Matthew 3:8

Mat_3:8

Fruits meet for repentance.

Repentance a fructifying energy. Fruits for repentance

Hear a story, or a parable. In a delightful bit of country, early one summer morning, I walked out to be refreshed by the pure sweet air, the sight of fields and woods, grasses and flowers, beasts and birds, when, presently, I came upon an orchard, into which I entered. The trees were beautiful to behold, the air was fragrant, and fruit was abundant. I wandered on almost enchanted, until, to my great wonder, I came upon a tree having neither bloom nor fruit. I was so painfully impressed that, without any thought of hurting or giving offence, and as to myself, I said, You poor, lost tree, what can you be doing here? I marvel you are not removed. Upon which, to my astonishment, this tree replied, not without tartness, Oh, indeed, sir; indeed! No doubt you think you are wise, wise above your fathers. -You think you know much about things, I dare say, but you are in a great mistake. I am neither poor nor lost. Well, I said, you have neither leaves nor fruit, and, I should judge, no sap. What has that to do with it? it broke out. Your ignorance is inexcusable. You seem not to know that a great Saviour of trees has been down here, and I have believed His gospel, and am saved by grace. I have accepted salvation as a free gift, and, though I have neither leaves nor fruit, I am saved all the same. I looked at it with pity and said, You are a poor deluded tree; you are not saved at all. You are only a dead, good-for-nothing tree, despite all your talk about grace and redemption. The only salvation you can ever know is to be made living and fruit-bearing. Life, that is salvation. When I come and see you laden with fruit, or even showing signs of leaves, I shall say, Ah! that poor tree is saved at last; it has received the gospel and is saved by grace. As I turned away, I heard it saying, You are not sound; you do not understand the gospel. And I thought, so it is, as with trees so with men; they talk as if grace and salvation were something God keeps for them outside themselves, and will not understand nor believe that he who is saved, he who takes Christ fully, and rests on His atoning work alone, is made free from sin, and has his fruit unto holiness. (W. Hubbard.)

Repentance a moulding energy

And it ought not to be a mere partial sorrow; but it should permeate the entire constitution of man. You have most likely seen water falling in drops from a rock. There it is dropping-dropping-dropping, summer and winter, during many a century;-but the rock remains a rock still. There are many who shed tears which seem to be those of repentance, but whose hearts remain as hard as an adamantine rock. Their tears are those out of a rock-a rock that never crumbles. True repentance dodos with man as the furnace with the metal. There is the metal cast into the furnace; and there it is heated and melted so as to be shaped and coined according to will. The whole of man should be completely melted by repentance, so as to be purged of all the cross of sin and be remodelled by the plastic influences of Gods Spirit, and made to bear anew the Divine image. (R. Hughes.)

Repentance a purifying energy,-

Repentance hath a purifying power, and every tear is of a cleansing virtue; but these penitential clouds must be still kept dropping a one shower will not suffice; for repentance is not one single action, but a cause. (Dr. South.)

Repentance fruitful in amendment

Repentance without amendment is like continual pumping in a ship without stopping the leaks. (Palmer.)

