Answers from church history on today's questions
What Christian writers said, from about AD 400 to 1930.
25 passages · 12 writers · 6 centuries
On Acts 3:19, Calvin says repentance is not a condition that merits pardon but the end at which sinners must aim, God having resolved to take pity on men in order to lead them to repent, and Henry says that if there is no repentance there is no remission. Barnes, Wesley, and Robertson take the word as a turning from sin to God. On Acts 17:30, Wesley says the command to all men declares universal guilt, and Brown says the duty is now peremptory. Chrysostom and Finney say God overlooked the times of ignorance but now commands all men to repent, and Chrysostom and Tillotson tie the command to the day of judgment. Newton and Spurgeon say the command carries a warrant to hope for forgiveness.
13 passages · 8 writers · 300s to 1900s
Calvin, Barnes, Henry, Wesley, Chrysostom, and Spurgeon explain what Peter asked and the blotting out of sins.
c. 400–401 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 9
“Repent ye therefore,” he says, “and be converted.” He does not add, “from your sins;” but, “that your sins, may be blotted out,” means the same thing. And then he adds the gain: “So shall the times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord.” (v. 19.)
1552 · John Calvin, Commentary on Acts, part 1 (chapters 1-13) 3.19
Repent We must note, that when he exhorteth unto repentance, he doth also declare that there is remission of sins prepared for them before the face of God. For, as I said of late, no man can be stirred up to repentance, unless he have salvation set before him; but he which doth despair of pardon, being, as it were, given over unto destruction already, doth not fear to run headlong against God obstinately.
1559 · John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 3.3.20
“Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.” Here, however, it is to be observed, that repentance is not made a condition in such a sense as to be a foundation for meriting pardon; nay, it rather indicates the end at which they must aim if they would obtain favor, God having resolved to take pity on men for the express purpose of leading them to repent.
c. 1714 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Acts 3.12-26
Though Christ has died to purchase the remission of sin, yet, that we may have the benefit of that purchase in the forgiveness of our sins, we must repent, and be converted: if no repentance, no remission. [3.] Hopes of the pardon of sin upon repentance should be a powerful inducement to us to repent. Repent, that your sins may be blotted out: and that repentance is evangelical which flows from an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, and the hopes of pardon. This was the first and great argument, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
1754 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on Acts 3.19
Be converted - Be turned from sin and Satan unto God. See chap. xxvi, 20. But this term, so common in modern writings, very rarely occurs in Scripture: perhaps not once in the sense we now use it, for an entire change from vice to holiness.
1820 · John Tillotson, Works, Volume 9 226
And that repentance and obedience are conditions of our pardon, and consequently of our justification, appears from these texts, (Acts iii. 19.) “Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.” Doth not this imply, that upon condition we do repent and be converted, God will pardon our sins? (1 John i. 9.) “If we confess our sins” (that is, with a resolution to leave them; as it is said elsewhere, “He that confesseth, and forsaketh his sins,) he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (Matt. vi. 14, 15.) “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Acts 3.19
The word means properly to "turn; to return to a path from which one has gone astray; and then to turn away from sins, or to forsake them." It is a word used in a general sense to denote "the whole turning to God." That the form of the word here ἐπιστρέψατε epistrepsate does not denote passivity may be clearly seen by referring to the following places where the same form of the word is used: Mat 24:18; Mar 13:16; Luk 17:31; 1Th 1:9. The expression, therefore, would have been more appropriately rendered "repent and turn, that your sins," etc. "To be converted" cannot be a matter of obligation, but to "turn to God" is the duty of every sinner. The crimes of which he exhorted them to repent were those pertaining to the death of the Lord Jesus, as well as all the past sins of their lives. They were to turn from the course of wickedness in which they and the nation had been so long walking.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Acts 3.19
The meaning of the passage may therefore be thus summed up: "Repent, since it is a true doctrine that such times would come: they are clearly predicted; they were to be expected; and you are now living under them. In these times; in this dispensation, also, God shall send his Son again to judge the world, and all things shall be closed and settled forever. Since you live under this period, you may seek for mercy, and you should seek to avoid the vengeance due to the wicked, and to be admitted to heaven when the Lord Jesus shall return."
1863 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 9 (1863) 492
The claims of Jesus of Nazareth are briefly stated by Peter, "Repent and be converted, everyone of you, that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." He demands repentance—that is, a change of mind—the changing of your mind with reference to sin, caring no more for its pleasures, despising it and turning away from it. A change of mind with regard to holiness—seeking your happiness in it. A change of mind with regard to Christ Himself, so that you shall no longer look upon Him as without form or comeliness, but as a most precious Savior, such as you need.
