Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
This verse comes from a farewell speech Paul delivers to the leaders of the church in Ephesus — the same city addressed in Ephesians 1:1. Paul is heading to Jerusalem, where he knows danger awaits, and he may never see these people again. Looking back over years of ministry, he distills everything he stood for into a single sentence: call people to turn to God in repentance, and to trust in Jesus. "Jews and Greeks" was shorthand for everyone — the two dominant cultural and religious groups of his world. Repentance means genuinely changing direction — acknowledging you've been heading the wrong way and turning around. Faith in Jesus means actively entrusting your life to him, not merely agreeing he existed.
Lord, I need both — the courage to turn when I've been heading the wrong way, and the faith to lean on you when I do. Thank you that the message is simple, even when living it isn't easy. Keep calling me back when I wander. Amen.
There's something quietly powerful about a person who can look back over their entire life's work and summarize it in one sentence — not a polished mission statement workshopped in a conference room, but the real thing they actually did, day after day, in synagogues and marketplaces and courtrooms and living rooms. For Paul, it came down to this: turn around, and trust. Two movements, in sequence. First, honestly face the direction you've been heading. Then, deliberately shift your weight onto someone stronger than yourself. Repentance has a terrible reputation. It sounds like groveling, like endless self-punishment, like being permanently defined by the worst thing you ever did. But the Greek word behind it literally means a change of mind — a turning. It's not primarily about feeling terrible; it's about going a different direction. And faith isn't a feeling either — it's a posture, a leaning. Paul didn't preach these two things as a one-time transaction at the start of the Christian life. He declared them constantly, to everyone, because they are the daily shape of following Jesus. Today, is there a direction in your life that needs turning? And is there something you're still carrying alone that you could finally set down?
Paul summarizes his entire ministry as 'repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.' In your own words, how would you explain what those two things mean — and what is the actual difference between them?
Repentance implies you've been heading in the wrong direction. Is there an area of your life right now where you sense that's true? What makes it hard to name or admit out loud?
Paul brought this same message to both Jews (religious insiders who knew the scriptures) and Greeks (cultural outsiders with no religious background). Does repentance and faith land differently for someone who grew up in church versus someone encountering Jesus for the first time? Why or why not?
Faith in Jesus involves trusting him with specific parts of your life. Are there areas — your finances, your relationships, your future, your body — where you struggle to actually release control? What does faith look like practically in those places?
If you had to summarize your own life of faith in one sentence the way Paul does here, what would you say? What does that exercise reveal about what you actually believe and live, versus what you say you believe?
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew 4:17
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Matthew 9:13
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Acts 26:18
And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Mark 1:15
And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew 3:2
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:38
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Luke 24:47
solemnly [and wholeheartedly] testifying to both Jews and Greeks, urging them to turn in repentance to God and [to have] faith in our Lord Jesus Christ [for salvation].
AMP
testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
ESV
solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
NASB
I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
NIV
testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
NKJV
I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike — the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.
NLT
urging Jews and Greeks alike to a radical life-change before God and an equally radical trust in our Master Jesus.
MSG