[B-Greek] METANOIW 2 Corinthians 7:9-10
Polycarp66 at aol.com
Polycarp66 at aol.com
Sun Feb 1 18:13:56 EST 2004
In a message dated 2/1/2004 1:33:40 PM Eastern Standard Time, mauros at iol.ie
writes:
At 05:00 01/02/2004, David Bielby wrote:
>Matthew 4:17, Acts 26:20 and other references use METANOIAS or METANOIW
>Would you agree that METANOIAS/W is a change of behavior as a result of a
>complete change of heart and attitude? (Louw & Nida)
>
>Or is METANOIAS/W simply a change of mind? (BDAG's primary)
>
David:
I would recommend something more extensive than these brief references --
the 3 or 4 page entry in:
Balz, Horst, and Gerhard Schneider, eds. Exegetical Dictionary of the New
Testament. vol. 2 Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991.
would be a good starting place.
>One of my questions may be a bit off topic..but is so close I hope it's
>alright. Here it is: If I want to study the meaning of
>a word like METANOIAS by looking at how it's used in ancient literature, is
>it worth the trouble to scan TLG and see if the word tended to be used one
>way in Classical
>literature and another way in Koine? Will changes in it's use over time
>become clear?
Much of this work has been done for you in the first part of the entry on
METANOEW etc, in:
Spicq, Ceslas. Theological Lexicon of the New Testament. 3 vols. Peabody,
Mass: Hendrickson, 1996.
He begins his survey by remarking " .... in accordance with its very
etymology, METANOEW has a meaning of its own, attested in secular
literature as well in Scripture " and he gives many examples from
Epicharmus ( 460 B.C ) onwards. Then he turns to Scripture:
>>In the OT, the object of repentance is sins committed [ Wis 11:23;
12:19; Sir 17:24; 48:15) as much as the malice that inspired them (Jer 8:6;
18:6), but it is not simply a case of a psychological evolution of a person
coming around to himself, but of satisfying God's requirements. METANOIA
becomes a religious idea, because it is God who leads the human heart to
repentance and pardons only those who are repentant.<<
He cites the Letter of Aristeas [ ?before/after 100 B.C ] thus:
>>Ep. Arist. 188 inherits this conception: "The best thing you can do to
maintain the royal power is to imitate God's indefectible mercy; for in
showing magnanimity and in punishing the guilty with more indulgence than
they deserve, you will turn them away from evil and lead them to
repentance.<<
The notion here of "turning away" and being "led" come through from the
Hebrew bible; I see another posting has given you the two terms used in the
Hebrew, SHUB ( turn ) and NAHAM [ it means both "repent" and "relent",
the latter used of God -- both terms are used in Joel 2:14:
>> Who knows but He may turn and relent, << ]
[ BTW: if you are investigating how the equivalent Greek forms occur in
the LXX, a useful tool is:
Muraoka, Takamitsu. Hebrew/Aramaic Index to the Septuagint. Keyed to to the
Hatch-Redpath Concordance. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998.
You pick a term such as SHUB and find a (long) list of which METANOIA is
but one or NACHAM, a much shorter list ]
Then, turning to the NT, Spicq begins:
>>In the NT. METANOEW and METANOIA(56 occurrences) retain this basic
meaning. "change opinions. regret. be grieved about something," but they
are used almost exclusively for the attitude of unbelievers and sinners
returning to God, and they are laden with a new theological density; they
form an essential part of the kerygma lexicon, urging " conversion " to
Christianity. There is no longer any question of distinguishing between
change of thoughts. of heart. of actions. The change is that of the soul.
of the whole person (the new creature), who is purified of stains and whose
life is transformed, metamorphosed. <<
>The bottom line is: How are pastors to interpret the meaning of METANOIAS
>and METANOIW in the GNT? What are we to tell our people it means
>specifically?
One could always begin with Philo's citation in On The Virtues XXXIII --
on Repentance [# 183 in Yonge's edition ] of Dt. 30
>> Moreover, Moses delivers to us very beautiful exhortations to
repentance, by which he teaches us to alter our way of life, changing from
an irregular and disorderly course into a better line of conduct; for he
says that this task is not one of any excessive difficulty, nor one removed
far out of our reach, being neither above us in the air nor on the extreme
borders of the sea, so that we are unable to take hold of it; but it is
near us, abiding, in fact, in three portions off us, namely, in our mouths,
and our hearts, and our hands;<<
but perhaps add his rider [ in Spec. Laws I.58 ]:
>> But some men have gone to such a pitch of extravagant madness, that
they have left themselves no retreat or way to repentance, <
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