Hebrew “Conversion”

“Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19 NASB (1963)

Repent/return/wiped away – What do you think about Peter’s declaration? Is he asking his audience to become Christians by acknowledging Jesus as the Christ or is he using well-understood Hebrew phrases to prod these men to recognize Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah? Your answer depends on how you understand the words “repent,” “return” and “wipe away.” Let’s start with the last one.

In Greek, the verb is exaleipho. It comes from the combination of ex (from, out) and aleipho (to smear). In other words, this word is about “smearing off” something. The idea behind the Greek word choice is the Hebrew concept of atonement. In Hebrew thought, atonement is not covering up something. Atonement is removing what defiles. What prevents fellowship with God is wiped away (removed) in atonement. Whatever defilement prevented God’s presence in our midst is washed away, wiped off, scrubbed clean so that we can enjoy Him. As Peter puts it, after atonement we discover “times of refreshing.” The first thing we realize about this verse is that Peter uses an entirely Hebraic concept to describe the results of repentance and return.

What about “repent” and “return”? Both of these words have strong Hebrew backgrounds. In Greek the verb for “return” is metanoeo, but metanoeo is about changing your mind. It is about reconsidering your thinking, adjusting your beliefs or altering your perceptions. It is a mental activity. But not so in Hebrew. In Hebrew the verb would be shuv, “to turn back.” “The prophets do not invent a special word for true repentance but make do with the common word for return (šûḇ ). This carries with it a sense of turning back, i.e., after relapse, but not exclusively so, for sometimes the idea is that of turning from. In general, what is meant is an about-face.”^[1] The second word (epistrepho) means “to twist, to bend, to change” and is associated with the Greek idea of conversion. But in Hebrew the same verb shuv also means, “to return,” particularly to God. So Peter is simply employing a Hebrew wordplay, a doublet on the word shuv. The purpose of repenting is to turn back to God. For an audience of Jews and God-fearing proselytes, this is not a call to conversion. This is a call to restoring the fellowship with God that has been lost because of the defilement of sin. How is that done? By shuv in all of its forms.

If we read this verse from a Greek-Christian perspective, we will think that Peter is exhorting these men to change their minds, to convert in order that their sins may be blotted out. But in Hebrew the idea is very different. In Hebrew Peter asks them to return to the God they already know so that their defilement may be removed.

Topical Index: repent, return, wipe away, shuv, metanoeo, epistrepho, Acts 3:19

^[1] E. Wurthwein, metanoeo, metanoia in Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (640). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.