Repentance #20
μετάνοια(metanoia)GreeknounStrong's G3341
Repentance (metanoia) — the Greek word for a change of mind, the New Testament's term for the deep turning away from sin and toward God that John the Baptist and Jesus both preached as necessary for salvation.
Metanoia is built from meta (“after,” implying change) and nous (“mind”), giving a literal sense of “a change of mind” or reorientation of one’s whole way of thinking. It is a deeper word than mere regret or remorse over consequences — it describes turning around, reorienting one’s direction of life, not simply feeling sorry.
Biblical Usage
John the Baptist’s public ministry opens with exactly this call: “Repent [metanoeite], for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1-2), and Jesus’s own preaching begins the same way. Peter’s Pentecost sermon makes repentance the necessary response to the gospel: “Repent and be baptized every one of you… for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38).
Theological Significance
Paul distinguishes repentance from mere regret in 2 Corinthians 7:10, contrasting “godly grief,” which “produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret,” with worldly grief, which “produces death” — metanoia is a change that actually redirects a life, not simply an emotion of sorrow felt and then abandoned.
Key References
- Matthew 3:1-2
- Acts 2:38
- 2 Corinthians 7:10