Repentance in Hebrew
No Hebrew word is an exact equivalent for the English term “repentance.”
Repentance was expressed by a number of different actions that show a change in thinking and attitude toward sin and God. Repentance may be demonstrated by:
• a public display of mourning over sin, such as weeping (Ezra 10:1), tearing garments and/or hair (Ezra 9:3), and wearing sackcloth (Joel 1:13)
• making restitution for wrongs committed (1 Chr 21:22–26)
• abasing oneself before the wronged party (Gen 33:3)
The Hebrew word that most closely approximates “repent” or “repentance” is translated into English as “return,” which basically means “to turn around and go in the opposite direction.”
In theological contexts, the implication is to turn from a road characterized by rebellion toward God and to a road characterized by obedience. The emphasis is upon actions that necessarily proceed from turning one’s orientation toward God.
Repentance in Greek
The Greek word for “repentance” derives from a verb meaning “to radically change one’s thinking.”
“Repentance” refers to an event in which an individual attains a divinely provided new understanding of their behavior and feels compelled to change that behavior and begin a new relationship with God (Heb 6:1; Acts 20:21). While the Greek language can represent the concept of repentance as an independent action, the Semitic background of the New Testament writers demanded that appropriate actions follow the event of repentance (Matt 3:8; Acts 26:20). Examples of changed behaviors following repentance include:
• Zacchaeus making restitution for the fraud he committed as part of his occupation (Luke 19:1–10)
• Paul preaching the faith he once tried to destroy (Acts 9:1–28)
• Onesimus, the runaway slave, returning to his master, Philemon, to face the consequences of his actions (Phlm 8–16)
James 2:14–26 offers the most explicit comments in the New Testament regarding the relationship between repentance and appropriate actions. James argues that suitable actions will inevitably follow a sincere experience of repentance. The rhetorical question “What good is it …?” (2:14) calls into question not the effectiveness of faith in Christ without accompanying good deeds to save the sinner, but the very presence of that faith if the deeds do not follow. He argues that just as the evidence of biological life in the human body is the basic processes of respiration and circulation, the evidence of saving faith is acts of justice and mercy that arise spontaneously from a changed life (2:18).
Selected Resources for Further Study
Bauer, Walter, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. A Greek—English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.
Fabry, Heinz-Josef. “שוב (shwb).” Pages 461–522 in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament 14. Edited by G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Fabry. Translated by Douglas W. Stott. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1993.
Brendan Kennedy, “Repentance,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
Shalom
Johann.