“The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked, but now he commands men that they should all everywhere repent, inasmuch as he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained, of which he has given assurance (literally ‘faith') to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”
Let them recognise that God has in the past overlooked the periods of their ignorance (compare Acts 14:16). This is firstly evident in that He has not again brought universal destruction on mankind as he did at the Flood. And why has he not done so? It is because He recognised that it was through ignorance that they did it. It is because of that ignorance and darkness that He has spared them the total catastrophe that they had deserved. But that this does not mean that men of the past will not be judged comes out in Romans 2, for there he tells us that all will be judged according to how they responded to their conscience (Romans 2:12-16).
To modern men and women that brings a sense of relief. Their consciences are hardened, and therefore they feel that they are really not so bad. They are sure that their consciences will excuse them. What they do not realise is that in that day when the secrets of their hearts are brought out, and all the truth is known, and the full records are opened, that obliging conscience will suddenly turn on them and become their accuser, and they will be judged according to their works and found wanting (Romans 2:16; Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 20:11-15).
And secondly God's overlooking of the periods of their ignorance is a guarantee that He will not hold the past against those who are now listening to Paul, if only they will hear him. It means that what those of past ages did and believed will not be held against the present generation, who must now make their own decision with regard to such things. They have been spared up to this day, and now they must make up their own minds about the truth. For the time has come when the truth has come to all men in a decisive way, so that God is commanding a change of heart and mind. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. He is therefore calling on them to turn to Him and seek Him, and that because a day has been appointed when He will judge the world by the Man Whom He has now ordained. And what is more He has confirmed that this is so to all men by raising Him from the dead.
We need not doubt in this regard that he expanded on the fact that God is the judge of all the world (Genesis 18:25; 1 Chronicles 16:33; Psalms 82:8; Psalms 94:2; Psalms 96:13; Psalms 98:9; compare Job 31:4; Job 31:6; Job 31:14) and that in Jesus Christ He will call all men to account (John 5:22; John 5:26-27; John 5:29; Romans 14:11-12; Revelation 20:11-14), and that he stressed the cross and resurrection, and the evidences for that resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). For his emphasis on the resurrection, of which they were clearly aware, simply had to have included a reference to His death, and he would not expect them to accept the idea of the resurrection without evidence, as he himself makes clear in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).
‘But now he commands men that they should all everywhere repent.' They are now being called on to repent, that is, to have a change of heart and mind, and to turn to God from idols (Acts 17:29) to serve the living and true God and wait for His Son from heaven Whom He raised from the dead (Acts 17:31; compare 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).
And this because ‘He will judge the world in righteousness.' Compare Psalms 9:8; Psalms 50:6; Psalms 96:13; Isaiah 11:4; Isaiah 51:5. The point is that all will be done in accordance with perfect righteousness and justice, for He is the moral God of Israel and judges accordingly.
‘By that Man Whom He has ordained.' They had already said of him that he had preached ‘Jesus'. He had already no doubt made clear therefore that Jesus was God's ordained Man, ordained for the final fulfilment of His purposes. Now he re-emphasises it. He would already have informed them that that Man had lived among mankind, had died and had risen again, and He would one day be their judge on a day already appointed. Now he re-emphasises that very fact.
‘He has raised Him from the dead.' Again he has already referred sufficiently to the resurrection for them to have seen it as an essential part of his teaching (Acts 17:18). This is not therefore said in a vacuum. But he would also have further expanded on it here. Jesus has been demonstrated as God's approved Judge in that He has uniquely been raised from the dead.
Note that here therefore the resurrection is God's ‘assurance (pistis)' of coming judgment. For God is such that any future resurrection must result in judgment. But this raising of Jesus from the dead also arouses the ‘faith' (pistis) of those who respond to it, with the result that they will receive salvation and escape that judgment.
It is wrong to portray this message as though somehow Paul let himself down by it. It is in fact a message which is both vibrant and life-giving. And its end is very soul searching. It contains all that men need to know, (given what must also have been said), starting from scratch, in their search to find God.
Thus Paul finally makes clear:
· That the coming judgment is definite - ‘he has appointed a day' (compare Luke 17:24; Luke 17:30; Luke 21:34-36).
· That it will be universal - ‘he will judge the inhabited world' (Genesis 18:25; Joel 3:12-14; Revelation 14:14-20; Matthew 25:32; Revelation 20:12-13; for the whole world compare Acts 11:28; Acts 17:6).
· That it will be fair - ‘He will judge the world in righteousness' (Genesis 18:25; Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalms 96:13).
· That it will be personal - ‘by the Man Whom He has appointed' (Acts 10:42; John 5:22; John 5:27).
· That it is intimately connected with the resurrection from the dead (John 5:25; John 5:28-29; John 6:33; John 6:39-40; John 6:44).
We can hardly say that he has not made the position clear.