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Acts 17:18
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The Philosophers at Athens

16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, ahis spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was1 given over to idols.  
17 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.
18 Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this2 babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them aJesus and the resurrection.  
19 And they took him and brought him to the1 Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?  
20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”
21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

Addressing the Areopagus

22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the1 Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;  
23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:
24 a“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is bLord of heaven and earth, cdoes not dwell in temples made with hands.  
25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He agives to all life, breath, and all things.  
Commentaries:
John Wesley's Notes
<< Acts 17:17   Acts 17:19 >>


Acts 17:18

Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosopher - The Epicureans entirely denied a providence, and held the world to be the effect of mere chance; asserting sensual pleasure to be man's chief good, and that the soul and body died together. The Stoics held, that matter was eternal; that all things were governed by irresistible fate; that virtue was its own sufficient reward, and vice its own sufficient punishment. It is easy to see, how happily the apostle levels his discourse at some of the most important errors of each, while, without expressly attacking either, he gives a plain summary of his own religious principles. What would this babbler say? - Such is the language of natural reason, full of, and satisfied with itself. Yet even here St. Paul had some fruit; though nowhere less than at Athens. And no wonder, since this city was a seminary of philosophers, who have ever been the pest of true religion. He seemeth to be a proclaimer - This he returns upon them at Acts 17:23; of strange gods - Such as are not known even at Athens. Because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection - A god and a goddess. And as stupid as this mistake was, it is the less to be wondered at, since the Athenians might as well count the resurrection a deity, as shame, famine, and many others.


 
<< Acts 17:17   Acts 17:19 >>

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