God Now Commands All Men Everywhere To Repent
Paul continues in Athens describing the true God and exhorting the Athenians that their thoughts about God were wrong - the true God was not a benign God that smiled on their sin and lifestyle; He was a holy God who commanded repentance and warned of coming judgment to the unrepentant sinner.
God Now
We can almost hear the educated audience of Athens say, "it is not wise to create that sense of urgency Paul." "Do not use the world 'now.'" "There is plenty of time." Today the response is no different. Paul was no salesman; his interest was not in mass hysteria on a sham message but real conversion before the truth of a holy God in the light of coming judgment. He could not promise tomorrow. The message is still, "Now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).
Commands
We can hear the men of Athens say, "do not use that word 'command' Paul." They would encourage him to use a word like 'God would feel' or 'God would wish'. The idea that God commands and that men and women should obey would have been foreign to their thinking. This is no different today. Men and women think that they can rewrite the ten commandments; they can make up their own rules and God will be pleased. They have forgotten that God is the Supreme Ruler and Governor of this Universe. He is the Righteous God, the God of the Spirits of all flesh and He asks that men and women obey His voice. "Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart" (Heb. 4:7-8).
All Men Everywhere
The people of Athens would say to Paul that this is not a good strategy; restrict it to the really needy cases; exclude the educated, rich and gentry class. But Paul would continue - no, all people everywhere. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). "Every one of us shall give a account of himself to God" (Rom. 14:12). There is none excluded from the need to repent of his sin and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
To Repent
The Athenians would want Paul to remove this word from his vocabulary (like the people, cults and religions today). Even evangelical theologians reject repentance (even at prestigious schools like Dallas), saying it was only for the Jews during the days of the apostles. Others call it a work and erroneously declare that preaching repentance is preaching a gospel of works. Repentance is not a popular subject, on earth.
God says however that the ability to be deeply sorry for our sins is important. The first words that came out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus in His public ministry reported in the gospel of Mark were: "Repent ye, therefore, and believe the Gospel" (Mk. 1:15). In Acts 20:21 the apostle Paul declared that he had taught publicly and house to house, "Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." The Lord's preaching and the doctrine of the apostles demanded repentance of all men. No theologian, school, creed or church has authority to supersede or modify the divinely given command.
We are all traveling down a road away from God and we need to turn right round from our sins and turn to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins, for our salvation, and rose again for our justification (Rom. 4:25). Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of behavior. It is a complete turning from our sins to God. Have you done this? Have you obeyed God? God commands all people everywhere to repent.
adapted from Vol. 17, Feb/Mar 2014 of Present Truth, nº 198
