Luke 24:47

Case Dismissed

On the phrase μετάνοιαν εἰς ἄφεσιν, most modern translations and commentaries render this construction idiomatically as "repentance for the forgiveness of sins," often treating it as a fixed theological formula. However, this obscures the compositional force of the Greek. The phrase, taken more literally, denotes a "change of mind into a release/freedom", with μετάνοια retaining its etymological sense of cognitive and volitional reorientation (from μετά + νοεῖν, “to perceive afterward” or “to reconsider”), and ἄφεσις (from ἀφίημι, “to release, let go”) signifying a release or letting go. The preposition εἰς, governing the accusative, here indicates motion toward or into, not simply abstract relation. Thus, the structure implies a telic sequence: change resulting in or leading toward release.

Usage

The primary semantic range of ἄφεσις in pre-Christian and extra-NT Greek lies overwhelmingly in the domains of release, exemption, discharge, and dismissal, not in “forgiveness” in the moral or theological sense. This makes the NT usage—particularly in constructions like μετάνοιαν εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν—not only semantically marked, but likely innovative, and theologically resemanticized by later interpretation. The semantic field of ἄφεσις prior to the NT includes:

• Legal and civic contexts: release from debt, obligations, service (cf. Isocrates 17.29, Plutarch Ages. 24)

• Judicial relief: quittance from murder or legal accusation (Plato Laws 869d)

• Physical and physiological release: emissions, discharges, birth, or even conduit systems (Aristotle PA 697a24; HA 576a25; PFlor. 388.44)

• Athletic contexts: the starting of a race (D.S. 4.73), metaphorically extended to beginnings

• Ritual or cultic dismissals (e.g., Apuleius, Met. 11.17)

The translation “forgiveness” only begins to appear in the NT and LXX, largely in moralized or spiritualized contexts, and only within particular collocations (e.g., ἄφεσις ἁμαρτιῶν). Outside of this niche, the word does not carry inherent moral content. (See LSJ's Isolated NT definition under I.2.b)

Moreover, the tendency in New Testament scholarship to label such constructions as "NT idiom" often reflects post-biblical theological assumptions rather than organic linguistic development. Unlike Classical and broader Koine idioms, which are grounded in cross-textual attestation, many so-called "NT idioms" are interpretive constructs, coined to reconcile grammatical structures with later doctrinal frameworks. This is especially apparent in translations that gloss over prepositional nuance (e.g., εἰς vs. ἐν, ἀπό vs. ἐκ) or that reify theological categories into grammatical norms (e.g., the genitive in πίστις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ). Such usages rarely reflect intentional idiomaticity on the part of the original authors, who operated within the broader linguistic patterns of Hellenistic Greek rather than a distinct "Christian dialect."