SEV Biblia, Chapter 17:30
Así que Dios, habiendo pasado por alto los tiempos de esta ignorancia, ahora denuncia a todos los hombres en todos los lugares que se arrepientan;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 17:30
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, metanoein, 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 uperidein, 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.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 30. And the times of this ignorance God winked at , etc.] 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 call repentance hbwth twxm , 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).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 22-31 - Here we have a sermon to heathens, who worshipped false gods, and wer without the true God in the world; and to them the scope of the discourse was different from what the apostle preached to the Jews. I the latter case, his business was to lead his hearers by prophecies an miracles to the knowledge of the Redeemer, and faith in him; in the former, it was to lead them, by the common works of providence, to know the Creator, and worship Him. The apostle spoke of an altar he ha seen, with the inscription, "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." This fact is state by many writers. After multiplying their idols to the utmost, some a Athens thought there was another god of whom they had no knowledge. An are there not many now called Christians, who are zealous in their devotions, yet the great object of their worship is to them an unknow God? Observe what glorious things Paul here says of that God whom he served, and would have them to serve. The Lord had long borne with idolatry, but the times of this ignorance were now ending, and by his servants he now commanded all men every where to repent of their idolatry. Each sect of the learned men would feel themselves powerfull affected by the apostle's discourse, which tended to show the emptines or falsity of their doctrines.
Greek Textus Receptus
τους 3588 T-APM μεν 3303 PRT ουν 3767 CONJ χρονους 5550 N-APM της 3588 T-GSF αγνοιας 52 N-GSF υπεριδων 5237 5660 V-AAP-NSM ο 3588 T-NSM θεος 2316 N-NSM τα 3588 T-APN νυν 3568 ADV παραγγελλει 3853 5719 V-PAI-3S τοις 3588 T-DPM ανθρωποις 444 N-DPM πασιν 3956 A-DPM πανταχου 3837 ADV μετανοειν 3340 5721 V-PAN
Vincent's NT Word Studies
30. Winked at (uperidwn). Only here in New Testament. Originally, to overlook; to suffer to pass unnoticed. So Rev., overtooked.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
17:30 {The times of ignorance} (tous cronous tes agnoias). The times before full knowledge of God came in Jesus Christ. Paul uses the very word for their ignorance (agnoountes) employed in verse #23. {Overlooked} (huperidwn). Second aorist active participle of huperoraw or hupereidw, old verb to see beyond, not to see, to overlook, not "to wink at" of the Authorized Version with the notion of condoning. Here only in the N.T. It occurs in the LXX in the sense of overlooking or neglecting (#Ps 18:62; 55:1). But it has here only a negative force. God has all the time objected to the polytheism of the heathen, and now he has made it plain. In Wisdom 11:23 we have these words: "Thou overlookest the sins of men to the end they may repent." {But now} (ta nun). Accusative of general reference, "as to the now things or situation." All is changed now that Christ has come with the full knowledge of God. See also #27:22. {All everywhere} (pantas pantacou). No exceptions anywhere. {Repent} (metanoein). Present active infinitive of metanoew in indirect command, a permanent command of perpetual force. See on metanoew Ac 2:38 and the Synoptic Gospels. this word was the message of the Baptist, of Jesus, of Peter, of Paul, this radical change of attitude and life.
