You don’t have to read very far into the New Testament to see just how important repentance is. At the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry (Matthew 3:1-2), Jesus’ ministry (Mark 1:14-15), and Peter’s ministry on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:37-38), they all preached repentance. 

So, repentance is absolutely foundational to our relationship with God, which leads to one huge follow-up question: what in the world does repentance actually mean? What does it mean to repent?

The New Testament wasn’t originally written in English because the English language hadn’t been invented yet, so we need to take a closer look at the original Greek word. The original Greek word for “repent” or “repentance” is metanoeo. “Meta” means to change, and “noeo” refers to the mind, so at it’s most basic level repentance is changing your mind, changing the way you perceive things.

The second thing we need to look at is how the Bible infers a relationship between repentance and new behavior. Here’s what John the Baptist preached to the crowds when he started his ministry.

7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Luke 3:7-8

So, the biblical meaning of repentance is simply this: An inner change of mind that results in an outward change of behavior.

So, if you truly want to grasp biblical repentance, you need both parts, you need to change the way you perceive things, and you need new behavior as a result. If you have one without the other, then you’re missing a critical part of repentance. If you change the way you behave without changing the way you think, all you’re accomplishing is behavior modification.

When one of your kids hits the other, what do you tell them? “Say ‘you’re sorry.’ Like you mean it.” They said sorry, just like you asked, but did they truly change the way they thought? No, the second you turn around they’re going to hit each other again. If you change behavior without changing the mind, that’s not true repentance.

The opposite is true. If you change your mind without changing your actions, all you have is intention. You can intend to run a marathon all you want, but intention alone won’t get you across that finish line. If your kid hits their sibling and before you even get onto them they say genuinely, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened to me. I lost control. I’m truly sorry. It will never happen again.” Wow, that’s something, that A). is genuine and B). never happens. But how genuine is it if they have to come back to you again and again day after day because they keep hitting their sibling?

Genuine repentance requires an inward change of mind that results in an outward change in behavior. That’s what it means to repent, and that’s what Jesus commands us to do.