John Calvin Commentary Acts 3:20

"and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, [even] Jesus:" — Acts 3:20 (ASV)

Regarding That when: if we follow Erasmus and the old interpreter, this sentence will be imperfect. It can be completed as follows: When the time of refreshing comes, you may also enjoy this refreshing; when Christ comes to judge the world, you may find Him a Redeemer and not a Judge.

But because Beza aptly translates it, After that they shall come, it is better to retain that which is not so strained; so you interpret it as follows: That sins are forgiven in anticipation of the day of the last judgment, because unless we are summoned to appear before God’s judgment seat, we are not very careful to pacify God.

First of all, we must note that he sets before them the day of judgment, so that the former exhortation may have a greater effect. For there is nothing that pricks us more than when we are taught that we must one day give an account. For as long as our senses are held and kept in this world, they are drowned, as it were, in a certain drowsiness, if I may call it that.

Therefore the message of the last judgment must sound as a trumpet to cite us to appear before the judgment seat of God. For then, at last, being truly awakened, we begin to think of a new life.

Similarly, when Paul preached at Athens, God says that He now wills all men to repent, because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world (Acts 17:30–31). The sum is this: Christ, who is now to us a Master when He teaches us by the gospel, is appointed by the Father to be a Judge and will come in His due time; therefore, we must obey His doctrine promptly, so that we may gather the fruit of our faith then.

But someone may object that Peter speaks otherwise of the last day. For this does not serve to make them afraid when he says, the time of refreshing. I answer that there is a double prick with which the faithful are pricked forward when they are told of the last judgment.

For the benefit of faith does not appear in this world; indeed, it rather seems to go well with those who despise God, but the life of the godly is full of miseries. Therefore our hearts would often faint and quail, unless we remembered that the day of rest will come, which will quench all the heat of our trouble and put an end to our miseries.

The other prick of which I spoke is this: when the fearful judgment of God causes us to shake off complacency and drowsiness. So Peter mixes threats with promises in this place, partly so that he may draw the Jews to Christ, and partly that he may prick them forward with fear.

Furthermore, this is a practice often used in Scripture, as it speaks either to the reprobate or to the elect: sometimes making the day of the Lord sorrowful and fearful, sometimes making it pleasant and to be longed for. Peter therefore does very well, who, while he gives the Jews good hope of pardon, makes the day of Christ pleasant to them, so that they may desire it.

And shall send him. He says expressly that Christ will be Judge, so that they may know that contempt for the gospel will not be unpunished. For how could Christ not punish it? Meanwhile, this greatly comforts the faithful, when they know that it will be in His hand to give salvation, who now promises and offers it.

He adds, moreover, that He who is now preached to them will come. By this, he takes away all excuse of ignorance. It is as if he were saying: Christ is preached to you now before He comes to judge the world, so that those who will embrace Him may receive the fruit of their faith on that day, and so that others, who refuse Him, may be punished for their unbelief.

It is true that the Greek texts read this in two ways; for some manuscripts have προκεκηρυγμενον, that is, preached before, and others have προκεχειρισμενον, that is, shown, or set before their eyes. But both have one meaning: namely, that Christ is not offered to them in vain now by the doctrine of the gospel, because He will be sent the second time by His Father to be a Judge, armed and prepared to execute vengeance, unless they embrace Him now as their Redeemer.