1NachdemG1161 sie aber durchG1353 AmphipolisG295 undG2532 ApolloniaG624 gereistG1353 waren, kamenG2064 sie nachG1519 ThessalonichG2332, woG3699 die SynagogeG4864 der JudenG2453 warG2258. 2NachG2596 seiner GewohnheitG1486 aberG1161 gingG1525 PaulusG3972 zuG4314 ihnenG846 hineinG1525 undG2532 unterredete sichG1256 anG1909 dreiG5140 SabbathenG4521 mit ihnenG846 ausG575 den SchriftenG1124, 3indem er eröffneteG1272 undG2532 darlegteG3908, daßG3754 der ChristusG5547 leidenG3958 undG2532 ausG1537 den TotenG3498 auferstehenG450 mußteG1163, undG2532 daßG3754 dieserG3778, der JesusG2424, denG3739 ichG1473 euchG5213 verkündigeG2605, der ChristusG5547 istG2076. 4UndG2532 etlicheG5100 vonG1537 ihnenG846 glaubtenG3982 undG2532 gesellten sichG4345 zu PaulusG3972 undG2532 SilasG4609, undG5037 von den anbetendenG4576 GriechenG1672 eine großeG4183 MengeG4128, undG5037 der vornehmstenG4413 FrauenG1135 nichtG3756 wenigeG3641. 5Die JudenG2453 aberG1161 wurden voll NeidesG2206 undG2532 nahmenG4355 etlicheG5100 böseG4190 MännerG435 vom GassenpöbelG60 zu sichG4355, machten einen VolksauflaufG3792 undG2532 brachtenG2350 die StadtG4172 in AufruhrG2350; undG5037 sie traten vorG2186 das HausG3614 JasonsG2394 und suchtenG2212 sieG846 unterG1519 das VolkG1218 zu führenG71. 6Als sie sieG846 aberG1161 nichtG3361 fandenG2147, schlepptenG4951 sie JasonG2394 undG2532 etlicheG5100 BrüderG80 vorG1909 die Obersten der StadtG4173 und riefenG994 G3754: DieseG3778, welche den ErdkreisG3625 aufgewiegeltG387 haben, sindG3918 auchG2532 hierherG1759 gekommenG3918, 7welcheG3739 JasonG2394 beherbergtG5264 hat; undG2532 dieseG3778 alleG3956 handelnG4238 widerG561 die VerordnungenG1378 des KaisersG2541, indem sie sagenG3004, daß ein andererG2087 KönigG935 seiG1511 - JesusG2424. 8Sie beunruhigtenG5015 aberG1161 die VolksmengeG3793 undG2532 die Obersten der StadtG4173, als sie diesG5023 hörtenG191. 9UndG2532 nachdem sie vonG3844 JasonG2394 undG2532 den übrigenG3062 BürgschaftG2425 genommenG2983 hatten, entließenG630 sie dieselbenG846. 10Die BrüderG80 aberG1161 sandtenG1599 alsbaldG2112 inG1223 der NachtG3571 sowohlG5037 PaulusG3972 alsG2532 SilasG4609 nachG1519 BeröaG960, welcheG3748, als sie angekommenG3854 waren, inG1519 die SynagogeG4864 der JudenG2453 gingenG549. 11DieseG3778 aberG1161 warenG2258 edlerG2104 als die inG1722 ThessalonichG2332; sieG3748 nahmenG1209 mitG3326 allerG3956 BereitwilligkeitG4288 das WortG3056 aufG1209, indem sie täglichG2250 G2596 die SchriftenG1124 untersuchtenG350, obG1487 diesG5023 sichG2192 alsoG3779 verhielteG2192. 12VieleG4183 nunG3767 G3303 vonG1537 ihnenG846 glaubtenG4100, undG2532 von denG3588 griechischenG1674 vornehmenG2158 WeibernG1135 undG2532 MännernG435 nichtG3756 wenigeG3641. 13AlsG5613 aberG1161 die JudenG2453 vonG575 ThessalonichG2332 erfuhrenG1097, daßG3754 auchG2532 inG1722 BeröaG960 das WortG3056 GottesG2316 vonG5259 PaulusG3972 verkündigtG2605 wurde, kamenG2064 sie auch dorthinG2546 und erregtenG4531 die VolksmengeG3793. 14DaG5119 sandtenG1821 aberG1161 die BrüderG80 alsbaldG2112 den PaulusG3972 fortG1821, umG4198 nachG1909 dem MeereG2281 hinG1909 zu gehenG4198. AberG1161 sowohlG5037 SilasG4609 alsG2532 TimotheusG5095 bliebenG5278 daselbstG1563. 