Basic HTML Version
464
Hebrew, in order to bring out the important point that the turning indicated is in reality a re-
turning. In the New Testament the noun epistrophe is used but once, Acts 15:3, while the verb
occurs several times. It has a somewhat wider signification than metanoeo, and really indicates
the final act of conversion. It denotes not merely a change of the nous or mind, but stresses the
fact that a new relation is established, that the active life is made to move in another direction.
This must be borne in mind in the interpretation of Acts 3:19, where the two are used alongside
of each other. Sometimes metanoeo contains the idea of repentance only, while epistrepho
always includes the element of faith. Metanoeo and pisteuein can be used alongside of each
other; not so epistrepho and pisteuein.
c. Metameleia (verbal form, metamelomai).
Only the verbal form is used in the New
Testament, and literally means to become a care to one afterwards. It is one of the renderings
of the Hebrew nicham in the Septuagint. In the New Testament it is found only five times,
namely, in Matt. 21:29,32; 27:3; II Cor. 7:10; Heb. 7:21. It is evident from these passages that
the word stresses the element of repentance, though this is not necessarily true repentance. In
it the negative, retrospective and emotional element is uppermost, while metanoeo also
includes a volitional element and denotes an energetic turn-about of the will. While metanoeo
is sometimes used in the imperative, this is never the case with metamelomai. The feelings do
not permit themselves to be commanded. This word corresponds more nearly to the Latin
poenitentia than does metanoeo.
B. THE BIBLICAL IDEA OF CONVERSION. DEFINITION.
The doctrine of conversion is, of course, like all other doctrines, based on Scripture and should
be accepted on that ground. Since conversion is a conscious experience in the lives of many, the
testimony of experience can be added to that of the Word of God, but this testimony, however
valuable it may be, does not add to the certainty of the doctrine taught in the Word of God. We
may be grateful that in recent years the Psychology of Religion paid considerable attention to
the fact of conversion, but should always bear in mind that, while it has brought some
interesting facts to our attention, it did little or nothing to explain conversion as a religious
phenomenon. The Scriptural doctrine of conversion is based not merely on the passages
containing one or more of the terms mentioned in the preceding, but also on many others in
which the phenomenon of conversion is described or represented concretely in living examples.
The Bible does not always speak of conversion in the same sense. We may distinguish the
following:
1. NATIONAL CONVERSIONS.
In the days of Moses, Joshua, and the Judges, the people of Israel
repeatedly turned their backs upon Jehovah, and after experiencing the displeasure of God,
repented of their sin and returned unto the Lord; there was a national conversion in the