CHAPTER 17
Concerning a disturbance that arose in Thessalonica because of a proclamation, and Paul's flight to Berea, and from there to Athens.
Acts 17:1-3 Passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews; as was his custom, Paul entered to them, and for three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead; and that Jesus is the Christ, whom I proclaim to you.
Since these men opposed the miracles, alleging that Paul and Silas were like deceivers and tricksters, he here appeals to the Scriptures to persuade them that no such suspicion could be held. [CHRYSOSTOM]
Acts 17:4-10 And some of them were persuaded and joined themselves to Paul and Silas, and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews, jealous and recruiting certain wicked men from the marketplaces and stirring up the mob, agitated the city; and having gone to Jason’s house they sought to bring them out to the people. Not finding them, they dragged Jason and certain brethren before the rulers, crying, “These who have upset the world have come here also, whom Jason has received; and these all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” And they stirred up the crowd and the rulers when they heard these things; and after they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they released them. But the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night to Berea; who, arriving, went into the synagogue of the Jews.
He calls them devout [Σεβομένους 1 ] Greeks , who, although they were from the Jews, nevertheless spoke Greek: devout because they observed the law; or proselytes of the Jews who were from the Greeks.
Acts 17:11-13 These, however, were more noble than those in Thessalonica, who received the message with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, including a number of respectable Greek women and not a few men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God had also been proclaimed by Paul in Berea, they came there as well, stirring up the crowds.
" These, however, were more noble ." He says " more noble " instead of "more fair-minded." Not that they examined them as unbelievers, or were testing the Scriptures (for they were already believers), but as if unaware with the tradition of the ancient prophets, and therefore made stronger in faith, when they examined the Scriptures and found the works of the Lord in the flesh to be in agreement with the words of the ancients. [AMMONIUS]
Acts 17:14-15 Immediately then the brothers sent Paul away, to go as far as the sea. But Silas and Timothy stayed there. Those who were appointing Paul led him as far as Athens, and having given instructions to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him as quickly as possible, they departed.
By a certain arrangement the Apostle fled here, not seized by fear, but both wishing to increase his preaching and to extinguish the madness by which they were afflicted.
On the slander written against a philosopher's public reputation in Athens, and of Paul's preaching and piety.
Acts 17:16-17 While they were waiting for Paul in Athens, his spirit was stirred within him as he observed the city full of idols. He argued in the synagogue with the Jews and those devoutly inclined, and every day in the marketplace with all who happened to be there.
" was stirred within him ." Here he does not say anger, nor indignation; for anger and indignation are far from grace. What then is this, " was stirred within him "? Instead of "he was aroused," he does not bear it, but is softened, as elsewhere he says, "There was a frustration among them," and what follows. [CHRYSOSTOM]
Acts 17:18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also opposed him, and some said, “What does this seed-picker want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities,” because he was proclaiming Jesus and the resurrection.
The Epicureans held that the universe is spontaneous and composed of atoms; the Stoics , that it is a body undergoing fire. Some of these, extremely conceited about their knowledge, senselessly mocking the divine Paul with the taunt, “ What does this seed-picker want to say ?” (for they called the seed-picker a little and lowly bird, fit neither for food nor for pleasure, accustomed to pick up seeds cast down in the crossroads, and therefore named the lowly and unworthy); and they said he was a proclaimer of foreign divinities , since he preached Jesus and the resurrection . For they even supposed the resurrection to be some kind of god, as they were accustomed to worship female deities; for they called their gods demons.
Acts 17:19-21 They seized him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying: "May we learn what this new teaching that you are proclaiming is? For you are introducing something strange into our ears. We wish, then, to know what these things are intended to be; Athenians and the resident foreigners do not attend to anything else but to tell or to hear something new."
They brought him , he says, to the Areopagus , not so much to learn, but so that he might be punished, where the courts deal with homicide. The place was called the Areopagus because Ares, as they say, there administered justice concerning adultery. Pagos means a high place; for that tribunal was on some hill. Therefore the local or village rulers are by some called Pagarchs 2 . [LETTER OF ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM, CHAPTER 45]
Acts 17:22-23 Standing Paul in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, in every way I see you to be more religiously superstitious. For as I passed through and observed your objects of worship, I found also an altar on which was inscribed, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore the one whom you ignorantly worship, him I proclaim to you."