15Die aberG1161 den PaulusG3972 geleitetenG2525, brachtenG71 ihnG846 bis nachG2193 AthenG116; undG2532 als sie fürG4314 SilasG4609 undG2532 TimotheusG5095 BefehlG1785 empfangenG2983 hatten, daßG2443 sie sobald wie möglichG5033 zuG4314 ihmG846 kommenG2064 sollten, reisten sie abG1826. 16Während aberG1161 PaulusG3972 sieG846 inG1722 AthenG116 erwarteteG1551, wurdeG3947 seinG846 GeistG4151 inG1722 ihmG846 erregtG3947, da er die StadtG4172 voll vonG5607 GötzenbildernG2712 sahG2334. 17Er unterredete sichG1256 nunG3767 G3303 inG1722 der SynagogeG4864 mit den JudenG2453 undG2532 mit den AnbeternG4576, undG2532 aufG1722 dem MarkteG58 anG2596 jedemG3956 TageG2250 mitG4314 denen, welche gerade herzukamenG3909. 18AberG1161 auch etlicheG5100 der epikuräischenG1946 undG2532 stoischenG4770 PhilosophenG5386 griffenG4820 ihnG846 anG4820; undG2532 etlicheG5100 sagtenG3004: WasG5101 willG2309 dochG302 dieserG3778 SchwätzerG4691 sagenG3004 ? andere aberG1161: Er scheintG1380 ein VerkündigerG2604 fremderG3581 GötterG1140 zu seinG1511, weilG3754 er [ihnen]G846 das EvangeliumG2097 von JesuG2424 undG2532 der AuferstehungG386 verkündigteG2097. 19UndG5037 sie ergriffenG1949 ihnG846, führtenG71 ihn zumG1909 AreopagG697 und sagtenG3004: KönnenG1410 wir erfahrenG1097, wasG5101 dieseG3778 neueG2537 LehreG1322 ist, von welcherG5259 duG4675 redestG2980 ? 20DennG1063 du bringstG1533 etwasG5100 FremdesG3579 vorG1519 unsereG2257 OhrenG189. Wir möchtenG1014 nunG3767 wissenG1097, wasG5101 dasG5023 seinG1511 magG302 G2309. 21AlleG3956 AthenerG117 aberG1161 undG2532 die FremdenG3581, dieG3588 sich da aufhieltenG1927, brachten ihre ZeitG2119 mitG1519 nichtsG3762 anderemG2087 zuG2119, alsG2228 etwasG5100 NeuesG2537 zu sagenG3004 undG2532 zu hörenG191. 22PaulusG3972 aberG1161 standG2476 mittenG3319 aufG1722 dem AreopagG697 und sprachG5346: MännerG435 von AthenG117, ich seheG2334, daßG5613 ihrG5209 inG2596 jeder BeziehungG3956 den Götzen sehr ergebenG1174 seid. 23DennG1063 als ich umhergingG1330 undG2532 die Gegenstände eurerG5216 VerehrungG4574 betrachteteG333, fandG2147 ich auchG2532 einen AltarG1041, anG1722 welchemG3739 die AufschriftG1924 war: Dem unbekanntenG57 GottG2316. DenG3739 ihr nunG3767, ohne ihn zu kennenG50, verehretG2151, diesenG5126 verkündigeG2605 ichG1473 euchG5213. 24Der GottG2316, der die WeltG2889 gemachtG4160 hat undG2532 allesG3956, was darinnenG1722 G846 ist, dieserG3778, indem er der HerrG2962 des HimmelsG3772 undG2532 der ErdeG1093 istG5225, wohntG2730 nichtG3756 inG1722 TempelnG3485, die mit Händen gemachtG5499 sind, 25nochG3761 wirdG2323 er vonG5259 MenschenhändenG444 G5495 bedientG2323, als wenn er noch etwasG5100 bedürfeG4326, da er selbstG846 allenG3956 LebenG2222 undG2532 OdemG4157 undG2596 allesG3956 gibtG1325. 26UndG5037 er hatG4160 ausG1537 einemG1520 BluteG129 jedeG3956 NationG1484 der MenschenG444 gemachtG4160, umG2730 aufG1909 dem ganzenG3956 ErdbodenG4383 G1093 zu wohnenG2730, indem er verordneteG4384 ZeitenG2540 undG2532 die GrenzenG3734 ihrerG846 WohnungG2733 bestimmtG3724 hat, 27daß sie GottG2962 suchenG2212, obG1487 sie ihnG846 wohlG686 tastend fühlenG5584 undG2532 findenG2147 möchten, obgleichG2544 er nichtG3756 fernG3112 istG5225 vonG575 einemG1520 jedenG1538 von unsG2257. 