Acts 26:20 - Repent, Turn to God and Do the Works of Repentance.

Acts 26:20; Repent, Turn to God and Do the Works of Repentance.

Acts 26:20 (KJV)  But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at
Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the
Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for
repentance.

Acts 26:20 (NIV)  First to those in Damascus, then to those in
Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they
should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their
deeds.

Acts 26:20 (NASB)  but kept declaring both to those of Damascus
first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of
Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to
God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.

Acts 26:20 (NRSV)  but declared first to those in Damascus, then
in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to
the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds
consistent with repentance.

Acts 26:20 (TEV)  First in Damascus and in Jerusalem and then in
the whole country of Israel and among the Gentiles, I preached that
they must repent of their sins and turn to God and do the things that
would show they had repented.

Acts 26:20 (NCV)  I began telling people that they should change
their hearts and lives and turn to God and do things to show they
really had changed. I told this first to those in Damascus, then in
Jerusalem, and in every part of Judea, and also to those who are not
Jewish.

Acts 26:20 (EAV)  But made known openly first of all to those at
Damascus, then at Jerusalem and throughout the whole land of Judea, and
also among the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and
do works and live lives consistent with and worthy of their
repentance.

Acts 26:20 (CWB)  Since that time, I have preached the good news
of salvation in Damascus, Jerusalem, throughout Palestine and in
many parts of the Roman Empire to anyone who would listen.
Everywhere I've been, I've urged people to change their ways, to repent of
their sins and to live for God.

Acts 26:20 (TLB)  I preached first to those in Damascus, then in
Jerusalem and through Judea, and also to the Gentiles that all must
forsake their sins and turn to God--and prove their repentance by doing
good deeds.

Paul is not here advocating righteousness by works, but the kind
of "works" that characterize a life that has attained to
righteousness by faith in Christ. He does not mean that it is possible to earn
righteousness by the performance of certain deeds, but rather that true
righteousness automatically produces deeds commensurate with, and that attest
to, the presence of the grace of God in the life.... The man of faith
establishes the law (Rom. 3:31), for he is "created in Christ Jesus unto
good works" (Eph. 2:10). Whenever there is true righteousness by
faith, that righteousness is evident in good works. "Faith without
works is dead" (see James 2:14-24). [SDA Commentary]

People should "repent and turn to God," language which appears
both in Acts (see 3:19) and in Paul's letters (see 1 Thess 1:9).26-11
Beyond this Paul declared that his preaching of grace did not involve
salvation without obedience. He preached that converts should "prove their
repentance by their deeds," that is, demonstrate by their obedience that
their repentance was sincere. This concept does not contradict Paul's
doctrine of justification by faith through grace, since Paul's doctrine
of faith always required a faith ready to obey the will of Christ
(see Rom 1:5). [College Press NIV Commentary]

The Greek word for repent literally means change one's mind. To
repent means to realize that the kind of life we are living is wrong
and that we must adopt a completely new set of values. To that end,
it involves two things. It involves sorrow for what we have been
and it involves the resolve that by the grace of God we will be
changed....
Turn to God. So often we have our backs to God. It may be in
thoughtless disregard; it may be because we have deliberately gone to the
far countries of the soul.... Paul calls on us to let the God who was
nothing to us become the God who is everything to us.....
The proof of genuine repentance and turning to God is a certain
kind of life. But these deeds are not merely the reaction of someone
whose life is governed by a new series of laws; they are the result of
a new love. The man who has come to know the love of God in Jesus
Christ knows now that if he sins he does not only break God's law; he
breaks God's heart. [Barclay Commentary]

Now a man must try to be good and keep God's law, not because he
fears God's punishment, but because he feels that he must strive to
deserve that amazing love. He strives for goodness, not because he is
afraid of God, but because he loves him. He knows now that sin is not
so much breaking God's law as it is breaking God's heart, and,
therefore, it is doubly terrible....
It is not the law of fear but the law of love which keeps him
right... We are rid forever of the terror of God, but that is no reason
for doing as we like. We can never again do as we like for we are
now for ever constrained to goodness by the law of love; and that
law is far stronger than ever the law of fear can be. [Barclay
Commentary re Rom.3:31]

Do works meet for repentance; that is, show by their conduct
that they had contrite hearts, (Adam Clarke Commentary)

It is not enough for them to have their eyes opened, they must
have their hearts renewed; not enough to be turned from darkness to
light, but they must be turned from the power of Satan unto God. .
[Matthew Henry Commentary]

Paul never separated the preaching of repentance from good
works. Deeds of Christian love show a person has repented, that is,
turned from sin to God. This means repentance is a change of direction
in one's life, not simply a statement made once and never acted
upon. [Disciple SB]

Obedience is the proof of repentance. [Disciple SB]

Faithfulness to Christ is an evidence of true salvation.
[Wiersbe Expository Outlines]

The assured Christian is more motion than notion, more work than
word, more life than lip, more hand than tongue. Thomas Brooks
[Passages Of Life SB]

None can be happy who are not holy; and to be saints in heaven
we must be first saints on earth. [Matthew Henry Commentary]

There is constant danger of falling into sin, for Christ has
warned us to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation. If we are
conscious of the weakness of self, we shall not be self-confident and
reckless of danger; but we shall feel the necessity of seeking to the
Source of our strength, Jesus our righteousness. We shall come in
repentance and contrition, with a despairing sense of our own finite
weakness, and learn that we must daily apply to the merits of the blood of
Christ, that we may become vessels fit for the Master's use. ST05-19-90

He who is truly penitent does not forget his past sins, and grow
careless about them as soon as he has obtained forgiveness. On the
contrary, the clearer the evidence he has of divine favor, the more he
sees to regret in his past life of sin. He loathes, abhors, and
condemns himself, and is more and more astonished  that he should have
continued in rebellion so long. He renews his repentance toward God, while
he grasps more decidedly the hand of Jesus Christ, and finds that
repentance is a daily, continued exercise, lasting until mortality is
swallowed up of life. He who thus repents, appreciates the righteousness
of Christ as above silver and gold, above every earthly tie and
affection. ST11-26-94

"You can say you are a Christian, but that doesn't make you one.
The true Christian will give evidence of faith by a transformed
life. The kind of faith that will take you to heaven is the kind of
faith that will produce godliness in your life here and now." Charles
H. Robinson [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary re Jam.2:14-24]

Luther called James an "epistle of straw," and was upset by what
he viewed as its works/righteousness teaching. Really though, this
critical segment of James does not teach works/righteousness, but asks a
vitally important question. And that question is--what kind of faith do
you have?
Abraham had a very real faith. We know that Scripture says,
"Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness" (v.
23). In one sense of that legal term "justified," Abraham was
justified at that moment, declared innocent in the sight of God.
But Abraham was not proven righteous until he subsequently
obeyed God's command and came to Mount Moriah, ready and willing to
sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. In that act he was justified in another
vital legal sense: his innocence was displayed!
What James tells us is that the kind of faith that makes us
righteous before God will also make us righteous before men. A true faith
in God will transform us within, and the new person we have become
will act out a relationship with God.
Even as Rahab showed that she had a true and saving faith in God
by hiding the spies that had entered Jericho.
Even as you have shown that you have a true and saving faith in
God by many of the choices you have made since you became a
Christian.
What a joy it is to know that our faith is real. What a joy it
is to have a faith that works. [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary
Jam.2:14-24]