Repentance fruitful in restitution

Thomas Olivers was an itinerant cobbler, who spent his time working, carousing, and contracting debts. He congratulated himself on his skill in defrauding his creditors. This reprobate Welshman was at last rescued by Methodism, and became one of Mr. Wesleys itinerant corps. So great had been his wickedness, that his friends thought he must have had some terrible fright, His uncle said to him, Thou hast been so wicked, thou hast seen the devil. His conscience was awakened. Of his old debts he said, I feel as great sorrow and confusion as if I had stolen every sum I owed. He resolved to pay the last cent from money due to him from the estate of one of his kindred. With part of his money, he bought a horse, and started on his memorable journey from town to town, preaching Christ, and paying his debts. He went to Whithurst to pay a sixpence. Before his strange pilgrimage was ended, he paid about seventy debts, and had to sell his horse, saddle, and bridle, to finish his payments. Such fruits of repentance were followed by great religious prosperity and usefulness. (Anon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 3:8. Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance — That is, a change of temper and behaviour, answerable thereto; forsake, as well as confess, your sins, and let the integrity, regularity, holiness, and usefulness of your lives, manifest the sincerity of your repentance. It is a metaphor taken from trees, which discover what quality they are of by the fruits they bear; in allusion to which, pious men are called trees of righteousness, Isa 61:3; and their works, fruits of righteousness, Php 1:11. Let it be observed, further, that as the original word, μετανοια, here rendered repentance, properly signifies a change of mind, from the approbation and love of sin to an aversion and hatred to it, in consequence of a deep conviction of its evil nature and destructive tendency; (see on Mat 3:2;) so, wherever this is, there will, of course, be an entire reformation of life, a ceasing to do evil, in all respects, according to the knowledge and ability of the penitent, and a learning to do well. Hence it is styled repentance from dead works, Heb 6:1; and repentance unto salvation not to be repented of, 2Co 7:10; that is, such as is not reversed by any voluntary returning or relapsing into our former sins. And, seeing God is unchangeably holy, and must for ever hate all sin with a perfect hatred, it is certain, from his very nature, that he cannot be reconciled to or have communion with the sinner, till a change be wrought in his spirit and conduct, and he cease from the commission of known iniquity. For a change there must be in God or man; and, since God’s nature is immutable, and it cannot be in him, it must of necessity be in man. Now it is evident, both from reason and experience, that confession of sins, a present sorrow for them, and displeasure against them, with a warm resolution to forsake them, are by no means always attended with this change, and, therefore, that these alone cannot be fruits meet for repentance. And O, how necessary was this admonition for the men of that age, who placed their repentance, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, in a mere verbal confession of their sins; and is it not equally necessary for too many of our own age?

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE ABRAHAMIC PATERNITY

Mat 3:8-10, and Luk 3:8-10. O the withering denunciations which leaped from the eloquent lips of John, like lightning from the skirts of the clouds! “Ye generations of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance; and do not think to say among yourselves, We have father Abraham: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

Already, indeed, the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree, not producing good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire.” The rank and the of fallen Judaism at that day, like the Moslem millions now, as well as the unbelieving Jews, were depending upon their Abrahamic lineage to save them, pursuant to the infallible promises of Cod to that patriarch and his seed, constituting the Abrahamic Covenant. This is all a fond delusion of the devil, a greased plank, over which he has slidden countless millions into hell. Under the Mohammedan priesthood the barbaric children of Abraham, through Ishmael and Esau, this day expect heaven pursuant to the Abrahamic Covenant. Really there is no Abrahamic Covenant, but it is simply the Covenant of Redemption, which God made with His Son, before Abel died, to save all the faithful in Christ. This identical covenant God reiterated and established with Abraham. (Gal 3:16.) Hence the Abrahamic paternity is not carnal, but spiritual, including all the saved in Christ. (Gal 3:7.) The viper of the Old World is the congener of the rattlesnake in this country. The serpent is the progeny of Satan, having been subsidized by him in the abduction of humanity, and anathematized by the Almighty (Gen 3:14) in his transformation into the groveling, obnoxious, poisonous progeny of the archenemy. Stones here symbolize the flinty hearts of Satan-ridden reprobates, which the Holy Ghost is abundantly competent to transform into the sanctified children of heaven, thus making them the spiritual children of Abraham. The ax symbolizes Divine retribution; the tree, every human being. The whole human race are under a dispensation of grace, whether they have ever heard the gospel trumpet sound a solitary note. A momentous crisis came to the Jews with the ministry of John and his introduction of Jesus. Hitherto they could be saved by the Excarnate Christ, under the ministry of the law and the prophets. Now that He has come in human flesh, they must receive Him, or grieve away the Holy Spirit and take the fatal plunge into reprobacy and damnation. O what a flood-tide, led by those proud Church-rulers, to whom John was preaching this awfully plain truth, did reject Christ and take the horrific plunge into irretrievable woe!

