Acts 17:30

I believe it is similar to this passage in Romans:

3:25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

 

I'm really interested in answers to this question. Don't be shy.

 

Here's my uneducated take on it:

Paul was preaching to the citizens of Athens here, specifically pointing out the error of their ways when it came to idols. He was amazed at the number of images and the verse you're pointing out was the summary of his thoughts that he gave to the Athenians. Paul is basically saying that God overlooked such things if somone didn't know better in the past, but now that time is over, the unknown is known and you'd better repent and change your ways. (Change your ways by getting rid of all these idols and asking for forgiveness and worshipping the true Lord.) [I take it that the unknown is known now because of Paul's preaching to them, informing them of the matter and the fact that the Christ had recently died and rose from the dead so it was even more public knowledge to all.]

Here's an interesting version of the text:

 

Tom, if you're take is right, the implications are enormous. It means that God sort of overlooked some sins because they didn't know about him--or at least didn't know about the coming Messiah. If you're right, those philosophers to whom Paul preached were given a pass, even though they worshipped idols. That were given a pass, that is, until Paul told them about Jesus.
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However, we may have a problem here, because Paul also wrote to the Romans that nature itself declared the existence of the Creator, and they were without excuse. But nature didn't make them aware of the Savior.

I'm waiting for some of our scholars to weigh in on this.

 

Great points; I'm not sure if the text is saying that God overlooked these things and granted grace to those that were ignorant of Him or not. I'm definitely not an OT scholar; I'm a very simple layman, offering my take and am quite interested in knowing if my quick take is off the mark.

I interpreted the text to be a literal thing, pointing out a sin rather than being a blanket statement about how pre-crucifixion peoples were judged. Does that make sense?

 

I think it might have something to do with their upbringing and where and when He had placed them in history based on v. 26 and 27

 

Hello Skandelon. Didn't have to read too far as to the meaning of ACTs 17:30 that something NEW has happened. Times were then changing from Old to New.

 

It shows how God dispenses His Grace. It is as He wills.

 

Agree. Some interesting goodies pointed out to us in Acts 17.

 

They say it much better than I did.

 

However, what they say doesn't ring quite true. People are held accountable on both sides of the lCross. One is not more ashamed nor are they more blamable than the other. So when God blinked He had already decided on His course of action as to the salvation of man. So Yes God allowed them to continue in their sin, and not look on them, so he gave Them UP, to deal with them later. Here we can see the MERCY OF GOD. The Word of God (a part of God) became flesh in order to SAVE those on BOTH sides of the Cross. Jesus Christ was preached to all those in Hell, and Jesus Christ is preached to all today, those that God has chosen.

But one may say, that's not fair, for all before was preached to in hell, but all alive are not. God will see to it that all that he has chosen will hear the Gospel of Christ Jesus that has been revealed to us from heaven. There is a difference, a big difference in those before, and those chosen. Only those that have been chosen are the ones that are in The Body of Christ. Sure many more alive have, and will hear the gospel of the GIFT, that comes by the Grace of God, Through Faith, which contains no works of our own, BUT not all that hear will accept.