`Repentance' is metanoia, and means `a change of mind', or `an after mind'. Repentance presupposes that one

has entertained false ideas, consequently we find repentance urged upon Israel concerning their false ideas as to the

King and Kingdom. The Corinthians had entertained false ideas concerning the scope of their liberty in Christ, and

had to be shown that liberty was not license (1 Cor. 8:9,10). The man caught in the snare of the Devil was delivered

upon repentance or, as it is expanded, by acknowledgment of the truth (2 Tim. 2:25). Paul urged repentance upon

philosophic Athens (Acts 17:30), no longer restricting this need to the people of Israel, and in another summary of

his earlier ministry he said:

`I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: but showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and

throughout all the coasts of Judæa, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do

works meet for repentance' (Acts 26:19, 20),

So the Thessalonians:

`Turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God' (1 Thess. 1:9).

Repentance, however, cannot be separated, except mentally, from the positive act of faith. He who `turns from

idols' without `turning to the living God' may be but `empty, swept and garnished'. Repentance and faith toward

our Lord Jesus Christ go together.

At this point we must bring this study to a close for it is too late in the section to consider the implication of such

words as `faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ'. The interested believer, however, knows the prime importance of the

words, and it is with them that Paul brings the survey of his `Acts' ministry to an end. His next words denote a

change, `And now', but this too we leave for consideration in our next section.

From verse 18 to verse 21 of Acts 20 we have followed the apostle's description of the nature and substance of

the ministry that he commenced in Acts 9, and that was now drawing to its close. At verse 22 we are conscious of a

`And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: save

that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me' (Acts 20:22,23).

`I go bound in the spirit'. - The fact that in the next verse the apostle speaks of `The Holy Ghost' suggests that

the earlier phrase should be interpreted in the sense that the apostle, though still outwardly a free man, was

nevertheless already, `in the spirit' entering into, by anticipation, the bonds and afflictions that awaited him. His

missionary journeys were always under the leading or constraint of the Spirit, either directly in relation to the

immediate Person of the Holy Ghost, or by the answer of his own spirit to the leading of the Lord. He had been

`separated' by the Holy Ghost (Acts 13:2), and had been `sent forth by the Holy Ghost' (Acts 13:4). Sometimes,

also, he had been forbidden of the Holy Ghost (Acts 16:6,7). Furthermore we read in Acts 18:5 that Paul's spirit

was stirred within him, and in Acts 19:21 that he `purposed' in the spirit the journey that was now leading him to

Jerusalem and Rome. So here, having arrived at Miletus, we find that he was already the prisoner of the Lord `in

spirit'. He was definitely bound for Jerusalem. On occasions in the past he had planned to visit some particular

church or country but had been `let', as he told the Romans. Now, however, Jerusalem is most definitely his goal.

As in the case of his Lord, there came a time when he had to set his face steadfastly towards Jerusalem, even though

well-meaning disciples should urge to the contrary.

The ostensible reason for this particular journey was the delivery of the collection made among the Gentiles for

the poor saints at Jerusalem. Paul's journeys to Jerusalem mark definite stages in his career. In Acts 9:2 we read

that Paul planned to bring those `of this way ... bound unto Jerusalem', while after his conversion we read of his

assaying to join with the disciples at Jerusalem and needing the mediation of Barnabas to break down the barrier of

fear and suspicion that would have kept him out. It was at Jerusalem, also, that the decisive battle was fought for