What Does Repentance Really Mean?

This is an extract from the book "Her Seed".




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Jesus came to group the repentant and the unrepentant (Matthew 3:12).
Repentance is nothing more than a change in thinking.
The mindset or mentality can probably be broadly grouped as follows:
1.     I am not a sinner and I am doing just fine;
2.     I am a sinner but I can save myself; and
3.     I am a sinner in need of a Savior.


Did you notice that the symbol for the word “positive” is in the shape of a Cross? Think positive, think the Cross; Christ crucified!
In Biblical Hebrew, the idea of repentance is represented by two verbs:
1.     שוב shuv (to return); and
2.     נחם nacham (to feel sorrow).
In the New Testament, the word translated 'repentance' is the Greek word μετάνοια (metanoia), "after or behind one's mind".
It is a compound word of the:
1.     Preposition 'meta' (after, with); and
2.     Verb 'noeo' (to perceive, to think, the result of perceiving or observing).
In this compound word, the preposition combines the two meanings of time and change, which may be denoted by 'after' and 'different'; so that the whole compound means: 'to think differently after'.
Metanoia or repentance is therefore primarily:
1.     An after-thought, different from the former thought;
2.     A change of mind and conduct;
3.     A "change of mind and heart"; or
4.     A "change of consciousness".
What will cause a change in thinking? 
It is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance (Romans 2:4). The Lord Jesus is the Author of faith.  A person will not be the least interested in the things of God if Jesus had not given him a measure of faith in the first place.
A person without that initial gift of faith will not accept the things of God's Spirit, for they are nonsense to him (1 Corinthians 2:14).
All glory redounds to the Lord Jesus.
I would like to put it this way.  If one is not thinking positively (“+”), what would that same one be thinking of? The negative (“-”).
As a verb, the word “negative” means reject or refuse to accept.
Hence, it is God’s goodness that turns the negative to positive. It is His goodness that will cause those who reject to accept.
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