Reclaiming Repentance Part 3 - The Gospels
Reclaiming Repentance Part 2
Reclaiming Repentance Part 1
A CATHOLIC SACRAMENT
The fourth sacrament is penance, of which as it were the matter consists of the actions of the penitent which are in three parts. The first of these is contrition of heart, which consists of sorrow for sin committed and the intention not to sin in the future. The second is oral confession, whereby the sinner confesses to the priest all the sins he remembers in their entirety. The third is satisfaction for sins according to the judgment of the priest, which is mainly achieved by prayer, fasting and almsdeeds.
The Teaching of the Catholic Church, edited by Karl Rahner, S.J. (Staten Island, New York: Alba, 1967), p. 307.
A PROTESTANT SACRAMENT???
“Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.”
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), p. 713.
Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to for“sake it and walk in obedience to Christ.”
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology
“The first of these is contrition of heart, which consists of sorrow for sin committed and the intention not to sin in the future.”
The Teaching of the Catholic Church, edited by Karl Rahner
Repent verb Metanoeō 32 x in NT
1 “change one’s mind”
2 “feel remorse, repent,
be converted”
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 640.
“to change one’s mind or purpose, hence, to repent”
Abbott-Smith. A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament
(Tyndale House, Cambridge)
Repentance noun Metanoia 22 x in NT
“a change of mind”
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 640.
“after-thought, change of mind, repentance”
Abbott-Smith. A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament
(Tyndale House, Cambridge)
meta meaning “after” and nous meaning “mind, understanding”
Louis Berkhof pinpoints that the problem occurred when the Bible was translated from Greek to Latin.
Sad to say, the Church gradually lost sight of the original meaning of metanoia. In Latin theology Lactantius rendered it “resipiscentia,” a becoming-wise-again, as if the word were derived from meta and anoia, and denoted a return from madness or folly. The majority of Latin writers, however, preferred to render it “poenitentia,” a word that denotes the sorrow and regret which follows when one has made a mistake or has committed an error of any kind.
This word passed into the Vulgate as the rendering of metanoia, and, under the influence of the Vulgate, the English translators rendered the Greek word by “repentance,” thus stressing the emotional element and making metanoia equivalent to metameleia. In some cases the deterioration went even farther. The Roman Catholic Church externalized the idea of repentance in its sacrament of penance so that the metanoeite of the Greek Testament (Matt. 3:2) became poenitentiam agite,—“do penance,” in the Latin Version.
Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 481
Charlie Bing writes,.
“We must keep the inward aspect of repentance distinct from the outward exhibit of conduct. Repentance is the root, but conduct may or may not be the fruit. Obviously, an inner change should result in an outward change – that would be natural and expected, but it is not automatic.”
Charles C. Bing, Grace, Salvation, & Discipleship (Grace Theology Press, 2015), 52.