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:8 Prove . . . that you have . . . turned to God (literally make fruit that accords with repentance): John calls for action and true ethical change; mere lip service will not do (see Luke 3:10-14; cp. Matt 5:19-20, 46; 7:21; 23:3).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 3:8. Ποιήσατε, produce—καρπὸν ἄξιον, worthy fruit) Orige[122] remarks, that in St Matthew worthy fruit is required in the singular number from the Pharisees and Sadducees; whereas, in St Luke, worthy fruits are required in the plural number from the people. I do not myself see what difference it makes in the matter. The singular καρπὸς, fruit, is often used collectively; and in the preaching of St John it may be opposed to barrenness: in the plural number, it implies fecundity. Men are here represented as trees; and the fruit is, therefore, their repentance.—τῆς μετανοίας, of repentance) Construe these words with καρπὸν.[123] Thus, in Act 26:20, we read ἄξια τῆς μετανοὶας ἔργα.—μετάνοια, repentance, is an entire change of character,[124] and a renunciation of all that is evil, by which renunciation we wish that evil void or undone.

[122] rigen (born about 186 A.D., died 253 A.D., a Greek father: two-thirds of the N. Test. are quoted in his writings). Ed. Vinc. Delarue, Paris. 1733, 1740, 1759.

[123] Bengel would apparently render the passage thus: worthy fruit of repentance; and so in the passage immediately cited from the Acts, worthy works of repentance. E. V. has, in the one passage, fruits meet for repentance; in the other, works meet for repentance.—(I. B.)

[124] This scarcely expresses the original “transmutatio mentis.” Ainsworth gives us the first signification of MENS—“That part of the rational soul which is the seat of natural parts and acquired virtues.”—(I. B.)

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_3:8. Οὖν] Deduction from what precedes. In your impenitent condition you cannot escape from the wrath; proceed then to exhibit that morality of conduct which is appropriate to the change of mind as its result. Instead of your unrepentant condition, I require of you a practical repentance, the hindrance and opposition to which arises from your overweening conceit as children of Abraham (Mat_3:9). What John here requires applied, indeed, to the people in general, but was especially appropriate to their scholastic leaders.

τῆς μετανοίας is governed by ἄξιον (Act_26:20); on καρπὸν ποιεῖν, like עֲשׂוֹת פְרִי (occurring likewise in Greek writers), borrowed from fruit-trees, comp. Mat_7:17 f. al.; καρποποιός, Eur. Rhes. 964; καρπ. is collective, Gal_5:22; Eph_5:9; Php_1:11.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 3:8 . ποιήσατε οὖν , etc. “If, then, ye are in earnest about escape, produce fruit worthy of repentance; repentance means more than confession and being baptised.” That remark might be applied to all that came, but it contained an innuendo in reference to the Pharisees and Sadducees that they were insincere even now. Honest repentance carries amendment along with it. Amendment is not expected in this case because the repentance is disbelieved in. καρπὸν , collective, as in Gal 5:22 , fruit; the reading in T. R. is probably borrowed from Luk 3:8 . The singular is intrinsically the better word in addressing Pharisees who did good actions, but were not good. Yet John seems to have inculcated reformation in detail (Luk 3:10-14 ). It was Jesus who proclaimed the inwardness of true morality. Fruit: the figure suggests that conduct is the outcome of essential character. Any one can do ( ποιήσατε , vide Gen 1:11 ) acts externally good, but only a good man can grow a crop of right acts and habits.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

True repentance is an inward thing which hath its seat in the mind and heart.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Bring forth therefore fruits--the true reading clearly is "fruit";

meet for repentance--that is, such fruit as befits a true penitent. John now being gifted with a knowledge of the human heart, like a true minister of righteousness and lover of souls here directs them how to evidence and carry out their repentance, supposing it genuine; and in the following verses warns them of their danger in case it were not.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(8) Fruits (better, fruit) meet for repentance.—The English version is ambiguous and not happy, suggesting the thought of the “fruit” as preparing the way for repentance. The thought is, however, “by coming to the baptism you profess repentance; bring forth, therefore, fruit worthy of repentance—i.e., of a changed heart and will.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. meet for repentance] “Answerable to amendment of life.” (Margin.)

