Jesus was appointed judge of the world

JESUS WAS APPOINTED JUDGE OF THE WORLD
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Acts 17:31 For he has set a day when he will judge the
world with justice by the man he has appointed. He
has given proof of this to everyoneby raising him from
the dead.”
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
God Revealed:His Holy Purpose
Acts 17:31
W. Clarkson
We ask not only - Who or what is he? what is his characterand spirit? what is
his presentattitude towards us? we ask also - What is his purpose concerning
us? That one infinite God, "in whom we live, and move, and have our being,"
who holds our destiny in his sovereignhand, - is it his intention that the lamp
of his lighting, the human spirit (Proverbs 20:27), shall go out utterly at death,
or that that spirit shall shine in another sphere? And if so, what are to be the
conditions of that life beyond the river? The reply is -
I. THAT GOD WILL CONTINUE TO US OUR EXISTENCE IN ANOTHER
STATE, AND WILL JUDGE US FOR OUR. ACTIONS HERE. "He hath
appointed a day in which he will judge the world." We do not suppose that

time hereafterwill be measured as it is now, and that the "day" of the other
life will correspondwith "a day "of our presentexperience. But the time will
come in the future life when "we shall appear before the judgment-seat." God
has "appointed unto man once to die," and "after this the judgment." Clearly
enough, in the thought and purpose of God, this life is only the
commencementof our existence, the probation period on which the long
results of the eternal world depend. So far from this being the be-all and end-
all of humanity, it is but the preface to the large volume that succeeds;it is but
the river which runs down to and is lost in the sea.
II. THAT GOD'S JUDGMENT OF US WILL BE ONE OF PERFECT
RIGHTEOUSNESS. "Inrighteousness."
1. There will be no trace of partiality, no smallestshade of favoritism; none
will fare the better, none the worse, forclass, orsex, or parentage, or
nationality.
2. Regardwill be had to all the particulars of human action. "God will bring
every work into judgment with every secretthing" (Ecclesiastes12:14):all
thoughts - the "work" ofthe understanding; all feelings - the "work" ofthe
heart; all choices -the "work of the will; as wellas all words - the work" of
the tongue;and all deeds - the "work" ofthe hand.
3. Respectwillbe had to all that enhances orlessens responsibility; to all
specialprivilege and opportunity on the one hand, and to all privation and
disadvantage on the other.
III. THAT GOD WILL JUDGE THE WORLD BY HIS SON, OUR SAVIOR
JESUS CHRIST. "By that Man," etc., even the Son of man, to whom all

judgment is committed (John 5:22), who will have authority to execute
judgment "because he is the Son of man" (John 5:27). Christ will be our
Judge. His specialrelationshipto us eminently fits him for that supreme
position.
1. He is the Lord of our nature.
2. He knows our nature perfectly (Hebrews 4:15).
3. He claims that we shall all come into living relation to himself; we must all
be "found in him" (Philippians 3:9; John 15:4, 6; 1 John 2:28).
IV. THAT GOD HAS GIVEN US STRONG ASSURANCE OF HIS DIVINE
PURPOSE. "Whereofhe hath given," etc. We have an assurance ofsuch
intention in:
1. Our ownconsciousnessofill desertand incomplete retribution. We feelthat
sin demands condemnation and punishment, and that our own individual guilt
has not receivedits due penalty. For how much and how many things do we
deserve the reproval of the Divine voice, the infliction of the Divine hand!
2. Our observationof the course of abandoned and wickedmen. How many
are they who go down to the grave with (as it assuredlyappears)unpunished
sins on their soul!
3. The generalapprehension of mankind.

4. But the assurance ofGod's purpose is in the language and the life of Jesus
Christ; more especiallyin the fact of his resurrection, preceding, predicting,
and ensuring our own.
(1) How foolish to treat as if it were the whole of our careerthat which is no
more than the commencement!
(2) How wise to live in view of that greatday of account!
(3) How needful to be rightly related to the supreme Judge! - C.
Biblical Illustrator
BecauseHe hath appointed a day, in the which He will Judge the world in
righteousness.

Acts 17:31
The day of judgment
I. THERE SHALL BE A DAY OF JUDGMENT.
1. "A particular judgment." At the day of death the soul hath a judgment
passedupon it (Hebrews 9:27; Ecclesiastes 12:7).
2. "A generalday of judgment"; which is the greatassize, whenthe world
shall be gathered together(Ecclesiastes12:14;Matthew 12:36;Psalm96:13).
II. WHY THERE MUST BE A DAY OF JUDGMENT.
1. That God may execute justice on the wicked. Things seemto be carried
here in the world with an unequal balance (Job 29:3; Malachi3:15). Diogenes,
seeing Harpalus, a thief, go on prosperously, said [that] surely Godhad cast
off the government of the world and minded not how things went here below
(2 Peter3:3, 4). Therefore Godwill have a day of assize to vindicate His
justice; He will let sinners know that long forbearance is no forgiveness.
2. That God may exercise mercyto the godly. Here piety was the white which
was shot at (Romans 8:36). God will therefore have a day of judgment, that
He may reward all the tears and sufferings of His people (Revelation7:9).
III. WHEN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT SHALL BE. It is certain there shall
be a judgment; uncertain, when (Matthew 24:36). And the reasonis —

1. That we may not be curious. There are some things which God would have
us ignorant of (Acts 1:7). "It is a kind of sacrilege," as Salvianspeaks, "for
any man to break into the Holy of holies, and enter into God's secrets."
2. That we may not be careless. "Godwouldhave us live every day," saith
Austin, "as if the lastday were approaching." This is the use [which] our
Saviour makes of it (Mark 13:32, 33).
IV. WHO SHALL BE THE JUDGE? The Man who is God-man. We must
take heed of judging others; this is Christ's work (John 5:22) There are two
things in Christ which do eminently qualify Him for a Judge —
1. Prudence and intelligence, to understand all causes thatare brought before
Him (Zechariah 3:9; Hebrews 4:13). Christ is "a Heart searcher";He doth
not only judge the fact, but the heart, which no angelcan do.
2. Strength, whereby He is able to be revengedupon His enemies (Revelation
20:10).
V. THE ORDER AND METHOD OF THE TRIAL.
1. The summons to the court (1 Thessalonians4:16).(1)The shrillness of the
trumpet. It shall sound so loud, that the dead shall hear it.(2) The efficacyof
the trumpet. It shall not only startle the dead, but raise them out of their
graves (Matthew 24:31).

2. The manner of the Judge's coming to the bench.(1)It will be glorious to the
godly (Titus 2:13).(a)Christ's person shall be glorious. His first coming in the
flesh was obscure (Isaiah53:2, 3). But His secondcoming will be "in the glory
of His Father" (Mark 8:38).(b) Christ's attendants shall be glorious (Matthew
25:31).(2)Dreadful to the wicked(2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8).
3. The process or the trial itself.(1) Its universality. It will be a very great
assize;never was the like seen(2 Corinthians 5:10). Kings and nobles, councils
and armies, those who were above all trial here, have no charter of exemption
granted them. They who refused to come to "the throne of grace" shallbe
forcedto come to the bar of justice. And the dead as wellas the living must
make their appearance (Romans 20:12);and not only men, but angels (Jude
1:6).(2) Its formality. Which consists in the opening of the books (Daniel7:10;
Revelation20:12).(a)The book of God's omnisciency(Malachi 3:16).(b) The
book of conscience. Menhave their sins written in their conscience;but the
book is clasped(the searing of the conscienceis the clasping of the book);but
when this book of conscienceshallbe unclasped at the greatday, then all their
hypocrisy, treason, atheism, shall appear to the view of men and angels (Luke
12:3).(3) Its circumstances.(a)Impartiality. Jesus Christ will do every man
justice. The Thebans did picture their judges blind, that they might not
respectpersons;without hands, that they might take no bribes. Christ's
sceptre is "a sceptre of righteousness"(Hebrews 1:8). He is no "respecterof
persons" (Acts 10:34).(b) Exactness ofthe trial. It will be very critical
(Matthew 3:12). Not a grace ora sin but His fan will discover.(c)Perspicuity.
Sinners shall be so clearlyconvicted, that they shall hold up their hand at the
bar, and cry, "guilty" (Psalm 51:4). The sinner himself shall clearGod of
injustice.(d) Supremacy. Men can remove their causes fromone place to
another, but from Christ's court there is no appeal; he who is once doomed
here — his condition is irreversible.
VI. THE EFFECT OF THE TRIAL.

1. Segregation. Christwill separate the godly and the wickedas the fan doth
separate the wheatfrom the chaff, as a furnace separatesthe goldfrom the
dross.
2. The sentence.(1)The sentence ofabsolution pronounced upon the godly
(Matthew 25:34).(2)The sentence ofcondemnation pronounced upon the
wicked(Matthew 25:41). The wickedonce said to God, "Departfrom us" (Job
21:14); and now God will say to them, "Departfrom Me." "Departfrom Me,
in whose presence is fulness of joy."
3. The execution (Matthew 13:30). Christ will say, "Bundle up these sinners;
here a bundle of hypocrites; there a bundle of apostates;there a bundle of
profane; bundle them up, and throw them in the fire." And now no cries or
entreaties will prevail with the Judge.Conclusion:
1. Let me persuade all Christians to believe this truth, that there shall be a day
of judgment (Ecclesiastes11:9). How many live as if this article were blotted
out of their Creed! Durst men swear, be unchaste, live in malice, if they did
believe a day of judgment?
2. See here the sadand deplorable estate of wickedmen.
(T. Watson, A. M.)
The righteousness offinal judgment
J. Goodman, D. D.
In which words I observe these five particulars.

