Chapter I
CHAPTER I: THE ETYMOLOGY AND HOMONYMS OF THE WORD “REPENTANCE”
The etymology of the word.
§ 3. Repentance:
** (1) According to Isidore (bk. 6, ch. 19), repentance [poenitentia] “is so called as if it were inflicting punishment [punientia], because a person punishes in himself what he has wickedly allowed.” (2) Lombard (Sent., 4, dist. 14, letter A) thinks poenitentia is from poena [“punishment”], so that it is something like poenae tenentia [“holding on to punishment”]. Bellarmine (De poen., 1, ch. 7) accepts this. (3) Erasmus (on Matthew 7 and on 2 Corinthians 7) deduces it from pone [“behind”] and says that it is called poenitere as if to say pone tenere [“to hold behind”], that is, to take advice afterward. M. Bandinus (Eck, in his preface to that book, thinks that Bandinus, being earlier, is no different than the more recent Peter Lombard. In fact, Eck claims that Lombard borrowed from Bandinus everything as far as the sentences and their order are concerned.) writes (Libr. 4 sententiarum, 4, dist. 14): “Poenitentia is so-called from puniendo [‘punishing’], by which someone punishes the lawlessness which he has committed. For poenitere [‘to repent’] is poenam timere [‘to fear punishment’], so that one always punishes by avenging in himself what he has committed by sinning.” **
Hugh (De myst. eccles., bk. 3) thinks it is so called “as if it were the punishment [punientiam] by which a man punishes what he has wickedly allowed.” Scotus thinks it is like poenae tenentia [“holding on to punishment”]. Erasmus draws it from pone tenendo which means “to take advice afterward.” Lombard (Sent., bk. 4, dist. 14, letter A) agrees with Hugh and writes: “Poenitentia is so called from punire [‘punish’], with which someone punishes the lawlessness which he has committed. The virtue of repentance is conceived from fear.” Bellarmine embraces this eagerly and consequently writes (De poenit., bk. 1, ch. 7): “Lutherans do not use the word ‘penance’ or ‘repentance’ [poenitentia] willingly, and [when translating] the Scriptures they almost always substitute ‘change of mind’ [resipiscentia], because the origin of poenitentia, taken from poena [‘punishment’], by its silent sense indicates satisfaction for punishment or the penalty imposed on the penitent.”
To this we respond. (1) We by no means shrink from the use of this word, and the writings of our people offer clear testimony of this fact.
(2) The word “penance” [poenitentia] is not scriptural. If you were to search for the proper and native meaning of the words used for “conversion” in the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament sources, you would see that the word “penance” [poenitentia] is not written there. But now, to reject a word as unscriptural is not to destroy the truth of heavenly doctrine.
(3) We disapprove not the use but the abuse of this word—for instance, the abuse that the Romanists do their utmost to prove their satisfactions from this word.
** Nowhere is it found that “repentance or penance” [poenitentia] properly means ecclesiastical and Papist punishments or satisfactions and that poenitentia is used in the Scriptures for “satisfaction.” **
(4) The word poenitentia is properly and proximately taken from poenitet [“he makes sorry”]. Yet even though to the Latins poenitere means the same thing as to have punishment [poena], nevertheless it does not yet follow from this that the word poena must mean “satisfaction,” because the word poena is most correctly understood as the inner grief which the sinner feels when he hears that he is liable to temporal and eternal punishments. However, in its own place [§ 125] it shall be proven that this does not make satisfaction in the judgment of God. Gellius (Noct. attic., bk. 17, ch. 11): “Poenitere, that is, for someone to be disgusted at or ashamed of something he has committed, so that poenitet [‘he makes sorry’] is the same as ‘punishment holds him,’ for those things which are burdensome and disgusting have the power to punish.” This is according to Augustine (Soliloq., ch. 19).
** Furthermore: (1) Bellarmine himself confesses (col. 1185D): “The meanings of words should be drawn more from the use of Scripture and its authors than from their etymology.” But where in the Scriptures is poenitentia used for “satisfaction”? (2) If an argument must be made from the etymology of the word, it ought to be from the original Hebrew and Greek languages, not in a foreign language. But the Hebrew תְׁשּובָה and the Greek μετάνοια do not have2 the meaning of “punishments.” (3) Even if respect for punishment is involved, it would still have to be understood as a reference to inner grief rather than to an outward penalty imposed upon penitents, for it was to this that the fathers were turning their attention. Augustine (vol. 4, De vera et fals. poenit., ch. 8, col. 1043): “Repentance [poenitentia] is a revenge of the grieving person who is punishing in himself what he is sorry to have committed.” Chapter 19 (col. 1053): “To repent [poenitere] is to have punishment [poenam tenere], so that one always punishes by avenging in himself what he has committed by sinning.” (See also his Letter 108 ad Seleuc.) The word poenitere is also used in this sense among the Latin authors. Gellius (Noct. attic., bk. 17, ch. 1): “We are accustomed to say that we repent [poenitere] at the time when the things we ourselves do or the things which have been done of our will and planning later begin to displease us and when we change our attitude toward them.” (4) Even if it is referred to exterior penalty, from this the papal satisfaction of works, distinct from ecclesiastical satisfaction, cannot be proved (Meisner, Sob. phil., part 2, sect. 1, ch. 1, q. 21). The German Busse [“repentance, penance”] seems to come from the root ּבֹוׁש, “he is ashamed.” Thus David prays: “My enemies will be afflicted with shame” (Ps. 6:10), which Augustine interprets in this way: that David wants them to repent. **