Repentance

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Repentance

• A Cosmic Shift of Mind and Heart
• By Edward J. Anton

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Reading Schedule
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Tonights Lesson

• Foreword
• Introduction - Letter to the Reader
• Chapter 1 - Whatever Happened to Repentance?
• Chapter 2 - What is Repentance?

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Foreword by Michael Fontenot

• Minister of the Hampton Roads Church of Christ.
• Coauthor of The Prideful Souls Guide to
  Humility.
• The heart of the matter is the scandalous
  failure to live what we preach. Christianity
  Today (April 2005)

There are no better theologians than those
involved in the day-to-day ministry of saving
souls and keeping them saved. M. Fontenot
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Introduction - Meet the Author

• Evangelist for 10 years
• Currently with the Hampton Roads Church of Christ
• Leads the campus ministry and the teaching
  ministry.
• Former marketing executive for Coca-Cola
• Married with 4 children.

Edward and Deb Anton
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Introduction - 1

• Repent! has been Gods hearts cry for you
  since the first moment your life became centered
  on you. (p.12)
• Imagine opening your mailbox
• Two Common Paths
• Trail of Tears - heartfelt sorrow grief
• Soldiers March - decision to take action

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Introduction - 2

• Both paths
• Look to the Bible for guidance,
• Generally end in futility and failure.
• Rooted in human emotion and human effort.
• How do I repent?
• I see the better things, and I approve them, but
  I follow the worse. - Ovid
• Romans 715-24 I dont understand what I am
  doingWhat a wretched man I am! Who will rescue
  me from this body of death?

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Introduction - 3

• Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our
  Lord! Rom 725a
• Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that
  was lost. Just so, I tell you, there will be
  more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
  than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need
  no repentance. Luke 156-7
• This book will help us understand Gods plan and
  power for our repentance.

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Chapter 1Whatever Happened to Repentance?

• Christianity today
• Change, but on our terms
• Consumer Driven Churches
• The Sirens Call
• The Test of Fire

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Chap 1 - Christianity today

• Forgiveness without repentance
• Claim Jesus as Savior but refuse to make him
  Lord.
• Cheap Grace
• Born-again Christians live just like the world.
  - Surveys by Gallup and Barna

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Chap1 - Change on Our Terms

• We all have things we would like to change about
  ourselves. (see list on p.18)
• Self change for modern times
• Do it all myself.
• Do it at my own pace.
• Do it for my own reasons.
• Church Shopping

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Chap1 - Consumer Driven Churches - 1

• As a former marketing director for Coca-Cola, I
  am startled by the similarities between
  corporations marketing strategies and churches
  evangelism methods. E. Anton
• The distillation of our lifetime exposure to ad
  copy leaves this common sediment You are so
  terribly misunderstood. We understand this better
  than anyone else. We have listened to you, and we
  know what you need. You need our product
  everythings going to be all right. Thank you
  for allowing us to serve you.

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Chap1 - Consumer Driven Churches - 2
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Chap1 - The Siren Call

• Sirens Call - from the ancient Greek poem
  about the great warrior Ulysses.
• An affection for worldly success leads to a
  fascination with the results of consumer driven
  churches and seduces leaders to its methods.
• Tendency to remove sin and repentance from center
  stage.
• The church is no mundane institution, subject to
  the worldly principles of supply an demand. It is
  Gods temple, a divine institution commissioned
  by our Lord to call mankind to repentance and to
  forgiveness. Luke 2447

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Chap1 - The Test of Fire - 1

• each one must be careful how he buildsthe fire
  will test what kind of work each has done. 1 Cor
  310-13
• The ICOC has rejected the consumer model, but was
  seduced by the success paradigm.
• The fire reveals the foundation the effects of
  the Henry Kriete letter.
• Every humanistic shortcut for success that I
  have employed failed under the test of flames.
  E. Anton

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Chap1 - The Test of Fire - 2

• Be grateful for the flames.
• Truth will pass through untouched sin and error
  will be revealed, by being consumed.
• This is true for individuals, for churches and
  for entire religious movements.
• Repentance is revival.
• Repent and believe the good news.
• Mark 115

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• Irenaeus
• 2rd Century Christian writer
• Jesus ? John ? Polycarp ? Irenaeus
• Against Heresies

Or what medical man, anxious to heal a sick
person, would prescribe in accordance with the
patients whims, and not according to the
requisite medicine? But that the Lord came as
the physician of the sick, He does Himself
declare saying, They that are whole need not a
physician, but they that are sick I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
How then shall the sick be strengthened, or how
shall sinners come to repentance? Is it by
persevering in the very same courses? Or, on the
contrary, is it by undergoing a great change and
reversal of their former mode of living, by
which they have brought upon themselves no slight
amount of sickness, and many sins? But
ignorance, the mother of all these, is driven out
by knowledge.
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Chapter 2What is Repentance?(or, How could we
have gotten this so wrong?)

