Acts 17:31 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Acts 17:31
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
to mark out or bound ("horizon") · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
given
παρασχὼνparaschōn
G3930
to hold near · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
assurance
πίστινpistin
G4102
persuasion · noun — accusative singular feminine
all
πᾶσιν,pasin
G3956
all · adjective — dative plural masculine
raised
ἀναστήσαςanastēsas
G450
to stand up (literal or figurative · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
him
αὐτὸνauton
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular masculine
from
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
dead
νεκρῶν.¶nekrōn
G3498
dead (literally or figuratively · adjective — genitive plural masculine
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
Matthew 25:31-46 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Romans 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
2 Peter 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perditi…
Psalms 9:8 And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
Psalms 98:9 Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath…
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make mani…
Romans 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgme…
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…
Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world--Such language beyond doubt teaches that the judgment will, in its essence, be a solemn judicial assize held upon all mankind at once. "Aptly is this uttered on the Areopagus, the seat of judgment" [BENGEL].
by that man whom he hath ordained--compare Joh 5:22-23, Joh 5:27; Act 10:42.
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead--the most patent evidence to mankind at large of the judicial authority with which the Risen One is clothed.
Adam Clarke on Acts 17:31
He hath appointed a day - He has fixed the time in which he will judge the world, though he has not revealed this time to man.
By that man whom he hath ordained - He has also appointed the judge, by whom the inhabitants of the earth are to be tried.
Whereof he hath given assurance - ΠιϚιν παρασχων πασιν, Having given to all this indubitable proof, that Jesus Christ shall judge the world, by raising him from the dead. The sense of the argument is this: "Jesus Christ, whom we preach as the Savior of men, has repeatedly told his followers that he would judge the world; and has described to us, at large, the whole of the proceedings of that awful time, Mat 25:31, etc.; Joh 5:25. Though he was pu…
Surely if God overlooked from the foundation of the world the transgressions committed by people out of ignorance, and he gives to each the forgiveness of transgressions, fittingly did he come among us at the end of the ages, in order that his boundless love of humankind might be received in accord with the measure that he reveals his presence.
What do you do, Paul? You say nothing about the form of God nor that he is equal to God or anything concerning the splendor of his glory. Indeed the time to say these things had not yet come, but it was enough that they admitted that he was a man. And Christ did the same, and Paul actually learned these things from him. In fact, Christ did not reveal his divinity immediately, but first Christ was believed to be simply a man and a prophet; then he appeared to be what he really was.
"Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." Observe how he again declares the Passion. Observe the terror again: for, that the judgment is true, is clear from the raising Him up: for it is alleged in proof of that. That all he has been saying is true, is clear from the fact that He rose again. For He did give this "assurance to all men," His rising from the dead: this, also is henceforth certain.
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
Areopagite — A member of the court of Areopagus (Acts 17:34).
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…
Assurance — The resurrection of Jesus (Acts 17:31) is the “assurance” (Gr. pistis, generally rendered “faith”) or pledge God has given that his revelation is true and worthy of acceptance. The “full assurance…
Day — The Jews reckoned the day from sunset to sunset (Lev. 23:32). It was originally divided into three parts (Ps. 55:17). “The heat of the day” (1 Sam. 11:11; Neh. 7:3) was at our nine o’clock, and “the…
Judgment, The final — The sentence that will be passed on our actions at the last day (Matt. 25; Rom. 14:10, 11; 2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Thess. 1:7-10). The judge is Jesus Christ, as mediator. All judgment is committed to him…
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
Judgment · THE GENERAL — THE GENERAL
Judgment, The · A day appointed for — A day appointed for
Justice Of God, The · Exhibited in: The final judgment — Exhibited in: The final judgment
John Gill on Acts 17:31
Because he hath appointed a day,.... The day of judgment is fixed by God in his eternal purposes, and is sure and certain, and will come, though it is not known by men or angels; and this is a reason why God will have the doctrine of repentance everywhere published, both to Jews and Gentiles, since all must come to judgment: and the day for it is appointed by him,
in the which he will judge the world in righteousness; the whole world will be judged, and every individual in it, good and bad, righteous and wicked; and this judgment will be a righteous one; it will proceed according to the strict rules of justice and equity, and upon the foot of the righteousness of Christ, as that has been re…
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).
Responsibility · ACCORDING TO PRIVILEGE — ACCORDING TO PRIVILEGE
Resurrection Of Christ, The · An assurance of the judgment — An assurance of the judgment
Righteousness · Christ: Shall judge with — Christ: Shall judge with
Righteousness Of God, The · Exhibited in: The final judgment — Exhibited in: The final judgment
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).
