Time To Repent is Now
What Is The Biblical Meaning Of Repent?
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Acts 17:30-31
The New Testament was originally written in Greek then translated to English. Why look up the Greek words? To understand the original meaning of the Word that was lost or hidden. Do not worry about not being able to understand ancient Greek, we can use online tools (links in next paragraph). Let us begin by using the definition of the word “repent” as can be found using the online dictionary: https://www.google.com/search?q=define+repent&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS783US783&oq=define+repent&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l5j0i10i512j0i512j0i10i512j0i512.2883j1j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Now let us look at Scripture from above Acts 17:30 using E-Sword online tool https://www.e-sword.net/ so we can see the original Greek meaning of the word “repent” also with the help of Biblehub https://biblehub.com/greek/3340.htm The numbers next to each word represents the original Ancient Greek word.
Do you see there is a difference between the online dictionary and the ancient Greek definition? It may be slight but a big difference, this is where the confusion begins;
Definition English: feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one’s wrongdoing or sin.
Usage: (this is just an example of many)
What is the meaning of repent? To repent is to confess and apologize for your sins, or to feel remorseful about the things you have done wrong. An example of repent is when you feel very bad about the way you treated a friend and you experience great remorse as a result.
Definition Ancient Greek: metanoeó: to change one’s mind or purpose
Usage: I repent, change my mind, change the inner man (particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God), repent.
So, which is the correct definition? Let us go with the Ancient Greek when we are talking about repenting, you can break down the root word even more in case you do not get the complete understanding, also with the help of the Holy Ghost:
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Biblical meaning of repent is to quite literally feel deep remorse about something, change our minds completely and do a 180 degree turn in the opposite direction.
Repent Now 