I. First, AN ASSERTION OF A JUDGMENT TO COME. He will judge the
world. For the more clear apprehensionof the full importance of which it is to
be noted that there are two pares of Divine Providence. The former, that by
which He takes notice of the actions of men in this life; the latter, that by
which He brings men to accountin the other world. Which two branches of
Providence do mutually infer and prove eachother. For on the one hand if
there were no such thing as a wise eye of God that strictly observes the actions
of men in this world, it were impossible there should be any judgment to
come, at leastnot a judgment in righteousness;for how shall He judge that
doth not discern? And on the other hand, if there were no judgment to come,
it were to no purpose for God to concernHimself about the affairs of mankind
here below. Now this doctrine is the soul and spirit of all religion, and the
sinew of all government and society. It is the soul of all religion, for what doth
the belief of a God signify (although we should imagine Him to be never so
great, glorious and happy) if He will not trouble Himself with government; in
short, if He will neither reward nor punish; virtue is then but an empty name.
And it is the sinew of all government; for it is certainthat plots may
sometimes be laid so deep that no eye of man can discoverthem. And there
may be such a potent confederacyofwickedmen, as that they shall outface
human justice, in which case,whatshall keepthe world from running into
confusion, and becoming an hell upon earth, but the discerning eye and steady
hand of Providence?
II. The secondobservable in my text is, THAT THERE IS NOT ONLY A
JUDGMENT TO COME, BUT THAT THE DAY OF IT IS DETERMINED.
"He hath appointed a day wherein," etc. To adjourn to no certain time is, I
think, to dissolve the court; and to appoint no day is to disappoint the
business;the Almighty, therefore, hath appointed an express and solemn time
for this greattransaction. And indeed it is worthy of observation, that in all
the greatpassagesofDivine Providence He hath passedsuch an immutable
decree upon them, that the time of their event can be no more casualthan the
very things themselves. So Exodus 12:41, the servitude of the children of
Israelwas determined to four hundred and thirty years, and the text tells us
"that when the four hundred and thirty years were expired, even the self-

same day departed all the host of the Lord out of the land of Egypt." Again 2
Chronicles 36:21, God had decreedto punish the nation of the Jews with
seventy years captivity in Babylon, and preciselyupon the expiration of that
term, when the Word of the Lord spokenby the mouth of Jeremiah was
finished, God put it into the heart of Cyrus to proclaim them liberty.
III. The third observable, namely, that as the day of judgment is set, so THE
PERSON OF THE JUDGE IS ALSO CONSTITUTED AND ORDERED;"He
will judge the world by that man whom He hath ordained," etc. And as all
circumstances oftime, place, and persons, are evidences of fact, and
assurancesofthe principal business, so doth this particular designationof the
Judge further confirm the certainty of the judgment. And not only so, but it
also opens to us the greatdepth of the Divine goodness,especiallyupon these
two considerations.
1. In the first place, it is wonderful decorous and becoming the Divine
Majesty, and righteous towards the person of our Saviour, that He who
humbled Himself to take our nature upon Him, and therein to fulfil exactly
the Divine law, should in reward of this obedience and humiliation be exalted
to be the Judge of the world, which He died for (Philippians 2:9).
2. Again, secondly, it wonderfully displays the Divine goodness towards us,
that He should be appointed our Judge, that hath been, and yet is in our
nature, that hath felt our infirmities, conflictedwith the same temptations,
and that withal had so much love to us as to die for us. That the Divine
Majestywill not oppress us with His own glory, nor employ an archangelto
pass judgment upon us, who as He hath had no commerce with a body of flesh
and blood, cannothave sufficient compassionofour infirmities.

IV. In the fourth particular of my text, HE HATH GIVEN ASSURANCE
UNTO ALL MEN IN THAT HE RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD. But how
doth that assure us of this greatand comfortable point? It is true the
resurrectionof our Saviour did denote Him to be some greatand
extraordinary person, but that is no sufficient argument that He shall be
Judge of the world; the evidence therefore lies in this, our Saviour, Christ
Jesus, whilstHe was in the world, had often declaredthat He was appointed
by God to judge the quick and dead, and appealedto His resurrectionas the
greatproof of this.
V. There is one particular more in my text that deserves especial
consideration, and that is THE MANNER OF THIS JUDGMENT,OR
RATHER THE MEASURES THIS JUDGE WILL PROCEEDBY AT THAT
GREAT JUDGMENT AND THAT IS IN RIGHTEOUSNESS;He will judge
the world in righteousness. Now in order hereto, we must first settle the
Scripture notion of this phrase "righteousness"or"in righteousness." And
that which I first observe to this purpose is this: Nowhere in all the Scripture
doth righteousness signifyrigour. I say there is no such use of this word in
Scripture, when applied to God's dealings, no, nor yet when it is applied to
men; a severe, harsh, rigorous man is so far from being a righteous man in the
style of Scripture, that He is quite under another character. But to come home
to the business, the full of my observationtouching the Scripture notion of the
phrase in my text is this, that δικαιοσύνη,orrighteousness, is always used
there in a comprehensive sense, so as to take in not only justice and
uprightness, and impartiality, and the like, but also goodness, kindness,
equity, clemency, candour, and mercy. "In righteousness shallHe judge the
world, and the people with equity (Psalm 98, last verse). Where, as world and
people are equivalent expressions, andinterpret eachother, so are
righteousness andequity made to be expressive of eachother. Now agreeably
to this notion, I will, by the guidance of the same holy Scripture, endeavourto
representthe measures of that greatday.

1. Christ Jesus, the Judge of all the world, will not at the last day proceed
arbitrarily with men, but according to knownlaws;that is, He will not absolve
and save any merely because He hath decreedso to do (Revelation2:23; 2
Corinthians 5:10). Indeed in this world God doth deal by prerogative, and
dispenses the means of grace as wellas other favours, as He pleases,from
whence it comes to pass, that greateradvantages are conferredupon some
people than other, but this is not the case atthe end of the world, when God
comes to demonstrate His justice and righteousness.And besides, wherefore is
the Judge said to be the searcherofhearts, if He proceedproleptically upon
bare resolution or determination? Why is He saidto separate the sheep from
the goats, ifHe make a distinction without a difference? Why is it calleda
fiery trial if there be no discrimination; and in a word, if He save and damn
by prerogative?
2. The Judge of the world will not be partial, or use any respectof persons;
that is, He will neither acquit nor condemn any man or men whatsoever, in
considerationof external circumstances. As for kindred and family, the Jews
were wont to bear themselves in hand with their lineage and descent, that they
were Abraham's seed. Godwill soonerexert His omnipotency in the most
improbable miracle that ever He wrought, than admit an unholy person into
heaven upon the pretence of kindred and consanguinity. And as for sectand
opinion, it is notoriously evident that there is no opinion so orthodox, nor
party so canonical, but an evil man may be of it, and at that day nothing will
pass current for the sake ofthe public stamp upon it, but according to the
intrinsic value; for all shall be weighedin the balance of the sanctuary. To this
head I refer also, that this righteous Judge is capable of no fondness or
indulgence, will be wrought upon by no flattery, will value nothing that men
can either do or suffer for Him without an holy temper, an habitually pious
and virtuous life, and such qualifications inherent as fit a man for the
kingdom of heaven.

3. So just and righteous will be the proceedings atthis greattribunal, that as
no man shall be savedfor the righteousness ofanother, so neither shall any
man be damned for the sin of another, but every man shall bear his own
burden. Whatever it may please the Divine Majestyto do in this world, where
His inflictions are not so properly revengedor the expletion of justice, as
methods of mercy to reclaim men from sin; yet most certainly at that day the
sons shall not bear the iniquity of the fathers, but every man shall bear his
own burden, and the soul only that sinneth shall die.
4. This Judge of all the world will at that great day candidly interpret men's
actions, and make the very best of things that the case willbear. Now touching
this the tenor of the whole gospelassuresus that our merciful Judge will not
watchadvantages againstmen, will not insist upon punctilios, but principally
looks atthe sincerity of men's intentions (Matthew 25:34). But that which I
principally note in this place is the benignity of His interpretation, for when
the righteous say, "Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered," He replies,
"Inasmuch as ye have done it to the leastof these," etc., as if He had said, I
know the sincerity of your intentions, and I take notice of the virtuous temper
from whence those actions of yours proceeded;'tis the heart I value more than
the thing done, or the opportunity of doing.
5. The admirable equity of the great and final judgment is this, That the glory
and happiness of goodmen in the other world shall be increased
proportionably to the measures oftheir difficulties, sufferings, and calamities
here in this world. The apostle tells us, "That as one stardiffereth from
another in glory, so also is the resurrectionof the dead."
(J. Goodman, D. D.)
Judgment inevitable

C. S. Robinson, D. D.
When the buried city of Pompeii was unearthed, there was found in a little
stone room a circle of men lying dead around a table. They had been invited
as watchers before a funeral, to remain with the corpse through the night,
while the fatigued relatives rested. According to custom, a feasthad been
prepared as an offering to the departed spirit. These disinterestedand
honourable friends thought to help themselves to a moiety of the delicate
provisions, and were led on to eat the viands and quaff the wine. Just in the
midst of their unholy revel the ashes beganto fall, the sulphurous vapours
poured in, and they were strangled in the act. The city was sooncovereddeep
under the discharge from the burning mountain — buildings all concealed,
streets all filled up; and so two thousands of years passedon. Now that whole
transaction, in all its dishonestyand unutterable meanness, has reachedthe
light. The bodies of the watchers and the body of the dead they pretended to
watchwere lying togetherthere in the midst of the excavations. Ages rolled
awaybefore men's eyes saw it, but God the All-seeing was aware ofthe
infamous cheat from the moment it was perpetrated. Oh, how sober, and yet
how startling, will be the disclosures ofsecretiniquity, hidden sins, Sabbath
hypocrisy, and ungenuine life, in the greatlight of the future judgment, as it
comes to revealthem in the dawn of eternity!
(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The resurrectiona judgment
DeanChurch.
There are two moments in the history of this world in which the veil is drawn
off from God's government, and it is seen, without any doubt or confusion,
how He gives judgment clearlyand decisively on the side of goodnessand
truth. One of these moments is of course to come, the other is past. God,
indeed, is far from leaving His judgment without witness in the history of the
world. God rewards and punishes now. But human life, as we look at it from
the outside, is still full of darkness and perplexity. The perfectand final and