• Authors Disclaimer
• The Hebrew Old Testament
• The Greek Old Testament
• The Greek New Testament
• Translation into Latin
• Translation out of Latin
• Dealing with the word repentance

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Chap2 - Authors Disclaimer

• This chapter tells the story of how an idea
  traveled through languages, cultures and
  religious reforms.
• Tricky back roads of
• Etymology the study of the derivation of words.
• Philology the study of language used in
  literature.
• Theology the study of religion, God and his
  relationship to the world.
• Hear me out first, this will give you a solid
  foundation for the rest of the book.

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Chap2 - The Hebrew Old Testament

• Two different words for the idea repent.
• shu,b
• to turn from evil and turn to good.
• Refers to actions by people.
• Common word that most often describes a physical
  turning or returning of an object or person.
• dust you are and to dust you will return
  Genesis 3/19
• na,,ham
• Most often refers to Gods repentance
• The root carries the idea of breathing deeply,
• Physical display of ones feelings usually
  sorrow, compassion or comfort.

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Chap2 - The Greek Old Testament - 1

• After the last Old Testament prophet, there was a
  300 year silence by God to his people.
• During this time Alexander the Great temporarily
  conquered the entire known world (336 -
  323BC).
• He spread the Greek culture and language to all
  the lands he controlled throughout the world.
• Koine (common) Greek became the language for
  commerce, diplomacy, religion and philosophical
  exchange.
• The world had a common tongue for the first time
  since the tower of Babel.

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Chap2 - The Greek Old Testament - 2

• Around 250 BC the Hebrew scriptures were
  translated into Koine Greek.
• Called the Septuagint (70).
• Jesus very likely read from the Septuagint in the
  synagogue in Luke 418.
• shu,b is translated epistrepho.
• na,,hum is translated metanoeo.
• Appears 19 times, in different forms.
• Is never used to describe repentance by people

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Chap2 - The Greek New Testament - 1

• When John the Baptist started preparing the way
  for the messiah he said, Metanoeite, for the
  kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matt 32
• Jesus preached the same in Matt 417
• Produce fruit that proves your metanoia. Luke
  38
• I have not come to call the righteous, but
  sinners to metanoia. Luke 532

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Chap2 - The Greek New Testament - 2What does
metanoia mean?

• Consider a word we know, paranoia.
• para- means off to the side
• -noia is a form of the Greek word nous.
• Refers to brain or mind.
• Generally connotes the larger idea of ones
  mind-set, ideology or world view.
• So paranoia describes a world view that is
  skewed off to the side off center from normal.

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Chap2 - The Greek New Testament - 3What does
metanoia mean?

• Now look at metanoia again
• -noia still refers to mind-set or world view.
• meta- means after
• Carries the idea of a shift or change.
• The focus is on the after picture.
• metamorphosis - a change of form
• Caterpillar transforms into a butterfly.
• metanoia - a transformation of your brain

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Chap2 - The Greek New Testament - 4What does
metanoia mean?

• Metanoia
• A radical transformation of your world view
• A mental revolution that changes the rules by
  which you live your life.
• The Aha, now I get it experience.
• Examples of metanoia used in the Bible
• he came to his senses Luke 1517
• he opened their minds Luke 2445

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Chap2 - The Greek New Testament - 5Contrast
metanoia with repentance

• The word repentance comes to English from the Old
  French word repentir meaning to feel regret for
  sins or crimes.
• Repentir came from the Latin word penitire to
  regret and poenitire to make sorry. It is the
  source of our words penitentiary, penitent and
  penance and related to our word pain.
• This changes the Gospel (Good News) to feel
  sorrow and regret because the kingdom of heaven
  is at hand.
• How could this have happened?

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Chap2 - Translation into Latin - 1

• In the middle of the second century AD, Latin
  began to replace Koine Greek.
• By the end of the second century a Latin
  translation had been made of the Bible.
• It mistranslated metanoite in Mat 417 as
  paenitentium agite meaning do penance.
• Created a misconceptionthat the new life was
  focused on paying for past sins.
• Metanoia strains toward a glorious new future,
  while paenitentia remains mired in an ugly past.

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Chap2 - Translation into Latin - 2

• The first of the early church fathers protested
  the bad translation
• In Greek, metanoia is not a confession of sins
  but a change of mind. Tertullian 198 AD
• For he who repents of that which he has done,
  understands his former error and on this account
  the Greeks better and more significantly speak of
  metanoia, which we may speak of in Latin as a
  return to a right understanding. For he returns
  to a right understanding, and recovers his mind
  as if it were from madness. Lactantius 304 AD
• Nonetheless, the Latin mistranslation continued
  to spread

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Chap2 - Translation into Latin - 3The Latin
Vulgate

• At the end of the 4th century, the church
  commissioned Jerome of Antioch to translate the
  Bible into vulgate (common) Latin.
• He was a scholar trained in Hebrew, Greek and
  classical Latin.
• Although he knew better, he maintained the by now
  familiar translation of paenitentium agite do
  penance.
• The Latin Vulgate became the official Bible of
  the western church for the next 12 centuries.