Two reasons are given for the inscription on the altar in Athens, “ TO AN UNKNOWN GOD .” For some say that when the Athenians sent Philippides to the Lacedaemonians about an alliance, at the time the Persians marched on Greece, a phantom of Pan appeared to him on Mount Parthenion and blamed the Athenians for neglecting him and worshiping other gods, and promised to help. Having therefore prevailed, they erected a temple to him and built that altar. And, so that they might be on guard for fear that the same thing happen again at another time, having presented some god unknown to them, they set up that altar inscribed “ TO AN UNKNOWN GOD ,” saying that if perhaps some other were unknown to them, let this one be raised among them in his honor, so that he might be favorable to them, in case he would not be worshiped when unknown. Others say that a plague once fell upon the Athenians and consumed them to such an extent that they could not even bear their finest garments. Therefore those who were believed to be their gods were of no help. Realizing then that perhaps there was a god whom they themselves had left unhonored, the sender of the plague, they, fearing a new altar, and inscribing it, " TO AN UNKNOWN GOD ," and having sacrificed, were immediately healed. Paul therefore says that this Christ Jesus is the God of all, although he also declared it to them. And the entire inscription of the altar is this: To the gods of Asia and Europe and Libya, to a god unknown and foreign. [LETTER OF ISIDORUS OF PELUSIUM, CHAPTER 45]
Acts 17:24-26a God, who made the world and all that is in it, who, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in hand‑made temples, nor is served by human hands as if in need of anything, but gives to all life and breath and everything; and from one blood he has made every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.
For fear that they should think that God proclaimed by him was one of the common gods, he adds in correction: "He does not dwell in hand-made temples ." For indeed he dwells in temples, but not in these, rather in the human soul. For he is not said to dwell in the temple of Jerusalem, but to operate there. Nor was he worshiped among the Jews by the hands of men, but with the mind: for he did not so desire those things as if he were in need. For he says, "Shall I eat the flesh of bulls? Or shall I drink the blood of goats?" (Ps. 50:13) and the following.
Acts 17:26a-29 Having appointed the times and the boundaries of their habitation, to seek God if perhaps they might feel for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, For we too are his offspring. Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by art and human design.
“ Having appointed the times .” He says, “Having appointed to seek God ”; but he did not appoint this for all time, rather for appointed times, showing that they did not find him when they did not seek him now. For since when they sought, they did not find, he shows that he was revealed in such a way, as if toward something to be grasped in the middle; for the heaven was not here, but elsewhere. Nor was he in this time, but in another; so that it is possible to find him at every season and at every fixed point; for therefore he arranged it, so that he might be hindered neither by place nor by time. For this indeed contributed most of all to their belief, that the heaven is everywhere, that it stands in every time. [CHRYSOSTOM]
And this is what he says, “ though he is not far from each one of us .” For he is near to all as being everywhere in the inhabited world; and he is so near that without him one cannot live. [CHRYSOSTOM]
“ For in him we live and move and have our being .” Just as, in a bodily example, it is impossible to be unaware of the air poured everywhere, and of its not being far from any one of us, indeed even being within us, so likewise is the creator God of all. For from him is our being, our activity, our not perishing. [CHRYSOSTOM]
Then he even brings in a use for them from Aratus, one of their poets, in the construction of his own discourse. " For we too are his offspring ," he says. And this passage he takes about the Creator himself, although some say that this was said about Zeus, not meaning the same as that Zeus, but saying that this expression most properly fits him. For something has been said and is directed to him, but the Greeks do not know this, for they have conceived these things of another, just as also the phrase "To the Unknown God," and something different. But Paul says that we are of the race of God, not as those say, but in another sense of mind, that is, relatives, nearest, as one might say, dwellers nearby or neighbors. [CHRYSOSTOM]
Acts 17:30-34 Having observed the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, having provided proof to all by raising him from the dead. When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, "We will hear you about this again." And so Paul went out from among them. But some men joined him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
“ Having observed the times of ignorance ,” and the following. He does not mean that none are punished for these things, but that none of those who wish to repent do so. For he is not speaking of those who have died, but of those to whom he is giving commands. “He does not demand an account from you,” he says, concerning your former years of ignorance. He did not say, moreover, he overlooked, or he permitted, but, “He has overlooked,” that is, he did not seek punishment, although they are worthy of punishment. [CHRYSOSTOM]
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Translator notes for Acts chapter 17.
1. Σεβομένους In biblical texts, this specific form often refers to "God-fearers" or "devout" individuals, specifically Gentiles who worshipped the God of Israel and frequented synagogues without fully converting to Judaism.
2. In history and administration, the word Pagarch refers to an important Byzantine office, primarily in Egypt.