28DennG1063 inG1722 ihmG846 lebenG2198 undG2532 webenG2795 undG2532 sindG2070 wir, wieG5613 auchG2532 etlicheG5100 eurerG5209 DichterG4163 gesagtG2046 haben: "DennG1063 wir sindG2070 auchG2532 seinG5120 GeschlechtG1085 ". 29Da wir nunG3767 GottesG2316 GeschlechtG1085 sindG5225, so sollenG3784 wir nichtG3756 meinenG3543, daß das GöttlicheG2304 dem GoldeG5557 oderG2228 SilberG696 oderG2228 SteinG3037, einem GebildeG5480 der KunstG5078 undG2532 der ErfindungG1761 des MenschenG444, gleichG3664 seiG1511. 30Nachdem nunG3767 G3303 GottG2316 die ZeitenG5550 der UnwissenheitG52 übersehenG5237 hat, gebietetG3853 er jetztG3569 denG3956 MenschenG444, daß sie alle allenthalbenG3837 Buße tunG3340 sollen, 31weilG1360 er einen TagG2250 gesetztG2476 hat, anG1722 welchemG3739 er den ErdkreisG3625 richtenG2919 wirdG3195 inG1722 GerechtigkeitG1343 durchG1722 einen MannG435, denG3739 er dazu bestimmtG3724 hat, und hatG3930 allenG3956 den BeweisG4102 davon gegebenG3930, indem er ihnG846 auferwecktG450 hat ausG1537 den TotenG3498. 32Als sie aberG1161 von TotenauferstehungG386 G3498 hörtenG191, spottetenG5512 die einenG3303, die anderen aberG1161 sprachenG2036: Wir wollenG191 dichG4675 darüberG4012 G5127 auch nochmalsG3825 hörenG191. 33AlsoG2532 G3779 gingG1831 PaulusG3972 ausG1537 ihrerG846 MitteG3319 hinwegG1831. 34EtlicheG5100 MännerG435 aberG1161 schlossen sichG2853 ihmG846 anG2853 und glaubtenG4100, unterG1722 welchenG3739 auchG2532 DionysiusG1354 war, der AreopagitG698, undG2532 ein WeibG1135, mit NamenG3686 DamarisG1152, undG2532 andereG2087 mitG4862 ihnenG846.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 AT THESSALONICA THE SUCCESS OF PAUL'S PREACHING ENDANGERING HIS LIFE, HE IS DESPATCHED BY NIGHT TO BEREA, WHERE HIS MESSAGE MEETS WITH ENLIGHTENED ACCEPTANCE--A HOSTILE MOVEMENT FROM THESSALONICA OCCASIONS HIS SUDDEN DEPARTURE FROM BEREA--HE ARRIVES AT ATHENS. (
Acts 17:1-
Acts 17:15)
when they had passed through Amphipolis--thirty-three miles southwest of Philippi, on the river Strymon, and at the head of the gulf of that name, on the northern coast of the Ćgean Sea.
and Apollonia--about thirty miles southwest of Amphipolis; but the exact site is not known.
they came to Thessalonica--about thirty-seven miles due west from Apollonia, at the head of the Thermaic (or Thessalonian) Gulf, at the northwestern extremity of the Ćgean Sea; the principal and most populous city in Macedonia. "We see at once how appropriate a place it was for one of the starting-points of the Gospel in Europe, and can appreciate the force of what Paul said to the Thessalonians within a few months of his departure from them: "From you, the word of the Lord sounded forth like a trumpet, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place,"" (
1Thess 1:8) [HOWSON].
where was a synagogue of the Jews--implying that (as at Philippi) there was none at Amphipolis and Apollonia.
2 Paul, as his manner was--always to begin with the Jews.
went in unto them--In writing to the converts but a few months after this, he reminds them of the courage and superiority to indignity, for the Gospel's sake, which this required after the shameful treatment he had so lately experienced at Philippi (
1Thess 2:2).