manifest clearing up of God's judgment on what men think and do is not now.
It is not till the end and time of mortality, when the Judge sits upon the
throne, that this will be pronounced, so that none can doubt it. And in the
course of the world there is but one other such occasionlike it in its awfulness,
like it in its clearness. Itwas when He who had been condemned as a sinner
for the cause of truth and goodness, was raisedagainby the glory of the
Father on the third day. Christ suffered for righteousness, andin Him
righteousness was justifiedbefore the world, and in anticipation of that great
day when righteousness shallfinally triumph. Many men, before and after
Him, have suffered for righteousness, but their righteousness was leftto the
varying and contradictoryjudgments of men. It seemed, as far as present
experience went, as if they had found only evil, by keeping innocency and
cleaving to the thing that was right. It was faith only that dared to trust
againstthe melancholy resignationof experience. But in Christ the spectacle
which had in others been only begun was shown also finished. The world had
often lookedon the sight of righteousness defeatedandoverthrown; it had
seenthe beginning of its course, but not how it was to end. But, for once, in
Christ there was shownto men on earth both the beginning and the end.
Neverbefore had such righteousness suffered. Onthe other hand, never
before had it been so unanswerablyjustified. "Now is the judgment of this
world," said our Lord, when He was about to suffer. The world had doubted
whether God did judge and rule the course of things on earth. "Where," it
had asked, "wasthe God of judgment," and in the personof Jesus Christ, the
representative of the human race, the challenge was answered;the world itself
was to be judged. In Jesus Christ the boast of wickednesswas made in all its
insolence. But in Jesus Christ the proof of righteousness,ofrighteousness in
man's real nature, was not put off till the world to come. In that tremendous
breaking through the laws of mortality and death, we see the answerto the
challenge of the world, and may be sure that it will be well with the righteous.
Of this God hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised "the
crucified from the dead." I am not sure that we always adequately understand
how strong a faith it must have neededbefore Christ rose to believe this in
earnest. Goodmen did believe it. The Psalms are full of this belief; but they
are full, too, of its difficulty. They trusted like children to their general
confidence in the goodnessofthe Lord, in spite of death; they were sure that,

somehow or other, they would "see the goodness ofthe Lord in the land of the
living." But to us the proof has been given. And I am not sure that we always
understand how, even still, that faith needs all the support which God has
given it. The powerof sin is unabated. The righteous and the sinner seemleft
alike to find their way through life. But when our hearts fail us, when the
world mocks us, let us go back as Christians did in the days of the apostles, to
the open, empty grave of the Lord — let us rise up in thought and feeling to
the unspeakable preciousness ofthat foundation stone of all human hopes —
"but now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them
that slept." No triumph of evil now can equal what happened when He
suffered for us and was put to shame; "but now is Christ risen from the dead"
— "now is the judgment of the world."
(DeanChurch.)
The day of judgment
T. De Witt Talmage.
The day when Lord Exeterwas tried for high treason;the day when the
House of Commons moved for the impeachment of Lord Lovatt; the day when
Charles I and QueenCaroline were put upon trial; the day when Robert
Emmet was arraignedas an insurgent; the day when Blenner-hassetwas
brought into the court room because he had tried to overthrow the United
States Government, and all the other greattrials of the world are nothing
compared with the greattrial in which you and I shall appear, summoned
before the Judge of quick and dead. There will be no pleading there "the
statute of limitation"; no "turning State's evidence," trying to getoff
ourselves, while others suffer; no "moving for a non-suit." The case will come
on inexorably, and we shall be tried. You, my brother, who have so often been
advocate for others, will then need an advocate for yourself. Have you selected
him? The Lord Chancellorof the Universe. If any man sin we have an
advocate — Jesus Christthe righteous. It is uncertain when your case willbe
calledon. "Be ye also ready."

(T. De Witt Talmage.)
WhereofHe hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raisedHim
from the dead.
The doctrine of a future judgment confirmed by the resurrection of Christ
R. Fiddes, D. D.
I. AN EXPRESS DECLARATION OF GOD concerning a future and general
judgment. He hath appointed a day wherein He will judge the world. It must
be owned that the natural proofs of a judgment to come, had it not been made
an article of our faith, are very strong and cogent. The promiscuous
distribution of the blessings and evils of this life to wickedand goodmen. The
triumphs of injustice, and notorious oppressionof right, and that not for a
short time, but for a course of many years, have been all along made an
argument that the Judge of all the earth will one day do right, and justify the
wise though unsearchable methods of His providence in this world, by
rewarding the innocent and bringing the successfuland presumptuous sinner
to condign punishment. And indeed there is nothing more true or certain in
fact than what Solomonobserves (Ecclesiastes 8:14, etc.), But though this and
severalother proofs, which are drawn from natural religion, of a judgment to
come should be allowednot only highly probable, but very evident, it must be
owned, notwithstanding a greathappiness to mankind in general, that God
has been pleasedto make this natural principle an article of our Christian
faith. Forby this means those who are not able to reasonjustly on the nature
of things, or to carry on a long train of proofs, are convinced of the truth of a
future judgment upon the authority of God.
II. THE JUSTICE AND EQUITY WHEREWITHGOD WILL PROCEEDIN
JUDGING THE WORLD — "He hath appointed a day wherein He will judge
the world" in righteousness. The justice of the proceedings atthat day will
appear in this, that God, in rewarding and punishing men, will make a more
visible distinction betweenthe wickedand the goodthan He ordinarily does in
this life. Herein also lies the justice of the greatand lastcourt of judicature

that no partial recordshall be had to any persons on accountof their superior
quality, fortune, or other advantages in this world. To show the impartial
executionof justice at that day, we have a particular enumeration of the men
of the earth who have abused their power, their authority, or wealth to sinful
ends. and a very lively image and the horror of despair which will then seize
them (Revelation6:15-17).
III. THE DESIGNATION OF THE PERSON WHO IS TO BE OUR JUDGE.
"ThatMan whom He hath ordained." It might perhaps have been thought
more suitable to the awful solemnity of the last day, and the dignity and glory
wherein Christ will then appear, if He had been describedin the characterof
Judge as the Son of God, the brightness of His glory, and the express image of
His person, or in those other magnificent terms wherein He is so often spoken
of in the prophetical writings. But still it is more suitable to the state and
condition of mankind, and His tender compassiontowards them, that when
He speaks ofcoming to judge the world He should rather give us an idea of
His human than His Divine nature. For indeed, when we consider the infinite
persecutions ofthe Divine nature, and at what an infinite distance our sins
have separatedus from it, had the eternal God Himself, without the interposal
of a Mediator, thought fit to convene the world in judgment before Him. Alas!
the bestof men would have been so oppressedwith the thoughts of His glory,
and their own demerits, that they must of necessity, evenunder their best
grounded hopes, have sunk into great despondencyof mind. He that has
assumedour nature, and done and suffered so much for us in it, will certainly
show all the lenity and tenderness to it which the terms of evangelical
obedience will admit.
IV. We have here a very particular and extraordinary circumstance to
convince us of THE TRUTH AND CERTAINTYOF CHRIST'S COMING
TO JUDGE THE WORLD, and that is by His resurrection from the dead.
The miracles which were done by our Saviour throughout the whole course of
His ministry carrieda sufficient proof and attestationalong with them of the

truths which He taught, for no one could have done those things which He did
in the most open and public manner without the assistanceofa Divine power.
Now this being one greatarticle of the religion He came to preachand
establishthat God has appointed a day wherein He will judge the world, it
may be said, What need was there of any further witness to confirm this
article? Or why, when it was sufficiently confirmed before, was there so great
stress laid on the resurrectionof Christ for the proof of it? But still there was
something peculiar in what related to the resurrection of Christ which
rendered it an argument of the truth of His religion more proper to persuade
the generalityof men and to convince gainsayers than the restof His miracles.
For —
1. He bad Himself appealedto this testimony as one greatproof and
characteristic ofHis Divine mission and authority (John 2:16). And therefore,
besides that His resurrectionwas a miraculous and extraordinary event,
exceeding the powers of nature, it was an argument of His being inspired with
a prophetic Spirit, and that God, who alone appropriates to Himself the
knowledge offuture events, was in this respectalso with Him.
2. The caution which the Jews usedto prevent, if possible, the resurrection of
Christ, gave the greaterforce to the arguments we draw in proof of our holy
religion from it. So that His very enemies, who would fasten so chimerical an
imputation upon Him, must confess atleastthat His resurrectioncould not be
effectedby it, but that He was raisedby a powertruly Divine.
3. Again, whereas it might have been objectedthat His other miracles were
done before people of obscure and mean circumstances, before a company of
illiterate Galileans, and the credulous multitude upon whom it is no difficult
matter for men of parts and dexterity at any time to impose;though this
objectionis easily answered, from the public manner of our Saviour's working
His miracles, and His propounding them afterwards to the examination of His

greatestenemies, the Pharisees,yet in His resurrectionthe very ground of
these surmises is quite removed. There could be no artifice used on so
remarkable and extraordinary an occasion.
4. There is something in the very nature of the thing itself apt to persuade
men, from the resurrectionof Christ, that the doctrines which He taught were
true, and that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. For though every miracle
is above the ordinary course and powers of nature, and supposes certain
changes ofbodies which cannot be accountedfor according to the established
order of things; yet where all the bodily powers ofa man are rendered
incapable of acting, and all the springs of life are entirely broken, it still seems
less conceivable how He should either be able to work any change upon other
bodies, or to restore His own body againto life.Conclusion:
1. If God has appointed a day wherein He will judge the world, let us have it
often in our thoughts, and carefully practise the duties preparative to it.
2. If God has appointed a day wherein He will judge the world in
righteousness, thenit highly concerns us as we expect to stand in judgment
before Him, to take care that we live and die in a holy and righteous state.
3. Since our BlessedSaviour, in speaking of the last judgment, is pleasedmore
peculiarly to style Himself the Son of Man. This considerationwill mightily
fortify all true penitents againstthose black and desponding thoughts which
are sometimes apt to arise in the minds of very goodmen. How greator
numerous soeverour sins have been, yet if we have humbled ourselves before
God, and truly repented of them, we know that the blood of Jesus Christ is
sufficient to expiate their guilt.

4. As by the resurrectionof Christ we have a more full and express assurance
of a future judgment than we could have had from the mere light of reason,
let this considerationexcite us to walk worthy of so bright and glorious an
evidence. Let us resolve to live, not as persons that have some probable
notions and conjectures aboutsuch a thing, but as men who fully and in
earnestbelieve that we must one day appear before the judgment seatof
Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in the body according to
what he hath done, whether it be goodor bad.
(R. Fiddes, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(31) Becausehe hath appointed a day.—Here the speakerwouldseem, to both
sets of hearers, to be falling back into popular superstition. Minos and
Rhadamanthus, and Tartarus and the Elysian Fields,—these theyhad learnt
to dismiss, as belonging to the childhood of the individual and of mankind,—
“Esse aliquid Manes et subterranea regna
Vix pueri credunt.”. . . .
[“Talk of our souls and realms beyond the grave,
The very boys will laugh and sayyou rave.”]

