2. Ro 11', Xelixixa (WH, Xf/i/i") : ' Even 80 then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.' The comparison here is with the ' seven thousand men ' who during the religious persecution of Ahab's reign bad not 'bowed the knee to Baal' (1 K 19'*). The refer- ence, as in 9'-'', is to the small body of faithful believers who constituted the true Israel, in con- trast with the recreant and disobedient majority.
316
REPENTANCE
REPENTANCE
The 'remnant' in the time of Elijah and tliat in the time of Isaiah are prototypes of tlie believing minority of Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah.
LiiKRATURB. — The Commentaries on Homans in tocc. ; F. Delitzsch, Jesaia-, I>eipzig, ISOU, on Is 1(122; G. F. Oehler, The<'h,:iii of the OT, Enu'. tr., Eflinburfh, 1S74-75, ii. ;iSl If. ; G. A. Smith, Expositor's Bible, 'Isaiah,' London, IS8M-90, i. 126 ff.
Dawson Walker.
REPENTANCE Repentance (/lerdi-om) is one of
two words used in the NT, both of which ori;;in- ally denoted a change of mind of any sort. It is so used, though only occa.sionally, in Thucydides, Plato, Polybiiis, etc., and the phrase locus pwni- te.ntuB ('opportunity for a change of mind ; cf. T6-irov neravolas. Wis I'i'" and He 12", both with a deeper religious meaning — for the latter passage see B. F. Westcott, Hebrews, 1889, in loc.) is found in the Roman jurists. /jLeravoav is common in the LXX ; there, with vapaKX-qBfivai. (cf. the use of i'Xeus), it denotes change of mind or attitude, both in man and in God, as the translation of am (Niph), whose causative mood is used for bringing about the special change from sorrow to ease (e.q. Gn 6', Ex 32'-- '^ 1 Ch 21", Jl 2", I S 15" [cf. v."]). The noun is very rare in the LXX, occurring only in Pr 14", Wis 1123 1210. la^ ^.n^ Sir 44"' ('Eui>x ■ • ■ inrddeiyfia fxcTuvoia.!). In the NT, a differentiation takes place : /xeran^Xonai (which is also found in a few passages in the classics) is used for a general change of' attitude or purpose (Mt 21*° 2V and He 7^', a quotation from Ps llC, the only reference to a change of mind in God in the NT, though cf. 2 Co 7*) ; fierdpoia and /ifTavoetv are used of a religious change of attitude to God and to sin, often occur- ring in the phrase ixerdpoia dtrd or ^k. No such idea is found in classical Greek literature. It is com- moner in Acts than in any other book of the NT. The earliest Christian preaching, as there described, involved the announcement of Jesus as the Messiah and the simple call for repentance in view of His near return (Ac 2** S's 8-^ 20^'). This is equally true of the sermons of the original apostles and of St. Paul; in Ac 11'", St., Paul tells the Athenians that God is summoning all to repentance, using the same phrase — dTrayyiWen/ fieravoeTv — as he uses of his own action in 26-°. In essence, this is identical with the preaching of the Baptist (Ac 13^ 19*: cf. Mt S'' and ||s), except that tlie Baptist spoke of Jesus as coming, and of the Kingdom, or the Messiah, as at hand, while the apostles referred to Jesus as already come. How repentance is to be brought about is not stated. The imperative mood implies an act of human will, possible for all to whom the call comes. On the other hand, the apostles speak of Jesus as having been exalted by God as Captain and Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel, and remission of sins (Ac5'M ; and the Christians in Jerusalem, hearing of the conversion of Cornelius, exclaim, 'Why, God has given re- pentance to the Gentiles' (Ac ll'^; cf. Wis 12'»). There is prob.ably here no contradiction, though, if such existed, it might easily have been overlooked by the early preachers. Man could not be thought of as forced into repentance independently of his own will ; but repentance is none the less made possible only through a dispensation of God's gi-ace (cf. art. Atonement, and 2 P 3", where the Lord is said to will that all men should come to repent- ance). As in the preaching of the Baptist (Mt 3^ and lis), repentance is expected to manifest itself in conduct (Ac 26='').
The above passages show that repentance was an integral part of St. Paul's preaching ; but refer- ences to repentance in the Pauline Epistles are very rare, tliough of great interest. The kindness of God leads to repentance (Ro 2'' ; a strikingly similar thought is also found in Ezk Se^'"-, though in Ezk 6" the impulse to repentance is attributed
to a dillerent cause; cf. the interesting passage Wis 12'""-''). The forbearance and mildness char- acteristic of the servant of (iod may lead to God's giving repentance to those who experience such treatment (2 Ti 2'-^). In each case, the simple con- ception of Ac 5" 11", that repentance is an attitude induced or made possible by God, is at once elabor- ated and modilied. There is no exjilicit reference here to the work of Christ ; but, as in Ezekiel, the experience of blessings felt to be unmerited, or the sliock of unmerited forbearance from Christian people, biings about a change of mind towards sin and God. With the foregoing, we may compare the simple statement in Clem. Rom. (Kp. ad Cor. i. 7) that from generation to generation the Master has given opportunity for repentance to those who wish to turn to Him.