3 Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, &c.--His preaching, it seems, was chiefly expository, and designed to establish from the Old Testament Scriptures (1) that the predicted Messiah was to be a suffering and dying, and therefore a rising, Messiah; (2) that this Messiah was none other than Jesus of Nazareth.
4 consorted--cast in their lot.
with Paul and Silas--Compare
2Cor 8:5.
of the chief women--female proselytes of distinction. From the First Epistle to the Thessalonians it appears that the converts were nearly all Gentiles; not only such as had before been proselytes, who would be gained in the synagogue, but such as up to that time had been idolaters (
1Thess 1:9-10). During his stay, while Paul supported himself by his own labor (
1Thess 2:9;
2Thess 3:7-9), he received supplies once and again from the Philippians, of which he makes honorable acknowledgment (
Phil 4:15-
Phil 4:16).
5 the Jews . . . moved with envy--seeing their influence undermined by this stranger.
lewd fellows of the baser sort--better, perhaps, "worthless market people," that is, idle loungers about the market-place, of indifferent character.
gathered a company--rather, "having raised a mob."
assaulted the house of Jason--with whom Paul and Silas abode (
Acts 17:7), one of Paul's kinsmen, apparently (
Rom 16:21), and from his name, which was sometimes used as a Greek form of the word Joshua [GROTIUS], probably a Hellenistic Jew.
sought to bring them--Jason's lodgers.
6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers--literally, "the politarchs"; the very name given to the magistrates of Thessalonica in an inscription on a still remaining arch of the city--so minute is the accuracy of this history.
crying, These that have turned the world upside down--(See on
Acts 16:20).
7 all do contrary to the decrees of Cćsar, &c.--meaning, probably, nothing but what is specified in the next words.
saying . . . there is another king, one Jesus--(See on
John 19:12).
9 And when they had taken security of Jason and of the other--"the others"--probably making them deposit a money pledge that the preachers should not again endanger the public peace.
10 the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night--for it would have been as useless as rash to attempt any further preaching at that time, and the conviction of this probably made his friends the more willing to pledge themselves against any present continuance of missionary effort.
unto Berea--fifty or sixty miles southwest of Thessalonica; a town even still of considerable population and importance.
11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica--The comparison is between the Jews of the two places; for the triumphs of the Gospel at Thessalonica were mostly among the Gentiles. See on
Acts 17:2-
Acts 17:4.
in that they received the word with all readiness of mind--heard it not only without prejudice, but with eager interest, "in an honest and good heart" (
Luke 8:17), with sincere desire to be taught aright (see
John 7:17). Mark the "nobility" ascribed to this state of mind.
searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so--whether the Christian interpretation which the apostle put upon the Old Testament Scriptures was the true one.
12 Therefore many of them believed--convinced that Jesus of Nazareth whom Paul preached was indeed the great Promise and Burden of the Old Testament. From this it is undeniable, (1) that the people, no less than the ministers of the Church, are entitled and bound to search the Scriptures; (2) that they are entitled and bound to judge, on their own responsibility, whether the teaching they receive from the ministers of the Church is according to the word of God; (3) that no faith but such as results from personal conviction ought to be demanded, or is of any avail.
of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men--which were Greeks.
not a few--"The upper classes in these European-Greek and Romanized towns were probably better educated than those of Asia Minor" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].
13 the Jews of Thessalonica . . . came thither also--"like hunters upon their prey, as they had done before from Iconium to Lystra" [HOWSON].
14 immediately the brethren--the converts gathered at Berea.
sent away Paul--as before from Jerusalem (
Acts 9:30), and from Thessalonica (
Acts 17:10). How long he stayed at Berea we know not; but as we know that he longed and expected soon to return to the Thessalonians (
1Thess 2:17), it is probable he remained some weeks at least, and only abandoned his intention of revisiting Thessalonica at that time when the virulence of his enemies there, stimulated by his success at Berea, brought them down thither to counterwork him.
to go as it were to the sea--rather, perhaps, "in the direction of the sea." Probably he delayed fixing his next destination till he should reach the coast, and the providence of God should guide him to a vessel bound for the destined spot. Accordingly, it was only on arriving at Athens, that the convoy of Berean brethren, who had gone thus far with him, were sent back to bid Silas and Timothy follow him thither.
