Acts 3:19
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
what does this verse mean by "the refreshing"?
how does the presence of the Lord cause refreshing?
what does this verse mean by the "times of refreshing"?
thks
† ἀνάψυξις.
1. This word, like the synon. ἀναψυχή, which is attested from the time of Eur. and Plat., comes from ἀναψύχω “to cool by blowing,” Hom. Od., 4, 568, “to dry,” Hdt., VII, 59, 3; Strabo, 10, 2, 19, or gen. “to refresh,” “to relieve,” “to strengthen,” Hom. Il., 13, 84; Eur. Hel., 1094. It occurs first in the early Hippocratic tractate De Fracturis, 25 (II, 83, 11 F., Kühlewein), where it denotes the drying out and healing of an open wound which the surgeon has left exposed to the air when bandaging a broken limb. Pos. has it in the sense of “cooling” in a climatological context, Fr., 78 (FGrHist, II, A 270). We also find it for “alleviation,” “liberation,” πόνων ἀνάψυξις, Jul. Ep. ad Themistium, 258c relief from the plague of frogs, Ex. 8:11 LXX; Philo Abr., 152 uses it neutrally for “rest.”
Dihle
2. In the NT the term occurs only at Ac. 3:20. As the aorist of the verb and the choice of the noun καιρός in the note of time show, we are not to think of mere breaks in the end-time affliction but are to construe the word along the lines of → I, 391, 35 ff. The context makes sense only if the “times of refreshing” are the definitive age of salvation. The expression is undoubtedly apocalyptic in origin,3 as is the accompanying phrase “from the face of the Lord.” The reference, then, is to the eschatological redemption which is promised to Israel if it repents. The Jewish idea that conversion will hasten the coming of the end can hardly be present, but simply the warning that this redemption will not come at all for Israel unless it repents now. Yet it is disputed whether we have in vv. 19–21 or (19b), 20, 21a ancient Elijah expectation which is attributed to Christ, primitive rapture christology, or purely Lucan theology. Probably Luke does the composition but uses phrases which go back to Jewish traditions like that about Elijah. Since there is no mention of the conversion of all Israel as in R. 11:25 f., nor of the restoration of all things7 (→ I, 391, 29 ff.), what is said is simply that the times of refreshing and the redemption of all the promises will come only after a further space of time, so that there is still a chance for conversion. An essential point in Luke is that 3000, 5000 and indeed great numbers of Jews are converted, Ac. 2:41; 4:4; 5:14; 21:20. As a distinction is thus made between the authentic and the inauthentic Israel, it is also plain that Gentiles who come to faith are adopted into Israel9 and that in this sense the parousia brings the perfecting of Israel.
Schweizer
Schweizer, E., Bertram, G., Dihle, A., Tröger, K.-W., Lohse, E., & Jacob, E. (1964–). ψυχή, ψυχικός, ἀνάψυξις, ἀναψύχω, δίψυχος, ὀλιγόψυχος. In G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, & G. Friedrich (Eds.), Theological dictionary of the New Testament (electronic ed., Vol. 9, pp. 664–665). Eerdmans.
Because the word is used only one time in the NT, we must look in contemprorary Greek writings to find its meaning - cited above. Your choice of this word for the question of your OP is curious.
