the Third Sunday after Easter
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使徒言行録 17:30
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from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
the times: Acts 14:16, Psalms 50:21, Romans 1:28, Romans 3:23, Romans 3:25
but: Acts 3:19, Acts 11:18, Acts 20:21, Acts 26:17-20, Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:17, Mark 6:12, Luke 13:5, Luke 15:10, Luke 24:47, Romans 2:4, 2 Corinthians 7:10, Ephesians 4:17-32, Ephesians 5:6-8, Titus 2:11, Titus 2:12, 1 Peter 1:14, 1 Peter 1:15, 1 Peter 4:3
Reciprocal: Leviticus 20:4 - hide Numbers 15:27 - General 1 Chronicles 28:9 - know thou Job 36:10 - commandeth Ecclesiastes 11:9 - know Ecclesiastes 12:14 - General Isaiah 21:12 - if Isaiah 25:7 - he will Isaiah 60:2 - the darkness Ezekiel 14:6 - Repent Zechariah 12:4 - I will open Matthew 9:13 - but Matthew 12:50 - do Matthew 20:7 - Because Matthew 21:31 - did Matthew 25:32 - before Luke 5:32 - General Luke 12:47 - knew Luke 12:48 - knew John 4:22 - ye know John 15:22 - they John 16:11 - judgment Acts 2:38 - Repent Acts 8:22 - Repent Acts 14:15 - and preach Acts 17:23 - ignorantly Acts 26:20 - repent Romans 1:24 - God Romans 2:12 - For Romans 2:14 - which Romans 4:15 - Because Galatians 4:8 - when Ephesians 2:3 - in times Ephesians 4:18 - the understanding Ephesians 5:8 - ye were 1 Thessalonians 4:5 - know 1 Timothy 2:1 - all men Hebrews 6:1 - repentance 1 John 2:8 - the darkness 1 John 3:22 - because Revelation 2:5 - and repent Revelation 2:16 - Repent Revelation 20:11 - I saw
Gill's Notes on the Bible
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 though for many hundreds of years God had neglected them, and sent no messengers, nor messages to them, to acquaint them with his will, and to show them their follies and mistakes; yet now he had sent his apostles unto them, to lay before them their sins, and call them to repentance; and to stir them up to this, the apostle informs them of the future judgment in the following verse. Repentance being represented as a command, does not suppose it to be in the power of men, or contradict evangelical repentance, being the free grace gift of God, but only shows the need men stand in of it, and how necessary and requisite it is; and when it is said to be a command to all, this does not destroy its being a special blessing of the covenant of grace to some; but points out the sad condition that all men are in as sinners, and that without repentance they must perish: and indeed, all men are obliged to natural repentance for sin, though to all men the grace of evangelical repentance is not given: the Jews a call repentance מצות התשובה, "the command of repentance", though they do not think it obligatory on men, as the other commands of the law. The law gives no encouragement to repentance, and shows no mercy on account of it; it is a branch of the Gospel ministry, and goes along with the doctrine of the remission of sins; and though in the Gospel, strictly taken, there is no command, yet being largely taken for the whole ministry of the word, it includes this, and everything else which Christ has commanded, and was taught by him and his apostles; Matthew 28:20.
a Tzeror Hammor, fol. 157. 4.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
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 vices to which idolatry led as of no importance; but their ignorance was a mitigating circumstance, and he suffered the nations to live without coming forth in direct judgment against them. Compare the notes on Acts 3:17; Acts 14:16.
But now commandeth - By the gospel, Luke 24:47.
All men - Not Jews only, who had been favored with special privileges, but all nations. The barrier was broken down, and the call to repentance was sent abroad into all the earth.
To repent - To exercise sorrow for their sins, and to forsake them. If God commands all people to repent, we may observe:
(1) That it is their duty to do it. There is no higher obligation than to obey the command of God.
(2) It can be done. God would not command an impossibility.
(3) It is binding on all. The rich, the learned, the great, the frivolous, are as much bound as the beggar and the slave.
(4) It must be done, or the soul lost. It is not safe to neglect a plain Law of God. It will not be well to die reflecting that we have all our life despised his commands.
(5) We should send the gospel to the pagan. God calls on the nations to repent, and to be saved. It is the duty of Christians to make known to them the command, and to invite them to the blessings of pardon and heaven.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
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 not given them the talent of Divine revelation, so he did not require the improvement of that talent; but now, as he had given them that revelation, he would no longer overlook, or pass by, their ignorance or its fruits.