Scholars Crossing Senior Honors Theses School of Divinity April 2008 Lordship and Free Grace Salvation: Repentance in Luke-Acts Jon Pruitt Liberty University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/sor_honors Recommended Citation Pruitt, Jon, "Lordship and Free Grace Salvation: Repentance in Luke-Acts" (2008). Senior Honors Theses. 1. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/sor_honors/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Divinity at Scholars Crossing. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholars Crossing. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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 πιστρέφοαι (I turn) is key to understanding the concept of repentance. If Scripture uses πιστρέφοαι 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 πιστρέφοαι demonstrates that turning is not necessary for salvation the Free Grace perspective gains ground. Another key word to this debate is µετανοέω (I repent). Discovering how the New Testament writers use µετανοέω 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 πιστρέφοαι in the entire New Testament 12 and nearly half of the references to µετανοέω 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 πιστρέφοαι and the second is an analysis of µετανοέω . 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 Eπιστρεφοαι Semantic Domain In Louw and Nida’s lexicon there are five different listings for πιστρέφοαι . The five definitions represent πιστρέφοαι ’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 πιστρέφοµαι , there are six examples of πιστρέφοµαι 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 πιστρέφοµαι ’s semantic domain that does not necessarily apply to this discussion other than to say that it does indicate that πιστρέφοµαι and µετανοέω cannot be true synonyms since µετανοέω is never used to describe physical turning. Also, those instances of πιστρέφοµαι and µετανοέω which are neutral to the Lordship-Free Grace debate have been put in to the Appendix. The neutral references for πιστρέφοµαι are: Luke 17:4; Acts 9:35, 15:3. For µετανοέω 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 πιστρέφοαι . 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 πιστρέφοαι are easily discernible. But there is one instance that deserves special consideration before the other domains can be addressed. Occurrences of Eπιστρέφοµαι in Luke-Acts Luke 1:16, 17. The first instance of πιστρέφοαι in reference to internal turning comes from the voice of an angel in Luke 1:17. He will turn [ πιστρέφοαι ] 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 [ πιστρέφοαι ] 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 πιστρέφοαι is used both in reference of man to man (1:16) as well as God to man (1:17). The angel prophesies that John will return the hearts of the people back to God. This return to God represents a return to their covenant responsibilities with God. 21 Such a return, especially in a Jewish context, surely includes a return to righteous and holy living. The call to restored relationships from man to man is an uncommon use of πιστρέφοαι .22 Still, this restoration has similar impactions as the man to God restoration.