Repentance and Salvation

DEFENSE

The Greek word for “repentance”—metanoia—does come from roots that can mean “change” (meta-) and “mind” (nous), but the roots of a word do not determine its meaning. The way a word is used does.

Scripture makes it clear that if we wish to be saved from our sins, we need to turn from them—not just recognize them as sins.

John the Baptist said: “Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt. 3:8–10).

This fruit involves turning away from sin and doing right, as John emphasized to the tax collectors and soldiers who wanted to know what implications repentance had for their lives.

“Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Collect no more than is appointed you.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages’” (Luke 3:12–14).

Repentance does not mean a commitment to live in sinless perfection, for, as the New Testament tells us, “we all make many mistakes” (Jas. 3:2), and “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). However, it does mean that we must will to turn from sin and, by the grace of God, to break with it fundamentally, even if we still wrestle with it during the course of this life.

TIP

If the meaning of a word was determined by its roots rather than its usage, the English word nice would mean “ignorant,” since it comes from the Latin nescius, whose roots mean “not knowing.”