignorance, He now commands all men everywhere that they should repent… (metanoe/w)."^F2 The necessity of repentance is reiterated by Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:21, "if perhaps^F3 when I come again, my God should humble me toward you, and I should mourn over many of the ones who have sinned before and not having repented (metanoe/w) over their uncleanness and fornication, and licentiousness which they practiced."

God's Word clearly establishes the need for everyone to repent in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. It also establishes that this means more than to make an intellectual or religious acknowledgement that one must change his or her mind. Scripturally, to repent is to respond to a spiritual perception of the need to make a decision to change the direction of one's life. The verb "to repent" also carries with it the understanding that the person making the decision for change cannot change him or herself, but rather perceives the need to surrender his or her life to Christ for the change.

Next week we will study the noun form meta/noia (Strong's # 3341, pronounced mĕ tä noi ä).

* METANOEO is the English font spelling of the Greek word metanoe/w.

**English pronunciation of vowel sounds & accented syllables: āle, ăm, ärm; ēve, ĕnd; īce, ǐll; ōld, ǒdd, whö; oi as in oil; ow as in cow; ūse, ŭp, rude. Bold type indicates an accented syllable.

Technical Notes:

F1: The articular infinitive touÙ metanohÙsai, "the to repent," is translated wèste naÈ metanoh/sh/, "so that He should repent."

F2: The present infinitive metanoeiÙn, "to repent," is translated naÈ metanowÙsi, "that they should repent."

F3: The negative particle mh/, translated "lest," is translated by mh/pwv, "if perhaps."

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