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bring forth therefore fruits,.... That is, if you are truly penitent, if you have a proper sense of sin, and true repentance for it, do such works as are suitable to it, and will show the genuineness of it; for

fruits meet for repentance are the same as "works meet for repentance", Act 26:20 and as a tree is known by its fruit, so repentance is known by good works; these are the fruits and effects of repentance, and which are proofs with men of the sincerity of it. Those which follow upon evangelical repentance are such as are mentioned in Co2 7:11. Now let it be observed, that John insisted upon repentance, and a good conversation, attesting the truth of it as necessary prerequisites to the ordinance of baptism; and so Peter first urged repentance; and then proposed baptism, Act 2:38 from whence one should think it may be rationally and strongly concluded, that none but truly repenting sinners, and such who have given proofs that they are so, are to be admitted to this ordinance.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

Ver. 8. Bring forth therefore fruits] q.d. You cannot wash your hands in innocence, wash them therefore in tears: there is no way to quench hell flames but by the tears of true repentance; to prevent the wrath to come, but by bearing those fruits of righteousness that are by Christ Jesus to the glory and praise of God, Php 1:11. Optima et aptissima poenitentia est nova vita, The best and most appropiate repentance is a new life, saith Luther; which saying, though condemned by Pope Leo, is certainly an excellent saying.

Meet for repentance] That weigh just as much as repentance, that may parallel and prove it to be right, evince and evidence it to be a "repentance never to be repented of," 2Co 7:10. There is no grace but hath a counterfeit. See therefore that your graces be of the right stamp, an effectual faith, laborious love, patient hope, &c., as the apostle hath it. See that your performances and whole course be such as becomes repentance, and may justify it; as may bear weight in the balance of the sanctuary, and amount to as much as repentance comes to, 1Th 1:3; (αξιον παρα του αγειν). And albeit your righteousnesses be but as a menstruous clout, and your works at best (if tried by the fire of the word, Isa 64:6; 1Co 3:13) would burn (which made good Nehemiah, Neh 13:12, to pray for pardon of his reformations), yet upon your true repentance for the evil that cleaves to your best works, your souls may be saved from the wrath to come; yea, they are such "as accompany salvation," and comprehend it, as the Greek Scholiast expounds that text, Heb 6:9; (εχομενα, i.e. κατεχομενα σωτηριας). Labour, therefore, to have a "heart full of goodness," as those Romans, Rom 15:14, and a life "full of good works," as Tabitha, Act 9:36, such as may beseem amendment of life.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bring forth therefore fruits ... - That is, the proper fruits of reformation; the proper evidence that you are sincere. Do not bring your cunning and dissimulation to this work; do not carry your hypocrisy into your professed repentance, but evince your sincerity by forsaking sin, and thus give evidence that this coming to Jordan to be baptized is not an act of dissimulation. No discourse could have been more appropriate or more cutting.

Fruits - Conduct. See Mat 7:16-19.

Meet for repentance - Fit for repentance; appropriate to it the proper expression of repentance.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

See note for ver. 2.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

You come here and thrust yourselves into a crowd of penitents, but this is not enough, true repentance is not a barren thing; neither are your leaves of external profession a sufficient indication of it, you must bring forth the fruits of holiness, fruits that may answer the nature of true repentance. The proper products of habits are called their fruits; thus we read of the fruit of sin, and the fruit of righteousness.

