The Holy Spirit encourages the unbeliever to change his mind about Christ

Pastor-Teacher
John Farley
Wednesday,
March 10, 2010

The Holy Spirit encourages the unbeliever to change his mind about Christ

God’s plan throughout all the ages is that He might be glorified by the grace that He dispenses to undeserving creatures.

the lost sheep, LUK 15:4-7,
the lost coin, LUK 15:8-10,
the lost sons, LUK 15:11-32.

The central truth of the parable is the joy God has over the change in status of a believer from lost to found, from “dead” to “alive”. Or in a word, “restoration” or what our Lord calls in verse 7 “repentance”.

He acts for His own sake, and yet He has joy when He gets a positive response from one of His sinning, weak, yet thinking creatures.

If we want to get the meaning of the story, we need to study what our Lord means by “repentance”.

μετανοοῡντι
present active participle

metanoeo

to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider

metanoeo in the New Testament means, according to Thayer:
“ to change one’s mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins”

It is often translated “repent” and here is where the trouble comes in. With its connotations, “repent” is a lousy English word to represent the Greek word metanoeo.

The English word “repent” carries with it some Latin baggage. “repent” shares its Latin root with another English word - that being “penitent ”, a person performing penance.

This is a compound word meta which is a preposition often used to indicate change or turn or transformation.

Followed by noeo

noeo
to exercise the mind (observe), i.e. (figuratively) to comprehend, heed:
1. to perceive with the mind, to understand: John 12:40
2. to think upon, heed, ponder, consider: Matt 24:15

A better way to translate metanoeo into our English would be to use words or expressions such as “reconsider”, “rethink”, “change your mind”, or “turn your thinking around”.

It has the connotation of a 180 degree turn. It means to recognize one’s previous decision, opinion, condition or direction as wrong, and to accept and move toward a new and right path in its place.

THE DOCTRINE OF REPENTANCE

Point 1. The true meaning of the Greek word metanoeo is to change one’s thinking, or to change the mind.

The cognate noun metanoia means a change of mind, a conversion, a turning away.
It means literally “a turning about”, a mental turning around, a change of course, a change of direction, a change of attitude, purpose or decision.

Point 2: The definitive use of repentance.

When a person does not repent with regard to salvation (unbeliever) or Bible doctrine (believer), then their lifestyle is out of control due to evil in their life.

Point 3. Nothing can be added to faith or believing as a condition of salvation.

“Repenting” is used as a synonym for believing when dealing with the mechanics of salvation, as in ACT 17:30, ACT 20:21, ACT 26:20, ROM 2:4.

Point 4. Salvation repentance or Believing in Christ.

Salvation repentance is that change of mind that follows perception of the truth of the Gospel.

The inhale is the principle of common grace, in which the Holy Spirit takes the message of the witness and makes it a reality in the mentality of the unbeliever.

Therefore the Holy Spirit acts as the missing human spirit in the perception of the Gospel truth.

God the Holy Spirit will encourage them to change their mind about Christ.

Repentance is a theological concept we study to explain the mechanics which occur at salvation as well as in recovery (restoration).

After epignosis perception (perception followed by understanding provided by God the Holy Spirit), positive volition expresses itself in a change of mental attitude: faith in Christ.

MAT 22:42
"What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?"