Silas and Timotheus abode there still--"to build it up in its holy faith, to be a comfort and support in its trials and persecutions, and to give it such organization as might be necessary" [HOWSON]. Connecting this with the apostle's leaving Timothy and Luke at Philippi on his own departure (see on
Acts 16:40), we may conclude that this was his fixed plan for cherishing the first beginning of the Gospel in European localities, and organizing the converts. Timotheus must have soon followed the apostle to Thessalonica, the bearer, probably, of one of the Philippian "contributions to his necessity" (
Phil 4:15-
Phil 4:16), and from thence he would with Silas accompany him to Berea.
15 Silas and Timotheus to come to him with all speed--He probably wished their company and aid in addressing himself to so new and great a sphere as Athens. Accordingly it is added that he "waited for them" there, as if unwilling to do anything till they came. That they did come, there is no good reason to doubt (as some excellent critics do). For though Paul himself says to the Thessalonians that he "thought it good to be left at Athens alone" (
1Thess 3:1), he immediately adds that he "sent Timotheus to establish and comfort them" (
Acts 17:2); meaning, surely, that he despatched him from Athens back to Thessalonica. He had indeed sent for him to Athens; but, probably, when it appeared that little fruit was to be reaped there, while Thessalonica was in too interesting a state to be left uncherished, he seems to have thought it better to send him back again. (The other explanations which have been suggested seem less satisfactory). Timotheus rejoined the apostle at Corinth (
Acts 18:5).
16 PAUL AT ATHENS. (Acts 17:16-34)
wholly given to idolatry--"covered with idols"; meaning the city, not the inhabitants. Petronius, a contemporary writer at Nero's court, says satirically that it was easier to find a god at Athens than a man. This "stirred the spirit" of the apostle. "The first impression which the masterpieces of man's taste for art left on the mind of St. Paul was a revolting one, since all this majesty and beauty had placed itself between man and his Creator, and bound him the faster to his gods, who were not God. Upon the first contact, therefore, which the Spirit of Christ came into with the sublimest creations of human art, the judgment of the Holy Ghost--through which they have all to pass--is set up as "the strait gate," and this must remain the correct standard for ever" [BAUMGARTEN].
17 Therefore disputed--or, discussed.
he in the synagogue with the Jews--The sense is not, "Therefore went he to the Jews," because the Gentile Athenians were steeped in idolatry; but, "Therefore set he himself to lift up his voice to the idol city, but, as his manner was, he began with the Jews."
and with the devout persons--Gentile proselytes. After that,
in the market--the Agora, or place of public concourse.
daily with them that met with him--or "came in his way."
18 certain . . . of the Epicureans--a well-known school of atheistic materialists, who taught that pleasure was the chief end of human existence; a principle which the more rational interpreted in a refined sense, while the sensual explained it in its coarser meaning.
and of the Stoics--a celebrated school of severe and lofty pantheists, whose principle was that the universe was under the law of an iron necessity, the spirit of which was what is called the Deity: and that a passionless conformity of the human will to this law, unmoved by all external circumstances and changes, is the perfection of virtue. While therefore the Stoical was in itself superior to the Epicurean system, both were alike hostile to the Gospel. "The two enemies it has ever had to contend with are the two ruling principles of the Epicureans and Stoics--Pleasure and Pride" [HOWSON].
What will this babbler say?--The word, which means "a picker-up of seeds," bird-like, is applied to a gatherer and retailer of scraps of knowledge, a prater; a general term of contempt for any pretended teacher.
a setter forth of strange gods--"demons," but in the Greek (not Jewish) sense of "objects of worship."
because he preached Jesus and the resurrection--Not as if they thought he made these to be two divinities: the strange gods were Jehovah and the Risen Saviour, ordained to judge the world.
19 they took him, and brought him to Areopagus--"the hill where the most awful court of judicature had sat from time immemorial to pass sentence on the greatest criminals, and to decide on the most solemn questions connected with religion. No place in Athens was so suitable for a discourse on the mysteries of religion" [HOWSON]. The apostle, however, was not here on his trial, but to expound more fully what he had thrown out in broken conversations in the Agora.
21 all the Athenians . . . spent their time in nothing else but to tell or hear some new thing--literally, "newer thing," as if what was new becoming presently stale, they craved something still more new [BENGEL]. This lively description of the Athenian character is abundantly attested by their own writers.
