The Pulpit Commentary on Acts 17:30

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked for and the times of this ignorance God winked at, A.V.; he commandeth for commandeth, A.V.; men for all men, A.V.; that they should all everywhere repent for everywhere to repent, A.

V. and T.R. The times of ignorance; perhaps with reference to Acts 17:23, and also implying that all the idolatry, of which he had spoken in Acts 17:29, arose from ignorance. God overlooked; or, as it is idiomatically expressed in the A.

V., winked at; made as if he did not see it; "kept silence," as it is said in Psalms 1:1-6. 21; made no move to punish it. That they should all everywhere. The gospel is for the whole world- "Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world" (Romans 10:18); "Preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).

Repent. The key-note of the gospel (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Acts 20:21).

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