—Juvenal, Sat. ii. 149.
The Epicureanrejectedthe idea of a divine government altogether. Forthe
Stoic, to quote a line from Schiller,—
“Die Welt-geschichte istdas Welt-gericht,”
[“And the world’s story is its judgment day, “]
and he expectedno other. The thought of a day of judgment as the
consummation of that history, which was so prominent in St. Paul’s teaching,
was altogetherstrange to them.
By that man whom he hath ordained.—Literally, by a man. Who the man
was, and what proof there was that he had been raised from the dead, were
questions either reservedfor a later stage of teaching, or interrupted by the
derision of the hearers. Up to this point they had listened attentively, but that
the dead should be raisedagainseemedto them—as to the Sadducean, to the
Greeks generally—absolutelyincredible (Acts 26:8; 1Corinthians 15:35).
MacLaren's Expositions
Acts
PAUL AT ATHENS

THE MAN WHO IS JUDGE
Acts 17:31.
I. The Resurrectionof Jesus gives assuranceofjudgment.
{a} Christ’s Resurrectionis the pledge of ours.
The belief in a future life, as entertained by Paul’s hearers on Mars Hill, was
shadowyand dashed with much unbelief. Disembodiedspirits wandered
ghostlike and spectralin a shadowyunderworld.
The belief in the ResurrectionofJesus converts the Greek peradventure into a
fact. It gives that belief solidity and makes it easierto grasp firmly. Unless the
thought of a future life is completed by the belief that it is a corporeallife, it
will never have definiteness and reality enough to sustain itself as a
counterpoise to the weight of things seen.
{b} Resurrectionimplies judgment.
A future bodily life affirms individual identity as persisting beyond the
accidentof death, and can only be conceivedof as a state in which the earthly
life is fully developedin its individual results. The dead, who are raised, are
raisedthat they may ‘receive the things done in the body, according to that
they have done, whether it be goodor bad.’ Historically, the two thoughts
have always gone together;and as has been the clearness withwhich a

resurrectionhas been held as certain, so has been the force with which the
anticipation of judgment to come has impinged on conscience.
Jesus is, even in this respect, our Example, for the glory to which He was
raisedand in which He reigns now is the issue of His earthly life; and in His
Resurrectionand Ascensionwe have the historicalfact which certifies to all
men that a life of self-sacrificehere will assuredly flowerinto a life of glory
there, ‘Ours the Cross, the grave, the skies.’
II. The ResurrectionofJesus gives the assurance that He is Judge.
The bare fact that He is risen does not carry that assurance;we have to take
into accountthat He has risen.
After such a life.
His Resurrectionwas God’s setting the sealof His approval and acceptanceon
Christ’s work;His endorsementof Christ’s claims to specialrelations with
Him; His affirmation of Christ’s sinlessness. Jesus haddeclared that He did
always the things that pleasedthe Father; had claimed to be the pure and
perfect realisationof the divine ideal of manhood; had presented Himself as
the legitimate objectof utter devotion and of religious trust, love, and
obedience, and as the only way to God. Men said that He was a blasphemer;
God said, and said most emphatically, by raising Him from the dead: ‘This is
My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’
With such a sequel.

‘Christ being raisedfrom the dead, dieth no more,’ and that fact sets Him
apart from others who, according to Scripture, have been raised. His
resurrectionis, if we may use such a figure, a point; His Ascensionand
Sessionatthe right hand of God are the line into which the point is prolonged.
And from both the point and the line come the assurancethat He is the Judge.
III. The risen Jesus is Judge because He is Man.
That seems a paradox. It is a commonplace that we are incompetent to judge
another, for human eyes cannotread the secrets ofa human heart, and we can
only surmise, not know, eachother’s motives, which are the all-important
part of our deeds. But when we rightly understand Christ’s human nature, we
understand how fitted He is to be our Judge, and how blessedit is to think of
Him as such. Paul tells the Athenians with deep significance that He who is to
be their and the world’s Judge is ‘the Man.’ He sums up human nature in
Himself, He is the ideal and the real Man.
And further, Paul tells his hearers that God judges ‘through’ Him, and does
so ‘in righteousness.’He is fitted to be our Judge, because He perfectly and
completely bears our nature, knows by experience all its weaknesses and
windings, as from the inside, so to speak, and is ‘wondrous kind’ with the
kindness which ‘fellow-feeling’enkindles. He knows us with the knowledge of
a God; He knows us with the sympathy of a brother.
The Man who has died for all men thereby becomes the Judge of all. Even in
this life, Jesus and His Cross judge us. Our disposition towards Him is the test
of our whole character. By their attitude to Him, the thoughts of many hearts
are revealed. ‘What think ye of Christ?’ is the question, the answerto which
determines our fate, because it reveals our inmost selves and their capacities
for receiving blessing or harm from God and His mercy. Jesus Himself has

taught us that ‘in that day’ the condition of entrance into the Kingdom is
‘doing the will of My Fatherwhich is in heaven.’ He has also taught us that
‘this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.’Faith in
Jesus as our Saviour is the root from which will grow the goodtree which will
bring forth goodfruit, bearing which our love will be ‘made perfect, that we
may have boldness before Him in the day of judgment.’
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
17:22-31 Here we have a sermonto heathens, who worshipped false gods, and
were without the true God in the world; and to them the scope of the
discourse was different from what the apostle preachedto the Jews. In the
latter case, his business was to lead his hearers by prophecies and miracles to
the knowledge ofthe Redeemer, and faith in him; in the former, it was to lead
them, by the common works of providence, to know the Creator, and worship
Him. The apostle spoke of an altar he had seen, with the inscription, TO THE
UNKNOWN GOD. This fact is statedby many writers. After multiplying
their idols to the utmost, some at Athens thought there was another god of
whom they had no knowledge.And are there not many now called Christians,
who are zealous in their devotions, yet the greatobjectof their worship is to
them an unknown God? Observe what glorious things Paul here says of that
God whom he served, and would have them to serve. The Lord had long
borne with idolatry, but the times of this ignorance were now ending, and by
his servants he now commanded all men every where to repent of their
idolatry. Eachsectof the learned men would feel themselves powerfully
affectedby the apostle's discourse,whichtended to show the emptiness or
falsity of their doctrines.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Becausehe hath appointed a day - This is given as a reasonwhy God
commands people to repent. They must be judged; and if they are not penitent
and pardoned, they must be condemned. See the notes on Romans 2:16.
Judge the world - The whole world - Jews andGentiles.

In righteousness - According to the principles of strict justice.
Whom he hath ordained - Or whom he has constituted or appointed as judge.
See the Acts 10:42 notes; John 5:25 notes.
Hath given assurance - Has afforded evidence of this. That evidence consists:
(1) In the fact that Jesus declaredthat he would judge the nations John 5:25-
26; Matthew 25;and,
(2) God confirmed the truth of his declarations by raising him from the dead,
or gave his sanctionto what the Lord Jesus had said, for God would nor work
a miracle in favor of an impostor.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
31. Becausehe hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world—
Such language beyond doubt teaches thatthe judgment will, in its essence, be
a solemn judicial assize held upon all mankind at once. "Aptly is this uttered
on the Areopagus, the seatof judgment" [Bengel].
by that man whom he hath ordained—compare Joh5:22, 23, 27;Ac 10:42.
whereofhe hath given assuranceunto all men, in that he hath raised him from
the dead—the most patent evidence to mankind at large of the judicial
authority with which the Risen One is clothed.

Matthew Poole's Commentary
He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world: that God will
judge the world his enemies have with trembling acknowledged, but when
God will judge the world he hath concealedfrom his friends; yet the time is
already set, Psalm96:13 2 Corinthians 5:10, and we ought to be daily
prepared for it.
In righteousness:shall not the Judge of all the world do right?
By that man whom he hath ordained; our blessedSaviour, calledhere man,
suitably to his death and resurrection, which St. Paul preachedof; as also as
man he is thus highly exalted for his debasing of himself for our sakes,
Philippians 2:9-11.
Whereofhe hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raisedhim
from the dead; an undeniable proof or argument, it being so difficult a matter
to believe a world to come, when we see all things remain as they did in this
world; and especiallyto believe, that in the generaljudgment Christ, whom
they had judged, condemned, and executed, should be Judge: God therefore
did glorify him, by raising him from the dead, that they and we might not be
faithless, but believe, Romans 1:4.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Becausehe hath appointed a day,.... The day of judgment is fixed by God in
his eternalpurposes, and is sure and certain, and will come, though it is not
known by men or angels;and this is a reasonwhy God will have the doctrine
of repentance everywhere published, both to Jews and Gentiles, since all must
come to judgment: and the day for it is appointed by him,

in the which he will judge the world in righteousness;the whole world will be
judged, and every individual in it, goodand bad, righteous and wicked;and
this judgment will be a righteous one; it will proceedaccording to the strict
rules of justice and equity, and upon the foot of the righteousness ofChrist, as
that has been receivedor rejectedby men, or as men are clothed with, or are
without that righteousness:
by that man whom he hath ordained; Beza's ancient copy reads, "the man
Jesus":not that the apostle means that Christ is a mere man; for then he
would not be fit to be a Judge of quick and dead, and to pass and execute the
definitive sentence;which requires omniscience and omnipotence: but
preaching to mere Heathens, he chose not at once to assertthe deity of Christ,
though he tacitly suggests it: but intended, by degrees, to open the glories of
his nature and office to them, he being the person God had from all eternity
ordained, and in time had signified, should have all judgment committed to
him, and by whom the lastjudgment shall be managedand transacted:
whereofhe hath given assuranceto all men: or full proof, both of his being the
Judge, and of his fitness to be one, and also of the righteousness, according to
which he will judge:
in that he hath raised him from the dead; whereby he was declaredto be the
Son of God; and when all powerin heaven and in earth was given to him; and
which was done for the justification of all those for whose offenceshe was
delivered: and this seems to be the reasonwhy the apostle calls Christ the
Judge a man, that he might have the opportunity of mentioning his
resurrectionfrom the dead.
Geneva Study Bible

