The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-12-06
The First Command of the Cos

pei.
1t is noticeable that the public preach
ing of Christ, and that also of his fore
runner John, each rang at its opening
with the same great call to repentance.
Matthew tells us that the burden of the
voice which was heard by the multitades
who went out to the preaching and the
baptism of John in the wilderness of
Judea, was Repent ye, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand" And st. Mark
tell us in the opening chapter of his Cos
pei, that after the voice of John was
hushed by his being shut up in prison,
Jesus himself came into Galilee, "preach-
ing the gospel of the kingdom of God,
saying, the time is fulfilled and the king.
dom of heaven is at hand, repent we and
believe the gospel" The same great
theme which had so signalized the inau-
guratlon OF the two ministers, rearpears
with most emphatic proclamation as the
standing law of this new kingdom in
one of the very last interviews which
Christ held with his apostles. For in
the closing chapter Of the GOSPEL by
Luke, we have the record that our
risen Lord just before his ascension to
heaven, having expounded to them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning
himself said, "Thus it is written, and
thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to
rise from the dead the third day, and
that repentance and remission of sins
should be preached in his name among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem"
And even so, when we turn to the
Acts of the Apostles in the first sermon
preached under that divine commission
at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost,
Peter says to stricken sinners
who asked what must we do, Repent
and be baptized, every one of you for
the remission of sins and ye shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost" So also
when st. Paul stood on Mars Hill and
preached Jesus and the resurrection, ;"
to the Athenians, we hear the same pri-
NAL command of Christ and his fore
runner, proclaimed as the universal law
Of God for this new dispensation; The
times of this ignorance God permitted
and overlooked, but he now commanded
all men, everywhere to repent" Moth
ing can be palmer on the whole face of
the gospel history in every part of the
New Testament, than this great duty of
repentance. For it everywhere stands
in the foreground of all gospel laws, not
inferior In Importance or in urgency to
faith itself. In act, it stands as cor
relative AID equal term with faith, as
when Christ cried, "repent and believe
the gospel, and as when Paul summed
up all his ministry at Miletus, saying,
81 have testified repentance towards
God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus
Christ" And we can never forget that
it is Christ himself who says, Except
ye repent, We shall all likewise perish"
Bible scholars and critics have long
been aware that our English word re-
pentance is no adequate translation of
the Greek word m1etanoia. Unfortu-
Dately we have no single word in our
language which comes fully up to the
broad import of this important Greek
term. The nearest equivalent to it in
English would be atter-thought, second
thought, or change of mind. It de-
notes complete internal revolution, or
renovation, and differs very little from
that other New Testament expression
used by Christ in his conversation with
Nlcodemus, which we translate "being
born again Regeneration does not,
indeed, give us the exact idea of the
Greek metanota, but it comes nearer to
it than this inadequate word repentance.
The Greek word denotes change in the
whole thinking or reflective nature of
man, referring primarily to our thinking
faculties; while our English word re
pent, or repentance, refers to the emo
tions or feelings, and describes change
in that department of our nature. And
the one emotion above all others which
it indicates is that of grief, or sorrow.
Now, every intelligent reader of thesNew
Testament can see at glance that while
grief or sorrow is one factor in repent
ance, and very important one too, it is
very far from constituting the whole Of
it, very far from expressing all that is
embraced in change Of mind, change
of heart, change of life, change Of
moral nature. Yet the New Testament
Greek word metanoia, everywhere in
our English Version translated repent
ance, comes very little, if anything, short
of expressing all this The change it is
used to describe is no mere change of
feeling, but a radical and complete
change Of the whole man-his thoughts,
his affections, his plans Of life, his pur-
poses and actions, as corresponding to
this great inward resolution. And this
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