figuratively · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
at
ὑπεριδὼνhuperidōn
G5237
to overlook · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
but
τοὺςtous
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — accusative plural masculine
now
νῦνnun
G3568
"now" (as adverb of date · adverb
commandeth
παραγγέλλειparangellei
G3853
to transmit a message · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
all
πάνταςpantas
G3956
all · adjective — accusative plural masculine
men
ἀνθρώποιςanthrōpois
G444
from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι)) · noun — dative plural masculine
where
πανταχοῦpantachou
G3837
universally · adverb
repent
μετανοεῖν·metanoein
G3340
to think differently or afterwards · verb — present active infinitive
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 14:16 Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.
Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Luke 24:47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Romans 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are pas…
Acts 26:17-20 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
Ephesians 4:17-32 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
1 Peter 4:3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wi…
Luke 13:5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 17:22-31
We have here St. Paul's sermon at Athens. Divers sermons we have had, which the apostles preached to the Jews, or such Gentiles as had an acquaintance with and veneration for the Old Testament, and were worshippers of the true and living God; and all they had to do with them was to open and allege that Jesus is the Christ; but here we have a sermon to heathens, that worshipped false gods, and were without the true God in the world, and to them the scope of their discourse was quite different from what it was to the other. In the former case their business was to lead their hearers by prophecies and miracles to the knowledge of the Redeemer, and faith in him; in the latter it was to lead them…
the times of this ignorance God winked at--literally (and far better), "overlooked," that is, bore with, without interposing to punish it, otherwise than suffering the debasing tendency of such worship to develop itself (compare Act 14:16, and see on Rom 1:24, &c.).
but now--that a new light was risen upon the world.
commandeth--"That duty--all along lying upon man estranged from his Creator, but hitherto only silently recommending itself and little felt--is now peremptory."
all men every where to repent--(compare Col 1:6, Col 1:23; Tit 1:11) --a tacit allusion to the narrow precincts of favored Judaism, within which immediate and entire repentance was ever urged. The word "repentance"…
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 ὑπεριδειν, which we translate, to wink at, signifies simply to look over;…
The Church Fathers
Again, putting it upon their ignorance, he says, "Now the times of ignorance God overlooked." Having agitated their minds by the fear, he then adds this: and yet he says, "but now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent."
"Having observed the times of ignorance," and the following. He does not mean that none are punished for these things, but that none of those who wish to repent do so. For he is not speaking of those who have died, but of those to whom he is giving commands. "He does not demand an account from you," he says, concerning your former years of ignorance. He did not say, moreover, he overlooked, or he permitted, but, "He has overlooked," that is, he did not seek punishment, although they are worthy of punishment. [CHRYSOSTOM]
But when he has agitated their soul by showing them to be without excuse, see what he says: "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent." What then? Are none of these men to be punished? None of them that are willing to repent. He says it of these men, not of the departed, but of them whom He commands to repent. He does not call you to account, he would say. He does not say, Took no notice; does not say, Permitted: but, Ye were ignorant. "Overlooked," i.e. does not demand punishment as of men that deserve punishment. Ye were ignorant. And he does not say, Ye wilfully did evil; but this he showed by what he said above - "All men everywhere to repent:" again he hints at the whole world. Observe how he takes them off from the parcel deities!
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Areopagus — The Latin form of the Greek word rendered “Mars’ hill.” But it denotes also the council or court of justice which met in the open air on the hill. It was a rocky height to the west of the Acropolis…
Mars Hill — The Areopagus or rocky hill in Athens, north-west of the Acropolis, where the Athenian supreme tribunal and court of morals was held. From some part of this hill Paul delivered the address recorded…
Paul — =Saul (q.v.) was born about the same time as our Lord. His circumcision-name was Saul, and probably the name Paul was also given to him in infancy “for use in the Gentile world,” as “Saul” would be…
Athens · A city of Greece — A city of Greece
Ignorance · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Ignorance Of God · Leads to: Idolatry — Leads to: Idolatry
Judgment, The · The certainty of, a motive to: Repentance — The certainty of, a motive to: Repentance
Mars’ Hill · A hill in Athens — A hill in Athens
Repentance · Commanded to all by God — Commanded to all by God
Responsibility · ACCORDING TO PRIVILEGE — ACCORDING TO PRIVILEGE
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
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, shou…
Acts 17:30-34
30. And though God have winked at the times of this ignorance hitherto, he willeth all men everywhere to repent now: 31. Because he hath appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath appointed; having fulfilled his promise to all men, when he raised him up. from the dead. 32. And when they had heard the resurrection, of the dead, some mocked; and other some said, We will hear thee of this again. 33. So Paul went out from among them; 34. yet certain joining themselves to him believed: among whom was both Dionysius, Areopagita, and a woman named Dam ark, and others with them.
30. And the times of this ignorance Because that is commo…
The idea of people’s ignorance is carefully discussed both in the Old Testament law (Lev 4:2, 22, 27; 5:15, 17; Num 15:25, 27) and in the New Testament (Eph 4:18; 1 Pet 1:14; 2:15; 2 Pet 3:5, 8). Paul was particularly fervent about combatting ignorance (see Rom 10:13-15; 11:25; 1 Cor 10:1; 12:1; 2 Cor 1:8; 1 Thes 4:13). The message of Good News overcomes ignorance and summons all who hear it to repent of their sins and turn to God (see Acts 2:38).