Becausehe hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereofhe hath given {r}
assurance unto all men, in that he hath raisedhim from the dead.
(r) By declaring Christ to be the judge of the world through the resurrection
from the dead.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Expositor's Greek Testament
Acts 17:31. διότι—καθότι, R.V., see criticalnote, only found in St. Luke =
quia (Blass)in Luke 1:7; Luke 19:9, Acts 2:24; Acts 2:45; Acts 4:35 =
according as:see Plummer on Luke 1:7, and Blass, Gram., p. 268.—ἔστησεν
ἡμέραν: hence the command to repent, cf. 1Ma 4:59 and Blass, in loco.—
μέλλει κρίνειν, LXX, Psalm9:8; Psa 95:13,(Psalm96:13), Psalm97:9, Psalm
98:9; its form here may = Acts 12:6, “on the point of judging” (Weiss).—τὴν
οἰκ., so often in LXX, as in instances above.—ἐνδικαιοσύνῃ = δικαίως (as of
the moral element in which the judgment will take place), cf. 1 Peter2:24 and
Revelation19:11, cf. Psalms as above, and Sir 45:26.—ἐνἀνδρὶ: in the person
of the man (so Ramsay, Meyer, Alford), not ἄνθρωπος but ἀνήρ, in viro (cf. 1
Corinthians 6:12, ἐν ὑμῖν κρίνεται);above we have ἀνθρώποις, but here the
nobler appellation. We may compare with the Christian doctrine Book of
Enoch, xli. 9, although according to other Jewishstatements it would seem
that God, and not the Messiah, was to judge the dead.—ᾧ ὥρισε: ᾧ attraction,
cf. Acts 2:22, see Winer-Schmiedel, p. 225, cf. Acts 10:42, Romans 1:4. The
whole statement, as indeed the generaltenor of the address, is entirely in line
with the preaching to the Thessalonians in the Epistles written some few
months later, cf. 1 Thessalonians1:9-10;1 Thessalonians 3:13;1
Thessalonians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:7;2 Thessalonians
2:12; McGiffert, Apostolic Age, p. 259, and Plumptre, in loco. “Pourun juif,
dire que Jésus présidera au jugement, c’éaità peu près dire qu’il est créateur.
Aussi je ne sais pas de preuve plus éclatante de l’immense impression produite
par le Galiléanque ce simple fait … après qu’il eut été crucifié, un pharisien,
comme l’avait été Paul, a pu voir en lui le juge des vivants et des morts,”

Colani, J. C. et les Croyances Messianiques de son temps.—πίστινπαρασχὼν:
in classicalGreek to afford assurance, a guarantee, see instancesin Wetstein.
But it is difficult to say how much St. Paul included in the words—to a Jewish
audience he would no doubt, like St. Peter, have insisted upon the resurrection
of Christ as a final proof given by God that the claims of Christ were true; but
to an audience like that at Athens he might well insist upon the fact of the
resurrectionof the Man ordained by God as a guarantee that all men would
be raised; R.V., “whereofhe hath given assurance,”“whereof” implied in the
Greek:marginal rendering in A.V. “offeredfaith” is omitted in R.V.; “and He
hath given all a guarantee in that He hath raisedHim from the dead”:so
Ramsay. Others have taken the words to mean that God thus affords
assurance thatHe will judge the world righteously in that He hath shown His
righteousness by raising Christ, others again connectπίστιν closelywith ἐν
ἀνδρί (so Bethge). If at this point the Apostle was interrupted he may have
intended to pursue the theme further, if not then, on some other occasion. But
the factthat the speechcontains so little that is distinctively Christian is a
strong proof of its genuineness;none would have invented such a speechfor
Paul, any more than they could have invented his discourse at Lystra, see
below on p. 381, and Ramsay, St. Paul, pp. 150 and 250, 251. Yet in this short
address at Athens the Apostle had preachedboth Jesus and the Resurrection.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
31. because he hath appointed, &c.]The day of judgment had long ago been
appointed in God’s foreknowledge, but through Christ man’s resurrection
and immortality have been made more clear. He knows now, who knows of
Christ, that the Sonof Man has been raised up, as the first-fruits of a general
resurrection. The rising of Christ proved Him to be divine and stamped His
doctrine as true. But a part of that doctrine is (Matthew 25:32) “Before him
shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as
a shepherd divideth the sheepfrom the goats.”By the resurrection of Jesus,
God has given to men assurance thatwhat Jesus taught was true, therefore
because ofthe judgment which Christ foretold, men should repent
everywhere, for the whole world shall be judged.

It is worth while to notice how St Paul’s argument advances through its
various stages.He speaks first of God as the Creatorof the world and of men,
and of the ordinances which He has made for man’s abode on earth. Then he
argues that all this should inspire men with the thought that as they are more
worthy than material things, so God is far exaltedabove men. This ought to
have led them to seek afterHim, and even in the darker days those who
sought could find Him. But now the days of God’s revelation through nature
are at an end. He has spokenthrough that Son of Man whom the resurrection
proved to be the Son of God. Through Him will God judge the world, for
which judgment men should prepare themselves by repentance.
It may be that at this point the Apostle’s speechwas stopped. Neither party
among the hearers would have any sympathy with the doctrine of a
resurrectionand a final judgment. Had the address beencompleted, St Paul
would have probably spokenin more definite language ofthe life and work of
Jesus.
Bengel's Gnomen
Acts 17:31. Μέλλει κρίνειν, He is about to judge) This is appropriately saidin
the Areopagus, where justice and judgment used to be dispensed. Paid adds
presently the mention of righteousness, as he did also before the judge Felix:
ch. Acts 24:10;Acts 24:25.—[τὴνοἰκουμένην, the habitable earth) Comp. Acts
17:26.—V. g.]—ἐν ἀνδρὶ, by the Man) So he calls Jesus, to accordwith the
comprehensionof his hearers. He was about to speak more in detail of Gospel
truths to those who desiredto hear. The ἐν, by, is construed with μέλλει
κρίνειν, He will judge.—ᾧ) for ὃν, whom.—ὥρισε, He hath ordained) viz. as
Judge: ch. Acts 10:42.—πίστινπαρασχὼν)God hath raisedagainJesus from
the dead, and by that fact hath demonstrated (having thereby given
assurance)that Jesus is the glorious Judge of all men. As to this very phrase,
comp. the note on Chrys. de Sacerd. p. 450;and as to the use of the verb

παρέχειν, Camerar. comm, utr. ling. col. 328, 329. All ought to have faith in
God παρασχόντι, affording faith [who gives the assurance whichis the object
of faith,—which faith lays hold of]. Therefore Paul here also preaches
repentance and faith: and since faith was altogetherunknownto the
Athenians, he most elegantlymakes merely an allusion to it by this phrase.
The language besides implies, that no one is compelled [God affords, or
presents the objectof faith to all, compels none].—ἀναστήσας,in that He hath
raised) As to the connectionof the resurrection of Christ with the universal
preaching of Him, see note, ch. Acts 13:32;[108]Luke 24:46-47. Pauldid not
conclude even this discourse without mention of the resurrectionof Christ.
[108]Also 34, as Beng. does not interpret 33 of the resurrectionat all. But in
ver. 34 of ch. 13, the giving to the whole world of the sure mercies of David,
and the declaring of the glad tidings unto the Gentiles, according to the
promise made unto the fathers, is representedas necessarilyrequiring the
resurrectionof Christ as the preliminary.—E. and T.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 31. - Inasmuch as for because,A.V. and T.R.;the man for that man,
A.V. He hath appointed a day. Hitherto the Athenians seemto have listened
with interest while St. Paul was, with consummate skill, leading them onwards
from the doctrines of natural religion, and while he was laying down
speculative truths. But now they are brought to a stand. They might no longer
go on asking, Τι καινόν;A day fixed by God, they were told, was at hand, in
which God would judge the world in righteousness, andin which they
themselves would be judged also. And the certainty of this was made apparent
by the fact that he who was ordained to be Judge was raisedfrom the dead,
and so ready to commence the judgment. The time for immediate actionwas
come;God's revelationhad reachedthem. The man (ἀνδρί). So Acts 2:22,
Ἰησοῦν τὸν Ναζωραῖονἄνδρα ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀποδεδειγμένονκ.τ.λ. And so in
John 5:27 our Lord himself says of himself that the Fathergave him authority
to execute judgment "because he is the Son of man;" and in Matthew 26:24,

"Hereaftershall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power."
(For the connectionof the judgment with Christ's resurrection, see especially
Acts 10:40-42.)So too the Creeds. Acts 17:31
STUDYLIGHTRESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
He hath appointed a day - He has fixed the time in which he will judge the
world, though he has not revealedthis time to man.
By that man whom he hath ordained - He has also appointed the judge, by
whom the inhabitants of the earth are to be tried.
Whereofhe hath given assurance -ΠιϚιν παρασχωνπασιν, Having given to all
this indubitable proof, that Jesus Christ shall judge the world, by raising him
from the dead. The sense of the argument is this: "Jesus Christ, whom we
preach as the Savior of men, has repeatedly told his followers that he would
judge the world; and has describedto us, at large, the whole of the
proceedings ofthat awful time, Matthew 25:31, etc.; John 5:25. Though he
was put to death by the Jews, andthus he became a victim for sin, yet God
raisedhim from the dead. By raising him from the dead, God has set his seal
to the doctrines he has taught: one of these doctrines is, that he shall judge the
world; his resurrection, establishedby the most incontrovertible evidence, is
therefore a proof, an incontestable proof, that he shall judge the world,
according to his own declaration."

Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
BibliographicalInformation
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Acts 17:31". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/acts-17.html.
1832.
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Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
Becausehe hath appointed a day - This is given as a reasonwhy God
commands people to repent. They must be judged; and if they are not penitent
and pardoned, they must be condemned. See the notes on Romans 2:16.
Judge the world - The whole world - Jews andGentiles.
In righteousness - According to the principles of strict justice.
Whom he hath ordained - Or whom he has constituted or appointed as judge.
See the Acts 10:42 notes; John 5:25 notes.
Hath given assurance - Has afforded evidence of this. That evidence consists:
(1) In the fact that Jesus declaredthat he would judge the nations John 5:25-
26; Matthew 25;and,

(2) God confirmed the truth of his declarations by raising him from the dead,
or gave his sanctionto what the Lord Jesus had said, for God would nor work
a miracle in favor of an impostor.
Copyright Statement
Barnes, Albert. "Commentaryon Acts 17:31". "Barnes'Notes onthe Whole
Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/acts-17.html. 1870.
The Biblical Illustrator
Acts 17:31
BecauseHe hath appointed a day, in the which He will Judge the world in
righteousness.
The day of judgment
I. There shall be a day of judgment.
1. “A particular judgment.” At the day of death the soul hath a judgment
passedupon it (Hebrews 9:27; Ecclesiastes 12:7).