22 Then Paul stood . . . and said--more graphically, "standing in the midst of Mars' hill, said." This prefatory allusion to the position he occupied shows the writer's wish to bring the situation vividly before us [BAUMGARTEN].
I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious--rather (with most modern interpreters and the ancient Greek ones), "in all respects extremely reverential" or "much given to religious worship," a conciliatory and commendatory introduction, founded on his own observation of the symbols of devotion with which their city was covered, and from which all Greek writers, as well as the apostle, inferred the exemplary religiousness of the Athenians. (The authorized translation would imply that only too much superstition was wrong, and represents the apostle as repelling his hearers in the very first sentence; whereas the whole discourse is studiously courteous).
23 as I passed by and beheld your devotions--rather, "the objects of your devotion," referring, as is plain from the next words, to their works of art consecrated to religion.
I found an altar . . . To the--or, "an"
unknown god--erected, probably, to commemorate some divine interposition, which they were unable to ascribe to any known deity. That there were such altars, Greek writers attest; and on this the apostle skilfully fastens at the outset, as the text of his discourse, taking it as evidence of that dimness of religious conception which, in virtue of his better light, he was prepared to dissipate.
Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship--rather, "Whom, therefore, knowing Him not, ye worship," alluding to "The Unknown God."
him declare--announce.
I unto you--This is like none of his previous discourses, save that to the idolaters of Lycaonia (
Acts 14:15-
Acts 14:17). His subject is not, as in the synagogues, the Messiahship of Jesus, but THE LIVING GOD, in opposition to the materialistic and pantheistic polytheism of Greece, which subverted all true religion. Nor does he come with speculation on this profound subject--of which they had had enough from others--but an authoritative "announcement" of Him after whom they were groping not giving Him any name, however, nor even naming the Saviour Himself but unfolding the true character of both as they were able to receive it.
24 God that made the world and all . . . therein--The most profound philosophers of Greece were unable to conceive any real distinction between God and the universe. Thick darkness, therefore, behooved to rest on all their religious conceptions. To dissipate this, the apostle sets out with a sharp statement of the fact of creation as the central principle of all true religion--not less needed now, against the transcendental idealism of our day.
seeing he is Lord--or Sovereign.
of heaven and earth--holding in free and absolute subjection all the works of His hands; presiding in august royalty over them, as well as pervading them all as the principle of their being. How different this from the blind Force or Fate to which all creatures were regarded as in bondage!
dwelleth not in temples made with hands--This thought, so familiar to Jewish ears (
1Kgs 8:27;
Isa 66:1-
Isa 66:2;
Acts 7:48), and so elementary to Christians, would serve only more sharply to define to his heathen audience the spirituality of that living, personal God, whom he "announced" to them.
25 Neither is worshipped with--ministered unto, served by
men's hands, as though he needed anything--No less familiar as this thought also is to us, even from the earliest times of the Old Testament (
Job 35:6,
Job 35:8;
Ps 16:2-
Ps 16:3;
Ps 50:12-
Ps 50:14;
Isa 40:14-
Isa 40:18), it would pour a flood of light upon any candid heathen mind that heard it.
seeing he--He Himself.
giveth to all life, and breath, and all things--The Giver of all cannot surely be dependent for aught upon the receivers of all (
1Chr 29:14). This is the culminating point of a pure Theism.
26 and hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth--Holding with the Old Testament teaching, that in the blood is the life (
Gen 9:4;
Lev 17:11;
Deut 12:23), the apostle sees this life stream of the whole human race to be one, flowing from one source [BAUMGARTEN].
and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation--The apostle here opposes both Stoical Fate and Epicurean Chance, ascribing the periods and localities in which men and nations flourish to the sovereign will and prearrangements of a living God.
27 That they should seek the Lord--That is the high end of all these arrangements of Divine Power, Wisdom, and Love.
if haply they might feel after him--as men groping their way in the dark.
and find him--a lively picture of the murky atmosphere of Natural Religion.
though he be not far from every one of us--The difficulty of finding God outside the pale of revealed religion lies not in His distance from us, but in our distance from Him through the blinding effect of sin.
