Repentance Renewed

An excellent thought on Repentance from HERE

After reading Fr Stephen's illuminating post, The Instinct of Repentance, I wanted to blog a brief examination of the difference between the Greek original and the Latin (and Western Christian) translation of the word Repentance, but there is not much to say, and Fr Stephen says it all in this post…

A large measure of the language of repentance is found in the word repentance itself. It is a Latin cognate (coming into English through the French). Rooted in the Latin word paenetentia, repentance has long held associations with crime and punishment. Our prisons are penitentiaries, though repentance of a true sort is rarely their result. To be given a penance also has had a sense of a punishment given for sins forgiven.

This differs greatly from the original language of the New Testament in which repentance is metanoia, a change in the mind (nous). The word nous, in Eastern Christian tradition, is often used interchangeably with the word heart. Repentance is an inner change of heart. Repentance is not concerned with clearing our legal record but with being changed – ultimately into the likeness of Christ.