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Acts 17:29–31
“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (vv. 30–31).
Continuing to preach to the Athenians at the Areopagus, Paul in today’s passage sets up the climax of his sermon and moves to declare the right response to his words. The truths about God’s transcendence and immanence cannot be simply pondered as an intellectual exercise. Once we know who the Lord is, we commit ourselves to serving Him or suffer the eternal consequences.
In Acts 17:29, Paul presents one of the key applications of the truth that the sovereign God who upholds all things is above all but nevertheless comes close to His creation. He says that such a being cannot be imaged by stone, gold, or silver despite what many of the Athenians and other peoples of the world thought. This deity is beyond the imaginations and artistic talents of people to fashion, His essence beyond our full comprehension (see Isa. 55:8–9). The Lord God Omnipotent is far too grand to be depicted in a statue, painting, or other image.
Nevertheless, people tried for millennia before Christ to depict God visually even though the Lord’s essence cannot be seen. They were not content to draw the right conclusions from the truths that they did know about God and refrain from idolatry. Paul says that God overlooked those times of ignorance, the idolatry rampant among the gentiles before the coming of Christ (Acts 17:30). It is not that the Lord forgave the people who were worshiping false gods or that idolatry became a sin only with the incarnation of the Son of God. The point, rather, is that God, except in a few instances such as in the days of the prophet Jonah, did not proclaim His special revelation to the gentiles. He spoke almost exclusively to the people of Israel about their sin and salvation, leaving gentiles to their own devices.
With Jesus, however, everything changed. Now God commands everyone to repent, Jew and gentile alike. Jesus has been installed as Lord over all for the sake of His church, and He has given a Great Commission for His church to go into all the world and make disciples (Matt. 28:18–20). God no longer overlooks the gentiles but engages them and calls them to repentance and faith.
All idolaters must turn from their idolatry, for God will judge the world by the Judge He has appointed, the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 17:31). We must trust in Him, or we will suffer forever, His resurrection proving that He will judge the world in righteousness. Matthew Henry comments, “God’s raising Christ from the dead is the great proof of his being appointed and ordained the Judge of quick and dead.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
One of the most important things we can do in our proclamation of the gospel is to remind people that a day of judgment is coming and that they will be condemned for all eternity on that day if they do not rest in Christ alone for salvation. God will not overlook sin forever, but many people are counting on Him to do so. Let us remind them of God’s righteousness and call them to trust in Christ alone.
For further study
- Job 19:25–27
- Ecclesiastes 12:13–14
- John 12:48
- Romans 2
The bible in a year
- Psalms 77–79
- Romans 7