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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Acts 17:32 - 17:34
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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act_17:32-34
32Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, "We shall hear you again concerning this." 33So Paul went out of their midst. 34But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
Act_17:32 "when they heard of the resurrection of the dead" The Greeks, except the Epicureans, believed in the immortality of the soul, but not of the body. The resurrection was the major stumbling block for the Greeks (cf. Act_17:18; 1Co_1:23).
▣ "sneer" This term is used only here in the NT, but the intensified form appears in Act_5:30; Act_26:21. Its root (chleusma or chleusmos) is used in the Septuagint several times for "derision" or "mockery" (cf. Job_12:4; Psa_79:4; Jer_20:8).
▣ "but others said, 'We shall hear you again concerning this'" Paul's message of God's love and care for all people was so radically new that these hearers were attracted, but not fully convinced.
Act_17:34 "some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius" There are three possible responses to the gospel:
1. rejection, "some began to sneer" (Act_17:32)
2. delayed decision, "we shall hear you again concerning this (Act_17:32)
3. belief, "some joined Paul and believed" (Act_17:34; 1Th_1:9-10)
This parallels the parable of the sower (cf. Matthew 13).
▣ "Dionysius the Areopagite" He must have been a regular attender of these philosophical discussions on Mars Hill. At least one intellectual became a believer.
Eusebius, Eccl. His. 3:4:6-7 and 4:23:6 says he became the first bishop of Athens or Corinth. If true, what a great transformation! The gospel is in the transformation business!
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