1868 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 14 (1868) 804
In the first place, I think it means this—he that repents and is converted, shall enjoy the blotting out of sin in that season of sweet peace which always follows pardon. After a man has been thoroughly broken down on account of sin, God deals with him very tenderly. Amongst the very happiest parts of human life are the hours immediately after conversion.
1868 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 14 (1868) 804
Brethren, it was a soul-saving repentance, and nothing less than that, which Peter commanded of these men. Now, let us come to the point. We tell men to repent and believe, not because we rely on any power in them to do so, for we know them to be dead in trespasses and sins; not because we depend upon any power in our earnestness or in our speech to make them do so, for we understand that our preaching is less than nothing apart from God; but because the gospel is the mysterious engine by which God converts the hearts of men, and we find that, if we speak in faith, God the Holy Ghost operates with us, and while we bid the dry bones live, the Spirit makes them live—while we tell the lame man to stand on his feet, the mysterious energy makes his ankle-bones to receive strength—while we tell the impotent man to stretch out his hand, a divine power goes with the command, and the hand is stretched out and the man is restored.
1868 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 14 (1868) 804
Oh, if ye repent and be converted, ye shall stand fully absolved in the day of his coming, when heaven and earth do reel, when the solid rock begins to melt, and the stars, like fig-leaves withered, fall from the tree, when the trumpet sounds exceeding loud and long, “Awake, ye dead and come to judgment,” when the grand assize is sitting, and the Judge shall be there—the Judge of quick and dead, to separate the righteous from the wicked. The Lord have mercy upon you in that day; and so he shall if his grace shall make you obedient to the words of our text, “Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”
1930–1933 · A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament: Acts 3.19
God's purpose and patience call for instant change of attitude on their part. Their guilt does not shut them out if they will turn. And turn again (και επιστρεψατε). Definitely turn to God in conduct as well as in mind.
12 passages · 11 writers · 300s to 1900s
Chrysostom, Calvin, Wesley, Henry, Newton, and Tillotson comment on the universal command, past ignorance, and the day of judgment.
c. 400–401 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 38
The (human) understanding in itself is not at all to be relied upon.—But when he has agitated their soul by showing them to be without excuse, see what he says: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.” (v. 30.) What then? Are none of these men to be punished? None of them that are willing to repent. He says it of these men, not of the departed, but of them whom He commands to repent. He does not call you to account, he would say. He does not say, Took no notice (παρεῖδεν); does not say, Permitted: but, Ye were ignorant. “Overlooked,” i.e. does not demand punishment as of men that deserve punishment. Ye were ignorant. And he does not say, Ye wilfully did evil; but this he showed by what he said above.—“All men everywhere to repent:” again he hints at the whole world. Observe how he takes them off from the parcel deities!
c. 400–401 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 38
Having agitated their minds by the fear, he then adds this: and yet he says, “but now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” (v. 30.) “Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” (v. 31.)
1554 · John Calvin, Commentary on Acts, part 2 (chapters 14-28) 17.30
The enemies of the gospel, when it beginneth to spring again, count it a great absurdity that God did suffer men to go astray so long under the apostasy of the Pope, as if (though there appear no reason) it were not as lawful for him now to wink at men’s ignorance as in times past. And we must principally note to what end he saith this; to wit, that the ignorance of former times may not hinder us from obeying God without delay when he speaketh. Most men think that they have a fair color for their error, so they have their fathers to keep them company, or so they get some patronage or defense by long custom; yea, they would willingly creep out here, that they may not obey the word of God. But Paul saith, that we not fet [seek] an excuse from our fathers’ ignorance when God speaketh unto us; because, though they be not guiltless before God, yet our sluggishness is more intolerable if we be blind at noonday, and lie as deaf, or as if we were asleep, when the trumpet of the gospel doth sound.