2. “A generalday of judgment”; which is the greatassize, whenthe world
shall be gathered together(Ecclesiastes12:14;Matthew 12:36;Psalms 96:13).
II. Why there must be a day of judgment.
1. That God may execute justice on the wicked. Things seemto be carried
here in the world with an unequal balance (Job 29:3; Malachi3:15). Diogenes,
seeing Harpalus, a thief, go on prosperously, said [that] surely Godhad cast
off the government of the world and minded not how things went here below
(2 Peter3:3-4). Therefore God will have a day of assize to vindicate His
justice; He will let sinners know that long forbearance is no forgiveness.
2. That God may exercise mercyto the godly. Here piety was the white which
was shot at (Romans 8:36). God will therefore have a day of judgment, that
He may reward all the tears and sufferings of His people (Revelation7:9).
III. When the day of judgment shall be. It is certain there shall be a judgment;
uncertain, when (Matthew 24:36). And the reasonis--
1. That we may not be curious. There are some things which God would have
us ignorant of (Acts 1:7). “It is a kind of sacrilege,” as Salvianspeaks, “for
any man to break into the Holy of holies, and enter into God’s secrets.”

2. That we may not be careless. “Godwouldhave us live every day,” saith
Austin, “as if the lastday were approaching.” This is the use [which] our
Saviour makes of it (Mark 13:32-33).
IV. Who shall be the judge? The Man who is God-man. We must take heed of
judging others; this is Christ’s work (John 5:22) There are two things in
Christ which do eminently qualify Him for a Judge--
1. Prudence and intelligence, to understand all causes thatare brought before
Him (Zechariah 3:9; Hebrews 4:13). Christ is “a Heart searcher”;He doth not
only judge the fact, but the heart, which no angelcan do.
2. Strength, whereby He is able to be revengedupon His enemies (Revelation
20:10).
V. The order and method of the trial.
1. The summons to the court (1 Thessalonians4:16).
2. The manner of the Judge’s coming to the bench.
(a) Christ’s person shall be glorious. His first coming in the flesh was obscure
(Isaiah 53:2-3). But His secondcoming will be “in the glory of His Father”
(Mark 8:38).

(b) Christ’s attendants shall be glorious (Matthew 25:31).
3. The process or the trial itself.
(a) The book of God’s omnisciency(Malachi3:16).
(b) The book of conscience.Menhave their sins written in their conscience;
but the book is clasped(the searing of the conscience is the clasping of the
book); but when this book of conscience shallbe unclaspedat the greatday,
then all their hypocrisy, treason, atheism, shall appearto the view of men and
angels (Luke 12:3).
(a) Impartiality. Jesus Christ will do every man justice. The Thebans did
picture their judges blind, that they might not respectpersons;without hands,
that they might take no bribes. Christ’s sceptre is “a sceptre of righteousness”
(Hebrews 1:8). He is no “respecterofpersons” (Acts 10:34).
(b) Exactness ofthe trial. It will be very critical(Matthew 3:12). Not a grace
or a sin but His fan will discover.
(c) Perspicuity. Sinners shall be so clearlyconvicted, that they shall hold up
their hand at the bar, and cry, “guilty” (Psalms 51:4). The sinner himself shall
clearGod of injustice.

(d) Supremacy. Men can remove their causesfrom one place to another, but
from Christ’s court there is no appeal; he who is once doomed here--his
condition is irreversible.
VI. The effectof the trial.
1. Segregation. Christwill separate the godly and the wickedas the fan doth
separate the wheatfrom the chaff, as a furnace separatesthe goldfrom the
dross.
2. The sentence.
3. The execution (Matthew 13:30). Christ will say, “Bundle up these sinners;
here a bundle of hypocrites; there a bundle of apostates;there a bundle of
profane; bundle them up, and throw them in the fire.” And now no cries or
entreaties will prevail with the Judge.
Conclusion:
1. Let me persuade all Christians to believe this truth, that there shall be a day
of judgment (Ecclesiastes11:9). How many live as if this article were blotted
out of their Creed! Durst men swear, be unchaste, live in malice, if they did
believe a day of judgment?
2. See here the sadand deplorable estate of wickedmen. (T. Watson, A. M.)

The righteousness offinal judgment
In which words I observe these five particulars.
I. First, an assertionofa judgment to come. He will judge the world. Forthe
more clearapprehension of the full importance of which it is to be noted that
there are two pares of Divine Providence. The former, that by which He takes
notice of the actions of men in this life; the latter, that by which He brings
men to accountin the other world. Which two branches of Providence do
mutually infer and prove eachother. For on the one hand if there were no
such thing as a wise eye of God that strictly observes the actions of men in this
world, it were impossible there should be any judgment to come, at leastnot a
judgment in righteousness;for how shall He judge that doth not discern? And
on the other hand, if there were no judgment to come, it were to no purpose
for Godto concernHimself about the affairs of mankind here below. Now this
doctrine is the soul and spirit of all religion, and the sinew of all government
and society. It is the soul of all religion, for what doth the belief of a God
signify (although we should imagine Him to be never so great, glorious and
happy) if He will not trouble Himself with government; in short, if He will
neither rewardnor punish; virtue is then but an empty name. And it is the
sinew of all government; for it is certain that plots may sometimes be laid so
deep that no eye of man can discoverthem. And there may be such a potent
confederacyofwickedmen, as that they shall outface human justice, in which
case, whatshall keepthe world from running into confusion, and becoming an
hell upon earth, but the discerning eye and steady hand of Providence?

II. The secondobservable in my text is, that there is not only a judgment to
come, but that the day of it is determined. “He hath appointed a day
wherein,” etc. To adjourn to no certain time is, I think, to dissolve the court;
and to appoint no day is to disappoint the business;the Almighty, therefore,
hath appointed an express and solemntime for this great transaction. And
indeed it is worthy of observation, that in all the great passagesofDivine
Providence He hath passedsuch an immutable decree upon them, that the
time of their event can be no more casualthan the very things themselves. So
Exodus 12:41, the servitude of the children of Israelwas determined to four
hundred and thirty years, and the text tells us “that when the four hundred
and thirty years were expired, even the self-same day departed all the hostof
the Lord out of the land of Egypt.” Again 2 Chronicles 36:21, God had
decreedto punish the nation of the Jews with seventyyears captivity in
Babylon, and preciselyupon the expiration of that term, when the Word of
the Lord spokenby the mouth of Jeremiah was finished, God put it into the
heart of Cyrus to proclaim them liberty.
III. The third observable, namely, that as the day of judgment is set, so the
person of the Judge is also constituted and ordered; “He will judge the world
by that man whom He hath ordained,” etc. And as all circumstances oftime,
place, and persons, are evidences offact, and assurances ofthe principal
business, so doth this particular designationof the Judge further confirm the
certainty of the judgment. And not only so, but it also opens to us the great
depth of the Divine goodness, especiallyupon these two considerations.
1. In the first place, it is wonderful decorous and becoming the Divine
Majesty, and righteous towards the person of our Saviour, that He who
humbled Himself to take our nature upon Him, and therein to fulfil exactly
the Divine law, should in reward of this obedience and humiliation be exalted
to be the Judge of the world, which He died for (Philippians 2:9).

2. Again, secondly, it wonderfully displays the Divine goodness towards us,
that He should be appointed our Judge, that hath been, and yet is in our
nature, that hath felt our infirmities, conflictedwith the same temptations,
and that withal had so much love to us as to die for us. That the Divine
Majestywill not oppress us with His own glory, nor employ an archangelto
pass judgment upon us, who as He hath had no commerce with a body of flesh
and blood, cannothave sufficient compassionofour infirmities.
IV. In the fourth particular of my text, He hath given assurance unto all men
in that He raisedHim from the dead. But how doth that assure us of this great
and comfortable point? It is true the resurrectionof our Saviour did denote
Him to be some greatand extraordinary person, but that is no sufficient
argument that He shall be Judge of the world; the evidence therefore lies in
this, our Saviour, Christ Jesus, whilstHe was in the world, had often declared
that He was appointed by God to judge the quick and dead, and appealedto
His resurrectionas the greatproof of this.
V. There is one particular more in my text that deserves especial
consideration, and that is the manner of this judgment, or rather the
measures this Judge will proceedby at that greatjudgment and that is in
righteousness;He will judge the world in righteousness. Now in order hereto,
we must first settle the Scripture notion of this phrase “righteousness”or“in
righteousness.”And that which I first observe to this purpose is this: Nowhere
in all the Scripture doth righteousnesssignify rigour. I saythere is no such use
of this word in Scripture, when applied to God’s dealings, no, nor yet when it
is applied to men; a severe, harsh, rigorous man is so far from being a
righteous man in the style of Scripture, that He is quite under another
character. But to come home to the business, the full of my observation

touching the Scripture notion of the phrase in my text is this, that δικαιοσύνη,
or righteousness, is always usedthere in a comprehensive sense, so as to take
in not only justice and uprightness, and impartiality, and the like, but also
goodness,kindness, equity, clemency, candour, and mercy. “In righteousness
shall He judge the world, and the people with equity (Psalms 98:1-9, last
verse). Where, as world and people are equivalent expressions, andinterpret
eachother, so are righteousness andequity made to be expressive of each
other. Now agreeablyto this notion, I will, by the guidance of the same holy
Scripture, endeavour to representthe measures of that greatday.
1. Christ Jesus, the Judge of all the world, will not at the last day proceed
arbitrarily with men, but according to knownlaws;that is, He will not absolve
and save any merely because He hath decreedso to do (Revelation2:23; 2
Corinthians 5:10). Indeed in this world God doth deal by prerogative, and
dispenses the means of grace as wellas other favours, as He pleases,from
whence it comes to pass, that greateradvantages are conferredupon some
people than other, but this is not the case atthe end of the world, when God
comes to demonstrate His justice and righteousness.And besides, wherefore is
the Judge said to be the searcherofhearts, if He proceedproleptically upon
bare resolution or determination? Why is He saidto separate the sheep from
the goats, ifHe make a distinction without a difference? Why is it calleda
fiery trial if there be no discrimination; and in a word, if He save and damn
by prerogative?
2. The Judge of the world will not be partial, or use any respectof persons;
that is, He will neither acquit nor condemn any man or men whatsoever, in
considerationof external circumstances. As for kindred and family, the Jews
were wont to bear themselves in hand with their lineage and descent, that they
were Abraham’s seed. Godwill soonerexert His omnipotency in the most
improbable miracle that ever He wrought, than admit an unholy person into
heaven upon the pretence of kindred and consanguinity. And as for sectand
opinion, it is notoriously evident that there is no opinion so orthodox, nor

party so canonical, but an evil man may be of it, and at that day nothing will
pass current for the sake ofthe public stamp upon it, but according to the
intrinsic value; for all shall be weighedin the balance of the sanctuary. To this
head I refer also, that this righteous Judge is capable of no fondness or
indulgence, will be wrought upon by no flattery, will value nothing that men
can either do or suffer for Him without an holy temper, an habitually pious
and virtuous life, and such qualifications inherent as fit a man for the
kingdom of heaven.
3. So just and righteous will be the proceedings atthis greattribunal, that as
no man shall be savedfor the righteousness ofanother, so neither shall any
man be damned for the sin of another, but every man shall bear his own
burden. Whatever it may please the Divine Majestyto do in this world, where
His inflictions are not so properly revengedor the expletion of justice, as
methods of mercy to reclaim men from sin; yet most certainly at that day the
sons shall not bear the iniquity of the fathers, but every man shall bear his
own burden, and the soul only that sinneth shall die.
4. This Judge of all the world will at that great day candidly interpret men’s
actions, and make the very best of things that the case willbear. Now touching
this the tenor of the whole gospelassuresus that our merciful Judge will not
watchadvantages againstmen, will not insist upon punctilios, but principally
looks atthe sincerity of men’s intentions (Matthew 25:34). But that which I
principally note in this place is the benignity of His interpretation, for when
the righteous say, “Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered,” He replies,
“Inasmuch as ye have done it to the leastof these,” etc., as if He had said, I
know the sincerity of your intentions, and I take notice of the virtuous temper
from whence those actions of yours proceeded;‘tis the heart I value more
than the thing done, or the opportunity of doing.

