Acts 17:30

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: AND THE TIMES OF THIS IGNORANCE GOD WINKED AT, [ huperidoon (G5237)] - literally, and better, 'overlooked;' that is, bore with, without interposing to punish it otherwise than by suffering the debasing tendency of such worship to develop itself. Compare Acts 14:16, "Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways;" and see the note at Romans 1:24, etc. BUT NOW - now that a new light has risen upon the world, COMMANDETH: q.d. 'That duty-all along lying upon man, estranged from his Creator, but hitherto...

− 30._And the times of this ignorance _Because that is commonly thought to be good which hath been used of long time, and is approved by the common consent of all men; it might have been objected to Paul, why dost thou disannul those things which have been received, and used continually since the beginning of the world? and whom canst thou persuade that the whole world hath been deceived so long? as is no kind of abomination so filthy, which the Papists do not think to be well fortified with this buckler. Paul preventeth − (302) this question; showing that men went astray so long therefore, because God did not reach out his hand from heaven, that he might bring them back again into the way. It may seem an inconvenient [a strange] thing, that men endued with reason and judgment should err so grossly and filthily in a most weighty matter. But Paul’s meaning is, that men do never make an en...

22-31 Here we have a sermon to heathens, who worshipped false gods, and were without the true God in the world; and to them the scope of the discourse was different from what the apostle preached to the Jews. In the latter case, his business was to lead his hearers by prophecies and miracles to the knowledge of the Redeemer, and faith in him; in the former, it was to lead them, by the common works of providence, to know the Creator, and worship Him. The apostle spoke of an altar he had seen, with the inscription, "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." This fact is stated by many writers. After multiplying their idols to the utmost, some at Athens thought there was another god of whom they had no knowledge. And are there not many now called Christians, who are zealous in their devotions, yet the great object of their worship is to them an unknown God? Observe what glorious things Paul here says of that G...

Verse 30. _THE TIMES OF THIS IGNORANCE GOD WINKED AT_] He who has an indisputable right to demand the worship of all his creatures has mercifully overlooked those acts of idolatry which have disgraced the world and debased man; but _now_, as he has condescended to give a revelation of himself, he _commands_, as the sovereign, _all men every where_, over every part of his dominions, _to repent_, μετανοειν, to _change_ their _views, designs_, and _practices; because he hath appointed a day in which he will_ _judge the world in righteousness_; and, as justice will then be done, no _sinner_, no persevering _idolater_, shall escape punishment. The word υπεριδειν, which we translate, _to wink at_, signifies simply _to look over_; and seems to be here used in the sense of _passing by_, not particularly noticing it. So God overlooked, or passed by, the times of heathenish ignorance: as he had...

AND THE TIMES OF THIS IGNORANCE - The long period when people were ignorant of the true God, and when they worshipped stocks and stones. Paul here refers to the times preceding the gospel. GOD WINKED AT - ὑπεριδὼν huperidōn. Overlooked; connived at; did not come forth to punish. In Acts 14:16 it is expressed thus: “Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways” The sense is, he passed over those times without punishing them, as if he did not see them. For wise purposes he suffered them to walk in ignorance that there might be a fair experiment to show what people would do, and how much necessity there was for a revelation to instruct them in the true know edge of God. We are not to suppose that God regarded idolatry as innocent, or the crimes and

EXPOSITION ACTS 17:1 AMPHIPOLIS. This was the ancient capital of that division of Macedonia (Macedonia Prima); see Acts 16:12, note. It was situated on the Via Egnatia, thirty-four miles southwest from Philippi, and three miles from the AEgean Sea. It lay in a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the Strymon, whence its name, _Amphipolis; _its modern name is _Neokhoria, _now a village. Its original name was Ἐννέα ̔οδοί, The Nine Ways. Originally a Thracian city, it was conquered by the Athenians, then by the Lacedaemonians, then fell under the dominion of Philip of Macedon, and finally, with the rest of Macedonia, became part of the Roman empire. APOLLONIA; now probably _Polina, _thirty miles due west

AND THE TIMES OF THIS IGNORANCE GOD WINKED AT,.... Not that he approved of, or encouraged such blindness and folly, as appeared among the Gentiles, when they worshipped idols of gold, silver, and stone, taking them for deities; but rather the sense is, he despised this, and them for it, and was displeased and angry with them; and as an evidence of such contempt and indignation, he overlooked them, and took no notice of them, and gave them no revelation to direct them, nor prophets to instruct them, and left them to their stupidity and ignorance: BUT NOW COMMANDETH ALL MEN EVERYWHERE TO REPENT; that is, he hath given orders, that the doctrine of repentance, as well as remission of sins, should be preached to all nations, to Gentiles as well as Jews; and that it becomes them to repent of their idolatries, and turn from their idols, and worship the one, only, living and true God: and thoug...

REPENT Repentance is the translation of a (Greek, "metanoeō") "metanoia-metanoeo", which means "to have another mind," "to change the mind," and is used in the New Testament to indicate a change of mind in respect of sin, of God, and of self. This change of mind may, especially in the case of Christians who have fallen into sin, be preceded by sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:8) but sorrow for sin, though it may "work" repentance, is not repentance. The son in (Matthew 21:28); (Matthew 21:29) illustrates true repentance. Saving faith: (_ See Scofield) - (Hebrews 11:39) _ includes an

ACTS 17:30 th/j avgnoi,aj The addition in codex Bezae and the Vulgate of tau,thj after th/j avgnoi,aj, thought by Epp 329 to involve a deliberate contrast to the ignorance referred to in Acts 3:17, is more probably an innocent heightening with no subtle allusion to a different attitude of God toward Jewish (as distinguished from Gentile) ignorance. ------------------------- 329 E. J. Epp, _The Theological Tendency of Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis in Acts_ (Cambridge, 1966), pp. 48—50....

CHAPTER 17 _ 1. The Gospel in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1)._ 2. The Gospel in Beroea (Acts 17:10). 3. Paul in Athens (Acts 17:15). Three cities in which the Gospel is next preached are before us in this chapter. But there is a marked difference between these three places. In Thessalonica there was much hostility, the result of the success of the Gospel. In Beroea a more noble class of Jews were found. Their nobility consisted in submission to the Scriptures, the oracles of God, and in a ready mind. There was a still greater blessing among the Jews and the Gentiles. In Athens the Apostle Paul met idolatry, indifference and ridicule. An interesting fact is learned concerning the activity of the apostl