1657 · John Owen, Of Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 2.3.2
What is the aim and design of God in the dispensation of that forbearance which is manifested and may be discovered out of Christ? The apostle tells us, Rom. ix. 22, “What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction?” It was but to leave them inexcusable, that his power and wrath against sin might be manifested in their destruction. And therefore he calls it “a suffering of them to walk in their own ways,” Acts xiv. 16; which elsewhere he holds out as a most dreadful judgment, — to wit, in respect of that issue whereto it will certainly come; as Ps. lxxxi. 12, “I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lusts, and they walked in their own counsels:” which is as dreadful a condition as a creature is capable of falling into in this world. And Acts xvii. 30, he calls it a “winking at the sins of their ignorance;” as it were taking no care nor thought of them in their dark condition, as it appears by the antithesis, “But now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” He did not take so much notice of them then as to command them to repent, by any clear revelation of his mind and will.
c. 1714 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Acts 17.22-31
The charge God gave to the Gentile world by the gospel, which he now sent among them: He now commandeth all men every where to repent—to change their mind and their way, to be ashamed of their folly and to act more wisely, to break off the worship of idols and bind themselves to the worship of the true God. Nay, it is to turn with sorrow and shame from every sin, and with cheerfulness and resolution to every duty. (1.) This is God's command. It had been a great favour if he had only told us that there was room left for repentance, and we might be admitted to it; but he goes further, he interposes his own authority for our good, and has made that our duty which is our privilege. (2.) It is his command to all men, every where,—to men, and not to angels, that need it not,—to men, and not to devils, that are excluded the benefit of it,—to all men in all places; all men have made work for repentance, and have cause enough to repent, and all men are invited to repent, and shall have the benefit of it.
1754 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on Acts 17.30
He did not appear to take notice of them, by sending express messages to them as he did to the Jews. But now - This day, this hour, saith Paul, puts an end to the Divine forbearance, and brings either greater mercy or punishment. Now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent - There is a dignity and grandeur in this expression, becoming an ambassador from the King of heaven. And this universal demand of repentance declared universal guilt in the strongest manner, and admirably confronted the pride of the haughtiest Stoic of them all. At the same time it bore down the idle plea of fatality.
1784–1785 · John Newton, Messiah: Expository Discourses on the Scripture Passages Contained in Handel's Oratorio, Volume I (Sermons I-XXV) 16
Under the Gospel dispensation, and by it, God commands all men, everywhere, to repent (Acts 17:30) . All men, therefore, everywhere, are encouraged to hope for forgiveness, according to the constitution prescribed by the Gospel; otherwise repentance would be both impracticable and unavailing. And therefore, the command to repent, implies a warrant to believe in the name of Jesus, as taking away the sin of the world.
1820 · John Tillotson, Works, Volume 8 181
All the sins which we now commit, are infinitely aggravated above the sins of thousands in the world, who never enjoyed that light, and those advantages and opportunities, which we have done. “The ignorance of these God winked at, but now” he expects, “he commands all men every where to repent; because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness.” What stripes do we deserve, who have “known our Master’s will, but have not prepared ourselves to do according to it?” All that light and knowledge which we have, all those counsels and instructions which we have read and heard out of God’s word, will inflame our account, and heighten our condemnation, and the very means of our salvation will be the saddest aggravation of our ruin. What our Saviour said of the impenitent and unbelieving Jews, holds as well concerning impenitent Christians; that “it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, for Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than for them.
1871 · David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on Acts 17.30
commandeth—"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 to repent—(compare Col 1:6, 23; Tit 1:11)—a tacit allusion to the narrow precincts of favored Judaism, within which immediate and entire repentance was ever urged. The word "repentance" is here used (as in Lu 13:3, 5; 15:10) in its most comprehensive sense of "repentance unto life."
1878 · Charles G. Finney, Lectures on Systematic Theology 18
The apostle alludes to those past ages when the heathen nations had no written revelation from God, and remarks that “those times of ignorance God winked at.” This does not mean that God did not regard their conduct as criminal in any degree, but it does mean that he regarded it as a sin of far less aggravation, than that which men would now commit, if they turned away when God commanded them all to repent.
1906 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 52 (1906) 2972
Do you not know, O man, that God has commanded you to repent? The times of former ignorance God winked at, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent. What for? Surely He would not command us to repent and then intend to punish us afterwards! It could not be possible that God would woo sinners to return to Him and yet not intend to forgive them! I cannot believe a theory so monstrous as that God would send His ministers and send His own Book—and earnestly and affectionately invite sinners to turn from their evil ways and repent of their sins—and yet intend, even if they did repent, to punish them on account of their iniquity!
1930–1933 · A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament: Acts 17.30
Present active infinitive of μετανοεω in indirect command, a permanent command of perpetual force. See on μετανοεω 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.
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