Repentance 

The Hebrew Concept of Teshuvah

‍          By Drew & Deborah McKenna

Is repentance something that happens in the life of a Christian only at conversion?  This question needs to be explored in the teaching of Jesus and the letters of the other New Testament writers.

The Greek word for repentance is metanoia. It means to change one's mind or purpose.  We must remember that repentance is a Hebrew concept. The concept of repentance was NOT known in the Greek world during the first century. Spiros Zodhiates explains in his book, The Complete Word Study Dictionary, New Testament, "This word derives its moral content from Jewish and Christian thought since nothing analogous to the Bible concept and conversion was known to the Greeks." 

Keeping in mind that repentance was first a Hebrew concept, we need to look at how Jesus' Jewish audience versus a Greek-speaking gentile audience would have understood repentance. The Hebrew word for repentance is teshuvah.  This word has richness and depth not seen in the Greek word metanoia. Teshuvah means to turn, return, to straighten out, turn back, to come back, to restore. It means to walk a straight path.

I like how Lois Tverberg describes the Hebrew language in her book Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, "Biblical Hebrew includes about 8,000 words, far fewer than the 100,000 or more we have in English. Because Hebrew has so few words, each is like an overstuffed suitcase, bulging with extra meanings that it must carry in order for the language to fully describe reality."

Teshuvah means to turn and face God and walk toward Him. It means to look at the damage your sin has caused and consider how you and others have lost as a result. It means not only asking God for forgiveness but it means asking forgiveness of the person you've sinned against as well.

Tverberg continues, "Teshuvah also has within it a picture of a person rediscovering what had been left behind before – a new, whole relationship that replaces the broken one. Interestingly, it doesn't refer to having inward remorse for sin, which is the initial response to the realization of wrongdoing. Rather it points to the latter, outward results of repentance – that a person actually makes a decision to change and do things differently."

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