5. The admirable equity of the great and final judgment is this, That the glory
and happiness of goodmen in the other world shall be increased
proportionably to the measures oftheir difficulties, sufferings, and calamities
here in this world. The apostle tells us, “That as one stardiffereth from
another in glory, so also is the resurrectionof the dead.” (J. Goodman, D. D.)
Judgment inevitable
When the buried city of Pompeii was unearthed, there was found in a little
stone room a circle of men lying dead around a table. They had been invited
as watchers before a funeral, to remain with the corpse through the night,
while the fatigued relatives rested. According to custom, a feasthad been
prepared as an offering to the departed spirit. These disinterestedand
honourable friends thought to help themselves to a moiety of the delicate
provisions, and were led on to eat the viands and quaff the wine. Just in the
midst of their unholy revel the ashes beganto fall, the sulphurous vapours
poured in, and they were strangled in the act. The city was sooncovereddeep
under the discharge from the burning mountain--buildings all concealed,
streets all filled up; and so two thousands of years passedon. Now that whole
transaction, in all its dishonestyand unutterable meanness, has reachedthe
light. The bodies of the watchers and the body of the dead they pretended to
watchwere lying togetherthere in the midst of the excavations. Ages rolled
awaybefore men’s eyes saw it, but God the All-seeing was aware ofthe
infamous cheat from the moment it was perpetrated. Oh, how sober, and yet
how startling, will be the disclosures ofsecretiniquity, hidden sins, Sabbath
hypocrisy, and ungenuine life, in the greatlight of the future judgment, as it
comes to revealthem in the dawn of eternity! (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The resurrectiona judgment

There are two moments in the history of this world in which the veil is drawn
off from God’s government, and it is seen, without any doubt or confusion,
how He gives judgment clearlyand decisively on the side of goodnessand
truth. One of these moments is of course to come, the other is past. God,
indeed, is far from leaving His judgment without witness in the history of the
world. God rewards and punishes now. But human life, as we look at it from
the outside, is still full of darkness and perplexity. The perfectand final and
manifest clearing up of God’s judgment on what men think and do is not now.
It is not till the end and time of mortality, when the Judge sits upon the
throne, that this will be pronounced, so that none can doubt it. And in the
course of the world there is but one other such occasionlike it in its awfulness,
like it in its clearness. Itwas when He who had been condemned as a sinner
for the cause of truth and goodness, was raisedagainby the glory of the
Father on the third day. Christ suffered for righteousness, andin Him
righteousness was justifiedbefore the world, and in anticipation of that great
day when righteousness shallfinally triumph. Many men, before and after
Him, have suffered for righteousness, but their righteousness was leftto the
varying and contradictoryjudgments of men. It seemed, as far as present
experience went, as if they had found only evil, by keeping innocency and
cleaving to the thing that was right. It was faith only that dared to trust
againstthe melancholy resignationof experience. But in Christ the spectacle
which had in others been only begun was shown also finished. The world had
often lookedon the sight of righteousness defeatedandoverthrown; it had
seenthe beginning of its course, but not how it was to end. But, for once, in
Christ there was shownto men on earth both the beginning and the end.
Neverbefore had such righteousness suffered. Onthe other hand, never
before had it been so unanswerablyjustified. “Now is the judgment of this
world,” said our Lord, when He was about to suffer. The world had doubted
whether God did judge and rule the course of things on earth. “Where,” it
had asked, “wasthe God of judgment,” and in the personof Jesus Christ, the
representative of the human race, the challenge was answered;the world itself
was to be judged. In Jesus Christ the boast of wickednesswas made in all its
insolence. But in Jesus Christ the proof of righteousness,ofrighteousness in
man’s real nature, was not put off till the world to come. In that tremendous
breaking through the laws of mortality and death, we see the answer to the

challenge of the world, and may be sure that it will be well with the righteous.
Of this God hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised “the
crucified from the dead.” I am not sure that we always adequately understand
how strong a faith it must have neededbefore Christ rose to believe this in
earnest. Goodmen did believe it. The Psalms are full of this belief; but they
are full, too, of its difficulty. They trusted like children to their general
confidence in the goodnessofthe Lord, in spite of death; they were sure that,
somehow or other, they would “see the goodness ofthe Lord in the land of the
living.” But to us the proof has been given. And I am not sure that we always
understand how, even still, that faith needs all the support which God has
given it. The powerof sin is unabated. The righteous and the sinner seemleft
alike to find their way through life. But when our hearts fail us, when the
world mocks us, let us go back as Christians did in the days of the apostles, to
the open, empty grave of the Lord--let us rise up in thought and feeling to the
unspeakable preciousnessofthat foundation stone of all human hopes--“but
now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that
slept.” No triumph of evil now can equal what happened when He suffered for
us and was put to shame;“but now is Christ risen from the dead”--“now is the
judgment of the world.” (DeanChurch.)
The day of judgment
The day when Lord Exeterwas tried for high treason;the day when the
House of Commons moved for the impeachment of Lord Lovatt; the day when
Charles I and QueenCaroline were put upon trial; the day when Robert
Emmet was arraignedas an insurgent; the day when Blenner-hassetwas
brought into the court room because he had tried to overthrow the United
States Government, and all the other greattrials of the world are nothing
compared with the greattrial in which you and I shall appear, summoned
before the Judge of quick and dead. There will be no pleading there “the
statute of limitation”; no “turning State’s evidence,” trying to getoff
ourselves, while others suffer; no “moving for a non-suit.” The case will come

on inexorably, and we shall be tried. You, my brother, who have so often been
advocate for others, will then need an advocate for yourself. Have you selected
him? The Lord Chancellorof the Universe. If any man sin we have an
advocate--Jesus Christthe righteous. It is uncertain when your case will be
calledon. “Be ye also ready.” (T. De Witt Talmage.)
WhereofHe hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raisedHim
from the dead.--
The doctrine of a future judgment confirmed by the resurrectionof Christ
I. An express declarationof God concerning a future and generaljudgment.
He hath appointed a day wherein He will judge the world. It must be owned
that the natural proofs of a judgment to come, had it not been made an article
of our faith, are very strong and cogent. The promiscuous distribution of the
blessings and evils of this life to wickedand goodmen. The triumphs of
injustice, and notorious oppressionof right, and that not for a short time, but
for a course ofmany years, have been all along made an argument that the
Judge of all the earth will one day do right, and justify the wise though
unsearchable methods of His providence in this world, by rewarding the
innocent and bringing the successfuland presumptuous sinner to condign
punishment. And indeed there is nothing more true or certainin factthan
what Solomonobserves (Ecclesiastes8:14, etc.), But though this and several
other proofs, which are drawn from natural religion, of a judgment to come
should be allowednot only highly probable, but very evident, it must be
owned, notwithstanding a greathappiness to mankind in general, that God
has been pleasedto make this natural principle an article of our Christian
faith. Forby this means those who are not able to reasonjustly on the nature
of things, or to carry on a long train of proofs, are convinced of the truth of a
future judgment upon the authority of God.

II. The justice and equity wherewith God will proceedin judging the world--
“He hath appointed a day wherein He will judge the world” in righteousness.
The justice of the proceedings atthat day will appearin this, that God, in
rewarding and punishing men, will make a more visible distinction between
the wickedand the goodthan He ordinarily does in this life. Herein also lies
the justice of the greatand lastcourt of judicature that no partial record shall
be had to any persons on accountof their superior quality, fortune, or other
advantages in this world. To show the impartial execution of justice at that
day, we have a particular enumeration of the men of the earth who have
abused their power, their authority, or wealth to sinful ends and a very lively
image and the horror of despairwhich will then seize them (Revelation6:15-
17).
III. The designationof the personwho is to be our judge. “ThatMan whom
He hath ordained.” It might perhaps have been thought more suitable to the
awful solemnity of the lastday, and the dignity and glory wherein Christ will
then appear, if He had been describedin the characterof Judge as the Son of
God, the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, or in
those other magnificent terms wherein He is so often spokenof in the
prophetical writings. But still it is more suitable to the state and condition of
mankind, and His tender compassiontowards them, that when He speaks of
coming to judge the world He should rather give us an idea of His human than
His Divine nature. For indeed, when we considerthe infinite persecutions of
the Divine nature, and at what an infinite distance our sins have separatedus
from it, had the eternal God Himself, without the interposalof a Mediator,
thought fit to convene the world in judgment before Him. Alas! the best of
men would have been so oppressedwith the thoughts of His glory, and their
own demerits, that they must of necessity, evenunder their best grounded
hopes, have sunk into greatdespondencyof mind. He that has assumedour

