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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act_17:16-21
16Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. 17So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. 18And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, "What would this idle babbler wish to say?" Others, "He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities," — because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? 20"For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean." 21(Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)
Act_17:16 "Athens" This was the greatest city of Greece's past cultural heritage and still the intellectual center of the Roman world. It was steeped in tradition, superstition and immorality.
▣ "his spirit" The Greek uncial manuscripts of the NT did not have
1. space between the words
2. punctuation marks
3. capitalization (all letters were capitals)
4. verse and chapter divisions
Therefore, only context can determine the need for capitals. Usually capitals are used for
1. names for deity
2. place names
3. personal names
The term "spirit" can refer to
1. the Holy Spirit (cf. Mar_1:5)
2. the conscious personal aspect of humanity (cf. Mar_8:12; Mar_14:38)
3. some being of the spiritual realm (i.e., unclean spirits, cf. Mar_1:23)
In this context it refers to Paul as a person.
There are several places in Paul's writings where this grammatical construction is used to describe what the Holy Spirit produces in the individual believer
1. "not a spirit of slavery," "a spirit of adoptions, Rom_8:15
2. "a spirit of gentleness," 1Co_4:21
3. "a spirit of faith (faithfulness), 2Co_4:13
4. "a spirit of wisdom and of revelation," Eph_1:17
It is obvious from the context Paul is using "spirit" as a way of referring to himself or other humans (1Co_2:11; 1Co_5:4; 2Co_2:13; 2Co_7:13; Rom_1:9; Rom_8:16; Php_4:23).
NASB "was being provoked within him"
NKJV "was provoked within him"
NRSV "was deeply distressed"
TEV "greatly upset"
NJB "was revolted"
This is an Imperfect passive indicative of paroxunô, which basically means "to sharpen," but here is used figuratively to "stir up." This is the term (in its noun form) that is used to describe Paul and Barnabas' fight over John Mark in Act_15:39. It is used positively in Heb_10:24.
Act_17:17 Paul was concerned with both Jews ("reasoning in the synagogue") and Gentiles, both those attracted to Judaism (god-fearers) and those who were idolatrous pagans ("those who happened to be present in the market place"). Paul addressed these various groups in different ways: to the Jews and God-fearers he used the OT, but to the pagans he tried to find some common ground (cf. Act_17:22-31).
Act_17:18 "Epicurean" This group believed that pleasure or happiness was the highest good and goal of life. They believed in no personal, physical afterlife. "Enjoy life now" was their motto (a form of hedonism). They held that the gods were unconcerned with humans. They got their name from Epicurus, an Athenian philosopher, 341-270 b.c., but they overstated his basic conclusion. Epicurus saw pleasure in a wider sense than personal, physical pleasure (i.e., healthy body and tranquil mind). "Epicurus is reported to have said, 'If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches, but take away from his desires'" (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol. IV, p. 153).
▣ "Stoic" This group believed that god was (1) the world-soul or (2) immanent in all creation (pantheism). They asserted that humans must live in harmony with nature ( i.e., god). Reason was the highest good. Self-control, self-sufficiency, and emotional stability in every situation was their goal. They did not believe in a personal afterlife. Their founder was Zeno, a philosopher from Cyprus, who moved to Athens about 300 b.c. They got their name from the fact that he taught in the painted stoa in Athens.
▣ "idle babbler" This word was used of sparrows eating seeds in a field. It came to be used metaphorically of itinerant teachers who picked up pieces of information here and there and tried to sell them. The R.S.V. Interlinear by Alfred Marshall translates it as "ignorant plagiarist." The NJB has "parrot."
▣ "proclaimer of strange deities" This is literally "foreign daimôn" used in the sense of spiritual powers or gods (cf. 1Co_10:20-21). These Athenian philosophers were religious polytheists (Olympic pantheon).
1. It is just possible that these Athenian Greek philosophers took Paul's words as referring to two gods (Jerome Biblical Commentary, vol. 2, p. 199).
a. goddess of health
b. goddess of resurrection (i.e., Anastasis)
2. It is even possible they saw one as
a. male (Jesus)
b. female (resurrection is a feminine noun)
3. Paul's gospel terminology (cf. NET Bible) itself may be the source of the confusion related to one God in three persons (i.e., the Trinity, see Special Topic at Act_2:32).
a. Father
b. Son
c. Spirit
▣ "because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection" The stumbling block of the gospel for the Jews was "a suffering Messiah" and for the Greeks it was "the resurrection" (cf. 1Co_1:18-25). A personal, bodily afterlife did not fit into the Greek understanding of the gods or mankind. They asserted a divine spark in every person, trapped or imprisoned by a physical body. Salvation was deliverance from the physical and reabsorption into an impersonal or semi-personal deity.
Act_17:19 "took him and brought him to the Areopagus" The term areopages means the hill of Ares (the god of war). In the Roman pantheon, the war god was named Mars. In the golden days of Athens, it was the philosophical forum of this renowned intellectual city. This was no judicial trial, but an open city forum in the presence of a council of city leaders.
This is a sample of Paul's preaching to pagans, as Act_13:16 ff was to God-fearing Gentiles. Thank God for these synopses of Paul's messages.
▣ "May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming" Here is the difference between intellectual curiosity (cf. Act_17:20-21) and revelation. God has made us curious (cf. Ecc_1:8-9; Ecc_1:18; Ecc_3:10-11), but human intellect cannot bring peace and joy. Only the gospel can do this! Paul discusses the difference between human wisdom and God's revelation in 1 Corinthians 1-4.
Act_17:19-20 These words are very socially polite. This was, in a sense, a university setting.
Act_17:21 This verse seems to be an authorial comment. It shows that the politeness of Act_17:19-20 was not true intellectual inquiry, but a current cultural fad. They just enjoyed hearing and debating. They were trying to relive Athens' past glory. The tragedy is they could not differentiate between human wisdom and divine revelation (and so it is today in our universities)!