REPENTANCE, in general, means sorrow for any thing past. In theology it means such a sorrow for sin as produces newness of life, or such a conviction of the evil and danger of a sinful course as is sufficient to produce shame and sorrow in the review of it, and effectual resolutions of amendment. In this sense the evangelical writers use μεταμέλεια and μετανοία. See PENITENCE and THEOLOGY.