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Senior Honors Theses School of Divinity
April 2008
Lordship and Free Grace Salvation: Repentance in Luke-Acts
Jon Pruitt Liberty University, [email protected]
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Repentance in Luke-Acts 1
Running head: SALVATION AND REPENTANCE IN LUKE-ACTS
Lordship and Free Grace Salvation: Repentance in Luke-Acts
Jonathan Pruitt
A Senior Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation in the Honors Program Liberty University Spring 2008
Repentance in Luke-Acts 2
Acceptance of Senior Honors Thesis
This Senior Honors Thesis is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from the Honors Program of Liberty University.
______David A. Croteau, Ph.D. Chair of Thesis
______Donald R. Love, Th. M. Committee Member
______Mark R. Schmidt, Ph.D. Committee Member
______Marilyn Gadomski, Ph.D. Assistant Honors Director
______Date
Repentance in Luke-Acts 3 Currently, there is great debate over what Jesus Christ meant when He called
sinners to repentance. Those on the Lordship side believe that repentance means to turn
from sin – to have a change of life as well as a change of mind. 1 According to the
Lordship perspective, repentance is turning from sin; a gift given by God and not a work;
a change of mind; and it will be evidenced by a change of behavior. 2 Yet another
characteristic of repentance is that it is necessary for salvation: “The gospel calls sinners
to faith joined in oneness with repentance.” 3
Those on the Free Grace side argue either that repentance is not necessary for
salvation,4 or that repentance is simply a change of mind. 5 Hodges argues that repentance
is not necessary for salvation, instead salvation is gained by having a “inward conviction
that what God says to us in the gospel is true. That – and that alone – is saving faith”6
Hodges concludes that “The call to repentance is broader than the call to eternal
salvation. It is rather a call to harmony between the creature and His Creator.” 7
Repentance, in Hodges view, is better seen as part of the sanctification process. 8 Thus the
1 John F. MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus: What Does it Mean When He Says, “Follow Me”? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 204.
2 John F. MacArthur, Faith Works: The Gospel According to the Apostles (Dallas: Word, 1993), 24.
3 Ibid., 24.
4 Zane Hodges, Absolutely Free (Grand Rapids: Redencion Viva, 1989), 42.
5 Charles C. Ryrie, So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1989), 157.
6 Hodge, Absolutely Free, 31.
7 Ibid.,160.
8 Ibid., 163.
Repentance in Luke-Acts 4 defining characteristic of repentance is a call for the justified to restore fellowship with
God. 9
Others from the Free Grace perspective have argued repentance has at least three meanings: first, to feel sorry for sin; second, to have a change of mind about Christ; and third, to have a change of mind about sin. 10 Concerning repentance as a change of mind
about Christ, Ryrie states: “That kind of repentance saves, and everyone who is saved has
repented in that sense.” 11 So in salvific contexts, repentance has at least two
characteristics: it is only a change of mind about Christ and is necessary for salvation.
Reasoning and Method
Put into its simplest terms this debate concerns if a turn, or change of life, is
necessary for salvation. That is why πιστρέφο αι (I turn) is key to understanding the
concept of repentance. If Scripture uses πιστρέφο αι in way that suggests turning is
necessary for salvation that would be in favor of the Lordship point of view. Or if
Scripture’s use of πιστρέφο αι demonstrates that turning is not necessary for salvation the Free Grace perspective gains ground.
Another key word to this debate is ετανοέω (I repent). Discovering how the New
Testament writers use ετανοέω will shed considerable light on the validity of either the
Lordship or Free Grace concepts of repentance. This means that one of the best methods for determining the biblical concept of repentance is the examination of these words in context.
9 Ibid., 163.
10 Charles Caldwell Ryrie, A Survey of Bible Doctrine , (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995), 112.
11 Ibid.
Repentance in Luke-Acts 5 Luke-Acts proves to be fertile ground for this kind of examination as it contains
nearly half of all the references to πιστρέφο αι in the entire New Testament 12 and nearly half of the references to ετανοέω as well. 13 This shows that “turning” and
“repentance” are important concepts for Luke and make his writings a logical choice for this kind of study.
The following discussion has two major sections both of which are limited in scope to Luke-Acts. The first is an analysis of πιστρέφο αι and the second is an analysis of ετανοέω . Within these sections, the occurrences of each of these words are taken in canonical order 14 and examined contextually, syntactically, and grammatically for the purpose of discovering the Lukan paradigm of repentance and how that paradigm fits the characteristics of repentance espoused by those adhering either to Lordship or
Free Grace salvation.
Analysis of Eπιστρεφο αι
Semantic Domain
In Louw and Nida’s lexicon there are five different listings for πιστρέφο αι .
The five definitions represent πιστρέφο αι ’s semantic domain. They are as follows:
12 Επιστρεφω and its noun form are used a total of 37 times, 17 of which are in Luke-Acts
13 Μετανοέω and its noun form are used a total of 56 times, 25 of which are in Luke-Acts
14 There are some exceptions. Concerning πιστρέφο αι , there are six examples of πιστρέφο αι used to mean physical turning in Luke-Acts (Luke 2:39, 8:55, 17:31, Acts 9:40, 15;36, 16:18). These examples represent a specific aspect of πιστρέφο αι ’s semantic domain that does not necessarily apply to this discussion other than to say that it does indicate that πιστρέφο αι and ετανοέω cannot be true synonyms since ετανοέω is never used to describe physical turning. Also, those instances of πιστρέφο αι and ετανοέω which are neutral to the Lordship-Free Grace debate have been put in to the Appendix. The neutral references for πιστρέφο αι are: Luke 17:4; Acts 9:35, 15:3. For ετανοέω they are Luke 10:13, Acts 5:31, 13:24, 20:21.
Repentance in Luke-Acts 6 (1) to return to a point or area where one has been before, with probable emphasis on turning about. 15
(2) to turn to, to come to believe, to come to accept. 16
(3) to cause a person to change belief, with focus upon that to which one turns 17
(4) to change one’s manner of life in a particular direction, with the implication of turning back to God 18
(5) to turn around, to turn toward. 19
The question is how Luke uses the word and the implications for the Lordship versus
Free Grace debate. There are two basic meanings of πιστρέφο αι . The first refers to
external or physical turning. The second refers to internal or spiritual turning. The
discussion below will separate those instances that deal with only physical turning from
those that indicate a spiritual turning. For the most part these different aspects of the
semantic range of πιστρέφο αι are easily discernible. But there is one instance that
deserves special consideration before the other domains can be addressed.
Occurrences of Eπιστρέφο αι in Luke-Acts
Luke 1:16, 17.
The first instance of πιστρέφο αι in reference to internal turning comes from
the voice of an angel in Luke 1:17.
He will turn [ πιστρέφο αι ] many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go as forerunner before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to
15 Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament : Based on Semantic Domains , Electronic ed. of the 2nd edition. (New York : United Bible Societies, 1996), 1:193.
16 Ibid., 1:372.
17 Ibid., 1:373.
18 Ibid., 1:509.
19 Ibid., 1:213.
Repentance in Luke-Acts 7 turn [ πιστρέφο αι ] the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him (NET).
Here the angel is describing to Zechariah John the Baptist’s future ministry. On these verses, Trites concludes: “[John’s] ministry summoned people to make a clear-cut confession of sin, repent of all known evil, and turn to God. The genuineness of one’s response was to be indicated by submission to baptism at John’s hands.” 20 Here