Fruits meet (answerable to amendment of life)

for repentance are works that are the proper product of repentance, or justly answering an external profession of repentance. As faith, so repentance, without works is dead.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Fruits meet — John evidently sees the want of a proper prospect of reformation in these men correspondent with the external repentance. Meet — Suitable.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bring forth therefore (vide supra) fruits; fruit (Revised Version). The plural is due to a false reading taken from the parallel passage of Luke it regards the various graces of a good life as so many different fruits; (Mat_21:43) the singular, as one product from one source. (Gal_5:22) The term used here (poiein karpon), and frequently, lays more stress on the effort involved than didonai karpon , simple "yielding", (Mat_8:8) or ferein , "bearing" in the course of nature. (Mat_7:18 Mar_4:8 Joh_15:4, Joh_15:5, Joh_15:8, Joh_15:16) The preacher requires a repentance which produces results. Meet for. (of Act_26:20) Though strictly meaning "suitable to" ("answering to," Authorized Version margin; cf. Tyndale, "be-longyng to"), the phrase might to-day be understood as "suitable to produce." John really means that true repentance has fruit which belongs to its proper nature, and which is alone "worthy of" it (Revised Version). Repentance (thv metanoiav). The article is either generic; (Authorized Version and Revised Version; cf. Act_11:18 and probably Act_26:20) or equivalent to "your" (Revised Version margin). If the latter, the following sentence shows that it is still said in good faith. (For repentance, of. ver. 1, note.)

The fruit of repentance.

John sees a great danger. His preaching is immensely popular. Even the insincere are drawn under the spell of his oratory, and his rousing eloquence is enjoyed on its own account by many who refuse to obey its ideas. He is the lion of the season, and society runs after him as after the latest fashion. To one in dead earnest, as John was, this must have been perfectly abhorrent. Then no doubt there were sentimental, superficial hearers who were really impressed by his preaching for the time, but on whom the effect of it was merely emotional. Such people needed to see that they must have a repentance deeper than the tears of a day.

I REPENTANCE MUST BE IN THE WILL AS WELL AS IN THE EMOTIONS. It is easy to feel sorry for the wrong one has done; yet this feeling may not carry with it any determination not to repeat the wrong. A wave of emotion may sweep over the soul, and during its passage all love of sin may be buried, and only the most becoming ideas appear on the surface. But they will be but froth and foam melting into nothing, and they will vanish with the retreating wave, leaving the hard rock beneath quite unmoved. There is no real repentance until the will is touched, until the penitent resolves to abandon his sin and to seek a better life. He may well see that he cannot do this himself; his sin is too strong for him, and the better life is above his reach. Repentance is not regeneration, but it is a sincere desire for a new life, an honest determination to seek it.

II TRUE REPENTANCE WILL REVEAL ITSELF IN CONDUCT. It has its fruits. No one can be really turning round from sin and setting his face towards the light without some results appearing in his behaviour. He will not immediately step on to the pedestal of the saint. He will be still down in the darkness, feeble, depressed, guilty, and conscious of guilt. But every action will show that he is trying to reach after better things, even though they may be still far beyond his grasp. Lorenzo di Medici on his death-bed sends for Savanarola and, in terror of the torments of hell, begs to be assured of the Divine forgiveness. The stern reformer bids the dying man return their possessions to those whom he has robbed, and set his imprisoned enemies free, and he consents. Then Savonarola makes a third demand, that the tyrant will restore their liberties to the Florentines. This is too much for him; he turns away in silent refusal and dies unrepentant and therefore unshriven.

