Compare And Contrast Metanoeō And Repentance

The New American Standard Concordance translates the following Old Testiment Hebrew words as “repent”, nā·ḥǎm, šûḇ, and “repentance”, šû·ḇā(h). Additionally the NASU translates the following New Testament Greek words as “repent”, metanoeō, and “repentance”, metanoia. Of these two New Testament word, the two most prevalent to the basic salvation of a Christian are metanoeō, and metanoia. These will be compared and contrasted herein. The most common definition of the word metanoeō is a change of mind. More specifically, James A. Swanson gives the definition as “to change one’s life, based on complete change of attitude and thought concerning sin and righteousness.” Logos Bible Software reveals this word occurs thirty-five times in the New

According to Eugene E. Carpenter and Philip W. Comfort, “The Greek word for ‘repentance’ is a compound word derived from meta, meaning ‘after,’ and suggesting ‘some type of change,’ and nous, meaning ‘mind.’ Thus, metanoia strictly denotes ‘a change of mind’—a rejection of past sinful ways.” Logos Bible Software reveals that this word is used 22 times in the New Testament, and in every occurrence uses the English word “repentance”. It is used most often in Acts (6 times) but can also be seen in Gospels (8 times) and the New Testament Letters (8 times). Therefore it can be viewed in several genres, which would include gospel, narrative, letter and prophecy. Repentance was a common theme with the epistles writers. Paul and Peter’s use of repentance were the most

Lunde writes that “John the Baptist, Jesus and the Gospel writers to express the “turning away” of people from their sinful ways, along with the corresponding “turning to” God.” Other authors of New Testament letters sound the same call to repentance. Matera notes that Paul uses the term “repentance” very rarely, but frequently he encourages his readers to resists sin and return to virtues. Concerning Paul’s message of repentance Clark Palmer writes,

The preaching in the book of Acts contains the call to repentance (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:22). On the one hand, Paul’s discourse at Athens reveals God as the one who “commands all people everywhere to repent” (17:30 HCSB). On the other hand, repentance is shown to be the result of the initiative of God: “God has granted repentance resulting in life to even the Gentiles” (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:24–26). The abundance of NT references makes clear that repentance is an essential element in the salvation