The biblical meaning of “repentance” is quite different from an apology. In the Jewish Bible, the Christian Old Testament, “repentance” means “to return” – that is, to return from exile, to return to life in the presence of God, to a life centered in God.
In the Christian New Testament, the word “repentance” carries this meaning, and one more. The roots of the Greek word for “repentance” mean “to go beyond the mind that you have.”
So apology and repentance, forgiveness and repentance, are quite different. Apology and forgiveness do not in themselves imply change. Repentance does.
Originally posted on The Washington Post website.
Very interesing. I’ve long been aware of this meaning of repentence. But I wonder: how did the word change? When did it start meanng “felling bad about one’s sins.” What was the reason for that. It seems such a poor replacement for its original meaning as a change of heart!
Well Said Dr. Borg! It seems to me that we have no truly compelling evidence for any view of what happens after we die. And, in any case, life after death has always seemed to me quite secondary to what the Bible is really about: lively justly and compassionately.