III IT IS THE DUTY OF THE PENITENT TO CULTIVATE FRUITS OF REPENTANCE. People sometimes distress themselves with the fear that they have not repented sufficiently to receive the pardon of God. But they make a mistake if they suppose that the exciting of deeper feelings of compunction or the shedding of more tears is what God requires. Let them leave their emotions to take care of themselves, and set their attention on their conduct. This does require thought and effort. Yet the very fact that repentance must bear fruit shows that it is more than a work of man"s production. Therefore it is necessary to seek the "grace" of repentance, to pray for the Spirit of God to make the true fruits appear. Lastly, let it be remembered when they do appear they are not all we need; they are only the signs of a right state of mind fur receiving forgiveness. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Repentance is of two sorts; that which is termed legal, and that which is styled evangelical repentance. The former (which is the same that is spoken of here) is a thorough conviction of sin. The latter is a change of heart (and consequently of life) from all sin to all holiness.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Having thus unmasked them, the Baptist makes his demand:

v. 8. Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance.

An entire change of heart must precede the performing of truly good works, such as measure up to the standard of an honest repentance, as conform to a real amendment of life. John insists upon their producing proper, suitable, sufficient evidence of a true repentance, fruits of a divine flavor, before he can consent to administer Baptism to them. And his further warning is peculiarly fitting in the case of the Pharisees:

v. 9. And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

The fact that they were members, according to the flesh, of God’s chosen people, the fact that they were descendants of Abraham, in a direct line, had ever been the boast of the Pharisees, Joh 8:33-39. But a mere external membership in God’s Church is of no avail. He is a Judge of the hearts and minds and may, on that score, at any time reject them as spurious children. Besides, it would be a small thing for God, out of the very stones of the wilderness, to create for Himself new children, more genuine as to faith than the Pharisees and Sadducees. "We are (said they) God’s people whom He has chosen before all nations on earth, and to whom He has given circumcision; so we have and observe the Law, visit God’s Temple at Jerusalem, and exercise ourselves in the holy service which God Himself has ordered. In short, we go our way in the spiritual and worldly government, as both have been fixed and ordered through Moses by God’s command; are also of the blood and tribe of the holy patriarchs: Abraham is our father, etc. What do we lack that we should not be pious and holy, dear and pleasing to God, and be saved? All this, he says, does not concern the matter. For God is not interested in knowing that you are proficient in boasting much and high concerning the Law, the Temple, the fathers, etc. He wants you to fear Him and to believe His promise, to obey and accept Him whom He has promised to you and now sends. The alternative is that He will reject and exterminate you with all your glory, with which He Himself has endowed and ornamented you before all nations."

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance. There is no repentance whatever unless there is a change of life as the result. The change of life is the proof of the change of heart.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

8. ποιήσατε. Aorist imperative, denoting complete and immemediate action. See Donaldson Gk. Gram. 427 (a).

μετάνοια. Rare in classical writers, joined by Thuc. with ἀναλογισμός (III. 36). Cp. also μετάνοια δεινὴ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ πόθος ἔσχε τοῦ Κιμῶνος, and Plut. p. 452, ἡ νουθεσία καὶ ὁ ψόγος ἐμποιεῖ μετάνοιαν καὶ αἰσχύνην. The meaning deepens with Christianity. It is not adequately translated by ‘repentance.’ The marginal reading of A.V. ‘amendment of life’ is better. It implies that revolution in the religious life which Christianity effected and still effects. It is the starting point in the faith—a rudimentary doctrine: μὴ πάλιν θεμέλιον καταβαλλόμενοι μετανοίας ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων. Heb 6:1. The Vulgate translates μετάνοια ‘pœnitentia,’ Beza’s rendering, resipiscentia, raised a stormy controversy. Neither word entirely covers μετάνοια, which implies both sorrow for the past and change of heart.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8.] οὖν expresses an inference from their apparent intention of fleeing from the wrath to come: q. d., ‘if you are really so minded,’ …

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance.] So Lk. with “fruits” for “fruit.” If you are really alive to the necessity of escape from the divine wrath, take the only possible way: repent, and act as only men who have repented can act. For the connection between repentance and good works, cf. Rabbi Eleazer ben Jacob1 (Ab 4:13), “Repentance and good works are a shield against punishment.”

(X)

8. L U al a g2 S1 S2 have “fruits,” assimilating to Lk.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.