The Lord has pressed upon me to address the true meaning of “repent.” In the King James, which is the closest English version available to the original Hebrew and Greek, the word appears a total of 43 times, most of which are in the New Testament. Within that part of the Bible it is the same word except for three times. Twice in 2 Colossians and once in Hebrews.
Twenty times in the New Testament the word used for repent is:
Metanoeo – to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance; I repent, change my mind, change the inner man (particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God) [expanded definition].
In the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Kittel) thirty-eight pages is devoted to the word, I will not spend that much time upon it. In the primary definition of the word metanoeo, which is a compound word from “meta” and “noieo,” in the NTD two main definition are given. In the first these phrases stick out “to change one’s mind,” “to adopt another view,” “to change one’s feelings” and “to change one’s resolve or purpose.”
Now just ponder those phrases.
Your mind is changed from what it once was, causing you to adopt another view of life, which causes your feelings to change, giving you a new resolve and purpose in life. This implicates that you thought wrongly, your view of your life was incorrect. You had feelings that you no longer wish to pursue and so with a new resolve and purpose you seek to change and no longer live your life in such a manner.
Here are the key phrases from the second definition of the word “metanoeo:” “if the change of mind derives from recognition that the earlier view was foolish, improper, or evil, there arises the sense ‘to regret,’ ‘to feel remorse,’ ‘to rue.’” “If I had known better I would have acted otherwise.”
Later into the thirty-eight pages it specifically addresses Jesus view and meaning of the word repent. It spends nearly three pages discussing this view point and boils down to this:
He took John the Baptist’s meaning of the word and expanded upon it. To quote: “But Jesus does not merely repeat the call of the Baptist. He modifies and transcends it by making conversion a fundamental requirement… To call to conversion is the purpose of His sending.”
So repentance is the true sign that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, and when you feel true repentance you feel regret, remorse and you feel bitter sorrow over the sins you have committed. This allows you to stop living in these sin.
If you do not feel regret, if you do not feel remorse, if you do not feel sorrow, then you are not repentant. You have not experienced the word “repent” as is known in the Greek as “metanoeo.”
Now for the other word as was mentioned in Colossians and Hebrews:
Metamelomai – I change my mind (generally for the better), repent, regret in Strong’s. In the NTD the word means “to experience remorse.”
Remorse – in the Merriam-Webster definition of this word is “a gnawing distress arising from a sense of guilt for past wrongs”
So this once again points to a past way of living. A past way of thinking. A past way of living. So again I say if you live within a sin and feel no need to end this sin then it is your master. It is your king. It is the sin that is control of your life. You may say the words “but I am a Christian,” but if you have not been truly born again (John 3:3), you will never feel true repentance and so are not one with God. You are living within a lukewarm life of more saying you are “Christian” but living of and within the world, within the sin and so per Revelation 3:15-16 you shall be spit out of the Body, by Christ Himself.
Please think upon this, pray upon this and I pray you make the right choice. Not for me, but for your own eternal life.
(2 Timothy 4:1-5)