[B-Greek] 2 Cor 7:9-10
Harold R. Holmyard III
hholmyard at ont.com
Sat Jan 31 20:38:24 EST 2004
Dear David,
>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)
It's interesting to look at what METANOEW meant in the Septuagint. It
almost always represents Hebrew NACHAM, but then the question is what
NACHAM means. There has been debate recently. BDB and the Dictionary of
Classical Hebrew give things like "be sorry, regret, relent, be moved to
pity, have compassion, rue, repent, comfort oneself." But in passages like
1 Sam 15:29 several published translations have "change the mind" for
NACHAM. That fits pretty well. It might mean that in Prov 20:25, or
reconsider, or be sorry. In Amos 7:3, 6 it means "relent," or change the
mind. In Joel 2:13-14 it means "relent" (v. 13) and "have pity" (v. 14). In
Jonah 3:9 it means "relent." In Jonah 3:10 it suggests "had pity." In Jonah
4:2 it is "relent." In Zech 8:14 it suggests either "change the mind" or
"have pity."
In Isa 46:8 the LXX is different in meaning from the Hebrew, and Hatch and
Redpath, with a question mark, suggest METAVOEW may represent SHUB ("turn,
return, repent"). The LXX understood METAVOEW there as something like
"repent, for the verb in front of it is "mourn," and the phrase following
is "return in heart."
In Jer 4:28 METAVOEW suggests "relent." In Jer 8:6 it seems to mean
"repent." In Jer 18:10 it can be "change the mind" or "reconsider." In Jer
31:19 (38:19 in the LXX) it means "repent."
>It's been my understanding that the term changed over time...and that this
>is perhaps why Paul seems to distinguish sorrow as a separate concept in 2
>Corinthians 7. Perhaps sorrow was a developed meaning of METANOIAS but over
>time it came to include a decision to modify behavior...not just sorrow.
HH: Actually, repent seems to be the meaning of METAVOEW in several places
in the OT, a real repenting of sin.
>So, when I go back to Matthew 4:17 and other passages is the call to
>METANOIW more than a call to a change of mind?
>Also, I remember reading that Luther made a point that because Matthew 4:17
>METANOIW was a present active, it meant an ongoing lifestyle of repentance,
>not a one time event. Is this correct?
HH: It is an imperative in Matt 4:17, so a present is natural. I think the
word implies a change of mind that is deep and heartfelt. Because it is
such a significant change of mind, and implies turning back to God from
sin, I think it implies that a change of behavior will follow. But that may
be more an implication than the basic sense of the word. It is often a
change of mind that brings one back to God, or to God.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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