Repent therefore and be converted, for the blotting out of your sins, so that times of refreshing may come from [the] presence of the Lord,
Peter speaks these words in Solomon's porch, to a crowd from the nation that had just crucified Jesus. His call ties a change in the hearers to a change in the world's future.
The two commands
The verse gives one appeal in two words, and writers keep them distinct. Repentance is what the mind does; conversion is what the will does.
It is literally an after-thought, or changed thought. It is a judgment the mind forms on reflection, after it has already held another one. In Scripture it usually means the judgment I form in God's sight about my own past conduct and feelings... Conversion itself may follow repentance. By conversion I mean the full, deliberate turning of the heart to God. "Repent," says Peter, "and be converted." Conversion is the turning of the will to God.
Who Peter is addressing
The appeal in Acts 2 and the appeal here are not aimed at the same target. One gathered people out of the nation. This one puts a proposal to the nation itself.
Peter made a very remarkable proposal to Israel that day in Solomon's porch. In Acts 2 his appeal was to individuals, and those who responded at once stood apart from "this crooked generation." In Acts 3 the same preacher appealed to the nation as such... The heavens had received Him until the times of the restoring of all things. Now it was for Israel to say whether that time of universal blessing should begin at once.
Why an offer was still open
After such a crime, an offer of blotted-out sins seems impossible. Commentators trace it back to what Jesus prayed on the cross.
Yet Israel is not at once set aside; on the contrary, "to the Jew first" the message of grace is proclaimed. Not only as individuals, but as a nation too... So, at the cross, the Lord intercedes: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Peter then proclaims to them that God accepted that prayer: "And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers."
"So that" — not "when"
Some older translations link the two halves of the verse with the word "when." One writer works from a rendering that reads "so that," and draws out what that changes.
The verse ends with a promise, however. It does not say "when," but "so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and He may send Jesus Christ, who was foreordained for you." Jesus had returned on high because the Jewish nation rejected Him. Yet the nation could still repent and turn to Him. If it did, God was ready to send Him back and bring in the times of kingdom refreshing. God made this promise in complete good faith. Yet He also knew that the nation as such would not change its mind about Christ. However rebellious Israel was, God would give them full opportunity to repent.
How sins get blotted out
The blotting out is God's act, but it is not detached from what happens inside a person. One writer draws out both the ground of the pardon and the road to it.
They judge themselves before God and acknowledge their sins. Then divine grace blots those sins out, in the blood of their own Messiah. There is no other way. But oh, how moving beyond words for them above all people! But again, the power of the blood of Christ is precious. Yet no soul ever receives real blessing apart from the judgment of sin — of self — in the conscience.
What "times of refreshing" means
The phrase is not vague comfort. It names a coming era, and it comes in a fixed order with the restoring of all things.
The times of refreshing would seem to be the gracious prelude to that great climax, "the times of restoration" of all things. Then righteousness shall reign. It would seem also that repentance and conversion of sinners will hasten the times of refreshing.
Summary
- Repent — a changed judgment of yourself, formed in God's sight. The mind reverses its verdict on your own past.
- Turn — conversion adds the will to the mind: the deliberate turning of the heart to God, which is why Peter says both.
- Blotted out — the pardon rests on the blood of the Messiah they rejected. It reaches a person through self-judgment, never around it.
- Refreshing — repentance does not just precede blessing; it aims at it: "so that," not "when."
- Restoration — Peter put his proposal to the nation. The world's wider blessing still waits on Israel's repentance, and on God sending Jesus back from heaven.