HARMONY WITH GOD Part 3 of 3 by Zane C. Hodges - Chafer ...

Harmony with God 19
exclusive claims of the Creator and of His Son, Jesus Christ.
According to Paul, the God he proclaimed was the Judge of all the
world. Thus a man’s eternal destiny was determined by the true
and living God, not by any of the countless pagan deities that
Athens honored with her idols.
Thus Paul’s call for repentance from idolatry was intended to
prepare his hearers to have dealings with the God who would
“judge the world in righteousness.”
Cornelius, as we have previously seen, 3 had already given up
his idolatry before Peter came to his house. He was ready for
Peter’s message. But where this readiness was not present—as it
was not on the Areopagus—Paul’s message must lay the
groundwork for that by challenging his hearers to turn to God from
idols (see 1 Thess. 1:9).
Let us remember here too that the speech recorded in Acts
17:22–31 is the merest fragment of what Paul must have said on
this occasion. That he must have mentioned faith in Christ is
shown by the fact that some men joined him and believed (17:34;
underlining added). But Luke’s purpose behind his record here is
to show how Paul dealt with idolatry in the Gentile world. His
purpose is not to give a complete account of all that Paul said.
Clearly we see here how repentance can prepare the way for
faith. It is no different than when an unsaved person turns in
disgust from a sinful lifestyle and looks for a relationship with
God. Repentance does not save him, but it prepares him to come to
faith.
Thus we can more accurately appreciate Paul’s summary of
his own preaching as the process of testifying to Jews, and also to
Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ (Acts 20:21; underlining added; see also Acts 26:20). As
3 See CTS Journal (October–December 2002): 52–54.