nature, and done and suffered so much for us in it, will certainly show all the
lenity and tenderness to it which the terms of evangelicalobediencewill admit.
IV. We have here a very particular and extraordinary circumstance to
convince us of the truth and certainty of Christ’s coming to judge the world,
and that is by His resurrectionfrom the dead. The miracles which were done
by our Saviour throughout the whole course of His ministry carried a
sufficient proof and attestationalong with them of the truths which He taught,
for no one could have done those things which He did in the most open and
public manner without the assistance ofa Divine power. Now this being one
greatarticle of the religion He came to preach and establishthat God has
appointed a day wherein He will judge the world, it may be said, What need
was there of any further witness to confirm this article? Or why, when it was
sufficiently confirmed before, was there so greatstress laid on the
resurrectionof Christ for the proof of it? But still there was something
peculiar in what related to the resurrectionof Christ which rendered it an
argument of the truth of His religion more proper to persuade the generality
of men and to convince gainsayers than the restof His miracles. For--
1. He bad Himself appealedto this testimony as one greatproof and
characteristic ofHis Divine mission and authority (John 2:16). And therefore,
besides that His resurrectionwas a miraculous and extraordinary event,
exceeding the powers of nature, it was an argument of His being inspired with
a prophetic Spirit, and that God, who alone appropriates to Himself the
knowledge offuture events, was in this respect also with Him.
2. The caution which the Jews usedto prevent, if possible, the resurrection of
Christ, gave the greaterforce to the arguments we draw in proof of our holy
religion from it. So that His very enemies, who would fasten so chimerical an

imputation upon Him, must confess atleastthat His resurrectioncould not be
effectedby it, but that He was raisedby a powertruly Divine.
3. Again, whereas it might have been objectedthat His other miracles were
done before people of obscure and mean circumstances, before a company of
illiterate Galileans, and the credulous multitude upon whom it is no difficult
matter for men of parts and dexterity at any time to impose;though this
objectionis easily answered, from the public manner of our Saviour’s
working His miracles, and His propounding them afterwards to the
examination of His greatestenemies, the Pharisees, yetin His resurrectionthe
very ground of these surmises is quite removed. There could be no artifice
used on so remarkable and extraordinary an occasion.
4. There is something in the very nature of the thing itself apt to persuade
men, from the resurrectionof Christ, that the doctrines which He taught were
true, and that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. For though every miracle
is above the ordinary course and powers of nature, and supposes certain
changes ofbodies which cannot be accountedfor according to the established
order of things; yet where all the bodily powers ofa man are rendered
incapable of acting, and all the springs of life are entirely broken, it still seems
less conceivable how He should either be able to work any change upon other
bodies, or to restore His own body againto life.
Conclusion:
1. If God has appointed a day wherein He will judge the world, let us have it
often in our thoughts, and carefully practise the duties preparative to it.

2. If God has appointed a day wherein He will judge the world in
righteousness, thenit highly concerns us as we expect to stand in judgment
before Him, to take care that we live and die in a holy and righteous state.
3. Since our BlessedSaviour, in speaking of the last judgment, is pleasedmore
peculiarly to style Himself the Son of Man. This considerationwill mightily
fortify all true penitents againstthose black and desponding thoughts which
are sometimes apt to arise in the minds of very goodmen. How greator
numerous soeverour sins have been, yet if we have humbled ourselves before
God, and truly repented of them, we know that the blood of Jesus Christ is
sufficient to expiate their guilt.
4. As by the resurrectionof Christ we have a more full and express assurance
of a future judgment than we could have had from the mere light of reason,
let this considerationexcite us to walk worthy of so bright and glorious an
evidence. Let us resolve to live, not as persons that have some probable
notions and conjectures aboutsuch a thing, but as men who fully and in
earnestbelieve that we must one day appear before the judgment seatof
Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in the body according to
what he hath done, whether it be goodor bad. (R. Fiddes, D. D.)
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Exell, JosephS. "Commentary on "Acts 17:31". The Biblical Illustrator.
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tbi/acts-17.html. 1905-1909. New
York.

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible
Inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in
righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereofhe hath given
Appointed a day ... This refers to the final judgment of all men, sometimes
calledthe "GreatWhite Throne Judgment," but, in any case, the one and only
judgment day mentioned in the New Testament. This is not the day of death,
for "afterthis" cometh judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Christ will preside over the
GreatAssize, rewarding all men according to the deeds done in the body. For
more on the judgment, see my Commentary on Hebrews, Hebrews 6:2; also
my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 12:41-42 andMatthew 25:30.
The fact of the judgment's being scheduled for a day already "appointed"
suggeststhat God has a timetable for the accomplishmentof all things
intended by his providing salvationfor men. If this is the case,it will occuron
time, exactlyas scheduled;and the fullness of all God intended will be
accomplishedwithin the framework of time allowedfor it.
Assurance unto all men ... In this is one of the greatpurposes of Christ's death
and resurrection. That God thus honored the Christ is intended as a means of
assuring every man that God has the power to order and conduct just such a
thing as the final judgment.
Copyright Statement
Coffman Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian
University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.

Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Acts 17:31". "Coffman
Commentaries on the Bible".
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/acts-17.html. Abilene Christian
University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
Becausehe hath appointed a day,.... The day of judgment is fixed by God in
his eternalpurposes, and is sure and certain, and will come, though it is not
known by men or angels;and this is a reasonwhy God will have the doctrine
of repentance everywhere published, both to Jews and Gentiles, since all must
come to judgment: and the day for it is appointed by him,
in the which he will judge the world in righteousness;the whole world will be
judged, and every individual in it, goodand bad, righteous and wicked;and
this judgment will be a righteous one; it will proceedaccording to the strict
rules of justice and equity, and upon the foot of the righteousness ofChrist, as
that has been receivedor rejectedby men, or as men are clothed with, or are
without that righteousness:
by that man whom he hath ordained; Beza's ancient copy reads, "the man
Jesus":not that the apostle means that Christ is a mere man; for then he
would not be fit to be a Judge of quick and dead, and to pass and execute the
definitive sentence;which requires omniscience and omnipotence: but
preaching to mere Heathens, he chose not at once to assertthe deity of Christ,
though he tacitly suggests it: but intended, by degrees, to open the glories of
his nature and office to them, he being the person God had from all eternity
ordained, and in time had signified, should have all judgment committed to
him, and by whom the lastjudgment shall be managedand transacted:

whereofhe hath given assuranceto all men: or full proof, both of his being the
Judge, and of his fitness to be one, and also of the righteousness, according to
which he will judge:
in that he hath raised him from the dead; whereby he was declaredto be the
Son of God; and when all powerin heaven and in earth was given to him; and
which was done for the justification of all those for whose offenceshe was
delivered: and this seems to be the reasonwhy the apostle calls Christ the
Judge a man, that he might have the opportunity of mentioning his
resurrectionfrom the dead.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernisedand adapted
for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rights Reserved, Larry
Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Gill, John. "Commentary on Acts 17:31". "The New John Gill Expositionof
the Entire Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/acts-17.html.
1999.
Geneva Study Bible
righteousness by [that] man whom he hath ordained; [whereof] he hath given
r assurance unto all [men], in that he hath raised him from the dead.
(r) By declaring Christ to be the judge of the world through the resurrection
from the dead.

Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Beza, Theodore. "Commentaryon Acts 17:31". "The 1599 Geneva Study
Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/gsb/acts-17.html. 1599-1645.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Becausehe hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world — Such
language beyond doubt teaches that the judgment will, in its essence, be a
solemn judicial assize held upon all mankind at once. “Aptly is this uttered on
the Areopagus, the seatof judgment” [Bengel].
by that man whom he hath ordained — compare John 5:22, John 5:23, John
5:27; Acts 10:42.
whereofhe hath given assuranceunto all men, in that he hath raised him from
the dead — the most patent evidence to mankind at large of the judicial
authority with which the Risen One is clothed.
Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text
scannedby Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-BrownCommentary is in the
public domain and may be freely used and distributed.

Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on Acts
17:31". "CommentaryCritical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible".
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/acts-17.html. 1871-8.
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
Inasmuch as (κατοτι — kathoti). According as (κατα οτι — kataεστησεν
ημεραν — hoti). Old causalconjunction, but in N.T. only used in Luke‘s
writings (Luke 1:7; Luke 19:9; Acts 2:45; Acts 4:35; Acts 17:31).
Hath appointed a day (ιστημι — estēsenhēmeran)First aorist active
indicative of μελλει κρινειν — histēmi to place, set. God did set the day in his
counseland he will fulfil it in his owntime.
Will judge (μελλω — mellei krinein). Rather, is going to judge, κρινω — mellō
and the present active infinitive of κρινει — krinō Paul here quotes Psalm9:8
where εν ανδρι ωι ωρισεν — krinei occurs.
By the man whom he hath ordained (ωι — en andri hōi hōrisen). Here he
adds to the Psalmthe place and function of Jesus Christ, a passage in
harmony with Christ‘s own words in Matthew 25. ωρισεν — Hōi (whom) is
attractedfrom the accusative, objectof οριζω — hōrisen (first aorist active
indicative of ανδρι — horizō) to the case of the antecedent πιστιν παρασχων —
andri It has been said that Paul left the simple gospelin this address to the
council of the Areopagus for philosophy. But did he? He skilfully caught their
attention by reference to an altar to an Unknown God whom he interprets to
be the Creatorof all things and all men who overrules the whole world and
who now commands repentance of all and has revealed his will about a day of
reckoning when Jesus Christ will be Judge. He has preachedthe unity of God,
the one and only God, has proclaimed repentance, a judgment day, Jesus as
the Judge as shown by his Resurrection, greatfundamental doctrines, and
doubtless had much more to saywhen they interrupted his address. There is
no room here for such a charge againstPaul. He rose to a greatoccasionand
made a masterful expositionof God‘s place and powerin human history.

Whereofhe hath given assurance (παρεχω — pistin paraschōn). Secondaorist
active participle of πιστις — parechō old verb to furnish, used regularly by
Demosthenes forbringing forward evidence. Note this old use of πιστις —
pistis as conviction or ground of confidence (Hebrews 11:1) like a note or title-
deed, a convictionresting on solid basis of fact. All the other uses of πειτω —
pistis grow out of this one from αναστησας αυτονεκ νεκρων — peithō to
persuade.
In that he hath raised him from the dead (ανιστημι — anastēsas autonek
nekrōn). First aoristactive participle of anistēmi causalparticiple, but
literally, “having raisedhim from the dead.” This Paul knew to be a fact
because he himself had seenthe Risen Christ. Paul has here come to the heart
of his messageand could now throw light on their misapprehension about
“Jesus andthe Resurrection” (Acts 17:18). Here Paul has given the proof of
all his claims in the address that seemednew and strange to them.
Copyright Statement
The Robertson's WordPictures of the New Testament. Copyright �
Broadman Press 1932,33,Renewal1960. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Broadman Press (Southern BaptistSunday SchoolBoard)
Robertson, A.T. "Commentary on Acts 17:31". "Robertson's WordPictures
of the New Testament". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rwp/acts-
17.html. Broadman Press 1932,33.Renewal1960.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereofhe hath given

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