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Chap2 - Translation into Latin - 4The
Consequences of do penance

• People no longer heard the heart-stirring call to
  metanoia.
• The sacraments of penance and later the practice
  of indulgences became rigidly established.
• Long after Latin ceased to be the common tongue,
  it remained the language of the church and the
  educated minority.
• The church made it illegal to translate or own a
  Bible in any translation except Latin.
• These were the Dark Ages.

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Chap2 - Translation out of Latin - 1Loosening
the grip of the Latin Vulgate

• Oxford theologian and Catholic priest.
• Strong protester against the churches practice of
  penance and indulgences.
• Published a hand written manuscript of the Bible
  in English, against the wishes of the Catholic
  church in 1384.
• Ignorant of Greek and Hebrew, he was forced to
  retain the mistranslation of do penance.

John Wycliffe
44 years after his death, the Catholic church dug
up his body, burned his bones and scattered his
ashes in a nearby river.
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Chap2 - Translation out of Latin - 2

• Catholic priest in Bohemia.
• Student of the writings of John Wycliffe.
• Strong advocate of Wycliffes idea that all
  people should be able to read the Bible in their
  own language.
• Vehement opponent of the tyranny of the Catholic
  church.
• He was burned at the stake for heresy in 1415.
  Wycliffe manuscript Bibles were used as kindling
  for the fire.

John Hus
His last words were in 100 years, God will raise
up a man whose calls for reform can not be
suppressed.
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Chap2 - Translation out of Latin - 3

• The most celebrated scholar at the beginning of
  the 16th century.
• Published a parallel Greek-Latin New Testament in
  1516.
• Exposed the inaccuracies of the Latin Vulgate.
• He published it using the new technology of
  Gutenbergs printing press.
• His edition formed the basis for accurate
  translations into the native tongues of people
  all over the world.
• However, he kept the translation of metanoia as
  do penance.

Desiderius Erasmus
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Chap2 - Translation out of Latin - 4

• Catholic priest in Germany greatly influenced by
  Erasmus.
• Posted his Ninety-five Theses of Contention on
  the door of of the cathedral in Wittenburg in
  1517.
• Eventually, broke away from the Catholic church
  in protest, helping to start the Protestant
  Reformation.
• Even though he was the foremost crusader against
  indulgences, he retained the translation of do
  penance in his German translation of the Bible.

Martin Luther
Also in 1517, seven people were burned at the
stake by the Roman Catholic Church in England for
the crime of teaching their children to say the
Lords Prayer in English rather than Latin.
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Chap2 - Translation out of Latin - 5

• Gifted scholar.
• Could speak 8 languages with complete fluency.
• Was inspired by Erasmus's Greek-Latin N.T. to
  translate the Bible into English for his people.
• Escaping death threats in England, went to visit
  Martin Luther in Germany.
• Completed his English translation there in 1525.
• He was the first to translate metanoia as
  repentance.

William Tyndale
In 1535, he was betrayed by a friend to English
authorities. He was tried for heresy, defrocked,
excommunicated and executed for his criminal
translation of the Bible.
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Chap2 - Dealing with the word Repentance -1

• Language experts agree that even the word
  repentance is a poor translation of the
  concept embodied in metanoia.
• Repentance is the worst translation in the new
  Testament. The trouble is that the English word
  repent means to be sorry again from the Latin
  repoenitet John the Baptist did not call on
  the people to be sorry, but to change (think
  afterward) their mental attitudes metanoeite
  and conduct. This is Johns great wordand it has
  been hopelessly mistranslated. - A. T.
  Robertson from his book Word Pictures of the New
  Testament.

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Chap2 - Dealing with the word Repentance - 2

• Unfortunately, no one has found a better word
  transmentation, surrender, sublimation,
  redirection, reprogramming, reformatting,
  elevation?
• Some modern translations use descriptive phrases
  to try and convey the idea in Matt 417
  Metanoite, for the kingdom of heaven is at
  hand.
• Change your life The Message
• Change your hearts and lives New Century
  Version.
• Turn away from your sins Good News Translation
• Turn from your sins and turn to God New Living
  Translation
• Reform Youngs Literal Translation

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Chap2 - Dealing with the word Repentance - 3

• Fact of life some things are lost in
  translation.
• Reading the Bible in translation is like kissing
  your bride through a veil. -Haim Nacham Bialik -
  Jewish poet
• Yet, translation is a necessity for our times.
• The author would prefer to transliterate the
  word metanoia and make it a legitimate English
  word, like the transliteration baptize.

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Chap2 - Dealing with the word Repentance - 4

• The word Repentance has been used in English
  language Bibles for centuries.
• It is unlikely we could change it now
• However, it is the authors hope that new
  insights will clarify Gods meaning for all
  believers.
• Consequently, this book has two goals
• To communicate the fuller and richer meaning the
  word repentance should have for us, and
• To inspire us to do it.

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• Questions?
• Comments?
• Discussion?