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being--(or, more briefly, "exist").--This means, not merely, "Without Him we have no life, nor that motion which every inanimate nature displays, nor even existence itself" [MEYER], but that God is the living, immanent Principle of all these in men.
as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring--the first half of the fifth line, word for word, of an astronomical poem of Aratus, a Greek countryman of the apostle, and his predecessor by about three centuries. But, as he hints, the same sentiment is to be found in other Greek poets. They meant it doubtless in a pantheistic sense; but the truth which it expresses the apostle turns to his own purpose--to teach a pure, personal, spiritual Theism. (Probably during his quiet retreat at Tarsus.
Acts 9:30, revolving his special vocation to the Gentiles he gave himself to the study of so much Greek literature as might be turned to Christian account in his future work. Hence this and his other quotations from the Greek poets,
1Cor 15:33;
Titus 1:12).
29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think--The courtesy of this language is worthy of notice.
that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device--("graven by the art or device of man"). One can hardly doubt that the apostle would here point to those matchless monuments of the plastic art, in gold and silver and costliest stone, which lay so profusely beneath and around him. The more intelligent pagan Greeks no more pretended that these sculptured gods and goddesses were real deities, or even their actual likenesses, than Romanist Christians do their images; and Paul doubtless knew this; yet here we find him condemning all such efforts visibly to represent the invisible God. How shamefully inexcusable then are the Greek and Roman churches in paganizing the worship of the Christian Church by the encouragement of pictures and images in religious service! (In the eighth century, the second council of Nicea decreed that the image of God was as proper an object of worship as God Himself).
30 the times of this ignorance God winked at--literally (and far better), "overlooked," that is, bore with, without interposing to punish it, otherwise than suffering the debasing tendency of such worship to develop itself (compare
Acts 14:16, and see on
Rom 1:24, &c.).
but now--that a new light was risen upon the world.
commandeth--"That duty--all along lying upon man estranged from his Creator, but hitherto only silently recommending itself and little felt--is now peremptory."
all men every where to repent--(compare
Col 1:6,
Col 1:23;
Titus 1:11) --a tacit allusion to the narrow precincts of favored Judaism, within which immediate and entire repentance was ever urged. The word "repentance" is here used (as in
Luke 13:3,
Luke 13:5;
Luke 15:10) in its most comprehensive sense of "repentance unto life."
31 Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world--Such language beyond doubt teaches that the judgment will, in its essence, be a solemn judicial assize held upon all mankind at once. "Aptly is this uttered on the Areopagus, the seat of judgment" [BENGEL].
by that man whom he hath ordained--compare
John 5:22-
John 5:23,
John 5:27;
Acts 10:42.
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead--the most patent evidence to mankind at large of the judicial authority with which the Risen One is clothed.
32 when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked--As the Greek religion was but the glorification of the present life, by the worship of all its most beauteous forms, the Resurrection, which presupposes the vanity of the present life, and is nothing but life out of the death of all that sin has blighted, could have no charm for the true Greek. It gave the death blow to his fundamental and most cherished ideas; nor until these were seen to be false and fatal could the Resurrection, and the Gospel of which it was a primary doctrine, seem otherwise than ridiculous.
others said, We will hear thee again of this--"an idle compliment to Paul and an opiate to their consciences, such as we often meet with in our own day. They probably, like Felix, feared to hear more, lest they should be constrained to believe unwelcome truths" (
Acts 24:25; and compare
Matt 13:15) [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].
33 So Paul departed--Whether he would have opened, to any extent, the Gospel scheme in this address, if he had not been interrupted, or whether he reserved this for exposition afterwards to earnest inquirers, we cannot tell. Only the speech is not to be judged of as quite complete.
34 Howbeit certain men clave unto him--Instead of mocking or politely waiving the subject, having listened eagerly, they joined themselves to the apostle for further instruction; and so they "believed."
Dionysius the Areopagite--a member of that august tribunal. Ancient tradition says he was placed by the apostle over the little flock at Athens. "Certainly the number of converts there and of men fit for office in the Church was not so great that there could be much choice" [OLSHAUSEN].
a woman named Damaris--not certainly one of the apostle's audience on the Areopagus, but won to the faith either before or after. Nothing else is known of her. Of any further labors of the apostle at Athens, and how long he stayed, we are not informed. Certainly he was not driven away. But "it is a serious and instructive fact that the mercantile populations of Thessalonica and Corinth received the message of God with greater readiness than the highly educated and polished Athenians. Two letters to the Thessalonians, and two to the Corinthians, remain to attest the flourishing state of those churches. But we possess no letter written by Paul to the Athenians; and we do not read that he was ever in Athens again" [HOWSON].
