And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
And the times of this ignorance God winked at, х huperidoon (G5237)] - literally, and better, 'overlooked;' that is, bore with, without interposing to punish it otherwise than by suffering the debasing tendency of such worship to develop itself. Compare Acts 14:16, "Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways;" and see the note at Romans 1:24, etc.
But now - now that a new light has risen upon the world,
Commandeth: q.d. 'That duty-all along lying upon man, estranged from his Creator, but hitherto only silently recommending itself and little felt-is now peremptory.'
All men every where - (compare Colossians 1:6; Colossians 1:23; Titus 2:11). There is here a tacit allusion to the narrow precincts of favoured Judaism, within which immediate and entire repentance was ever urged. The word 'repentance' is here used (as in Luke 13:3; Luke 13:5; Luke 15:10) in its most comprehensive sense of 'repentance unto life.'