Repentance: Penance or Hope?
(corrected)
This is the first of three discussions on words that have been passed down since the first English translations. In 1611, the protestants requested that King James I print an English version of the Bible for the masses so that others could read it for themselves. He had no direct ties at that time with the Roman Catholic Church, so using previous English and German translations (The Darby Bible, the Rheims Catholic Bible, Tyndale, and others) with periodic references to the Greek and Latin Vulgate, the "authorized" King James Bible was birthed. There were a few words that would have caused the Roman Catholic church some consternation had they been translated, so instead, they were transliterated (made up a new word with transposed Latin/Greek letters to English letters), or new definitions were created for others, to reduce controversy and garner wide-spread acceptance from the Vatican.
One of these resulting words was repentance, or repent. Through the ages repentance has come to be an acceptable synonym for penance, or remorse. A condition or action of feeling sorry for wrong doing, and seeking absolution for these wrong actions. There was such a teaching in the New Testament, but it was not from Jesus or the apostles. It was from John, the cousin of Jesus. John's mission was to "prepare the way of the Lord," to get the hearts ready to accept the Christ that God was sending to bring anyone who was willing back to him. John preached penance, remorse, humility, and hope. He immersed individuals in water to signify their willingness to admit their needy state, and to prepare their hearts for the Savior. John knew that the Lord would be seeking contrite hearts to add to His kingdom, so he passionately urged people to come to this level of awareness. All of this, however, did not bring salvation to anyone. It was a preparatory exercise to bring seekers to hear Jesus' life-saving message.
When Peter stood in the Temple on the day of Pentecost, after Jesus had ascended into heaven, he proclaimed the good news of Christ. When the crowd asked him what they should do, his first action word was Repent. Not repent of your sins, not feel bad about who and what they were, not promise to be better, or not sin anymore; just repent. Repent of what? In order to answer that question, we must first translate it properly. The Greek word Peter used was metanoeo which means: to think differently, reconsider. So where does remorse or penance come in to play? It doesn't. So what was Peter telling them to do? It was to start thinking differently about their life, Jewish laws and customs, and most importantly, the whole concept of the Christ.
Peter's plea was not for people to focus on their sins, but rather to look at a Christ who could free them from the bondage of the Law, and give them a new hope and reconciliation with a God who had once seemed so far away. It was a different way of thinking. Peter demanded that they reconsider all that they had thought before about kingdoms, worship, deliverance, and the Christ. He called them to adopt a whole new way of thinking, which would produce a brand new way of living. They were primed for the decision. They had been convicted by the Spirit to realize they had been wrong all along. That is why 3000 men changed their minds that day.
I do not want you to believe that remorse does not have any part in the salvation process. It most definitely does, it is just not "metanoeo". The heart has to be broken and contrite. It is in this state that the mind can begin to be moved, changed, and convinced of the need to reconsider life, its master, and direction.
Everybody knows that sin is wrong. The people at Pentecost were already remorseful when they ask what to do. There was no need to change their thought processes about that. That's why Peter said, "Change your Mind!"
What do you think about Jesus? What do you really believe about who he is, and what his kingdom is all about? That's the real metanoeo question. That's what starts you down the road of Christianity. It's not about being good enough, or sorry enough, it's about being wise enough.
I'm Been Franklin
