Acts 17
Paul and Silas at Thessalonica
1 After they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
Paul, Silas, and Timothy left Luke behind and traveled 32 miles down the famous Egnation Way. Amphipolis was the capital of Macedonia, but there was no Jewish synagogue to teach to the Jew first, so they passed through the city. The missionaries traveled 32 more miles and passed through Apollonia, because there was no Jewish synagogue in that city. They next traveled 37 more miles and came to Thessalonica, which was a large commercial city of 200,000 citizens. Cassandra, one of Alexander the Great's four generals, resided in this city at one time, before it became a Roman colony.
2 Paul went to the Jews in the synagogue, as he customarily did, and on three Sabbath days he addressed them from the scriptures,
This was a large city, but it had a small Jewish synagogue. The Greek word for "addressed" is διαλέγομαι (dialegomai), meaning to get a point across by exchanging and arguing logic. This one little Greek word gives insight into Paul's evangelism method. He did not teach from emotion, experience, signs, wonders, tongues, traditions, catechisms, or personal testimony. He taught directly from the Scriptures.
3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”
The Greek word for "explaining" is διανοίγω (dianoigo), meaning to "open completely". The Greek word for "demonstrating" is παρατίθημι (paratithami), meaning "to serve a meal in a very personal matter". Paul opened the door of the gospel completely, just as he would do if he was serving a meal in a very personal way. Paul showed from the Old Testament prophets that the Messiah had to suffer and be resurrected from the dead. He proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah spoken through the prophets.
4 Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.
Some of the Jews, Gentiles, and prominent women believed. The prominent women were from the upper class. Everyone heard the same message, but some did not believe. If the Holy Spirit does not open the intellect of the recipient, then they cannot believe. Notice that Paul used the written Word of God, not personal experience or man-made inventions to traditions, to evangelize the people.
5 But the Jews became jealous, and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. They attacked Jason’s house, trying to find Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly.
The Jews who did not believe became jealous, because they were losing converts. They hired a rabble from the marketplace. The rabble were gangs that were paid to start a riot. They attacked Jason's house, because he was hosting the missionaries. They wanted to publicly humiliate Paul and Silas before the Jewish assembly.
6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, screaming, “These people who have stirred up trouble throughout the world have come here too,”
Since the missionaries could not be found, they instead dragged Jason to the city officials. The Greek word for "world" is οἰκουμένη (oikomenay), meaning "the Roman world". The charge of the mob was that this missionary group had caused political upheaval throughout the Roman world.
7 “and Jason has welcomed them as guests! They are all acting against Caesar’s decrees, saying there is another king named Jesus!”
Roman law forbid the proselytizing of Roman citizens, as this was treason against Rome. They also accused the missionaries of going against the Laws of Caesar, by declaring Jesus as King.
8 They caused confusion among the crowd and the city officials who heard these things.
The Greek word for "confusion" is ταράσσω (tarasso), meaning emotional agitation. After hearing the crowd, the mob grew extremely hostile. If the city officials allowed the crowd to get out of control, then they would be accused of treason and replaced by Roman authorities.
9 After the city officials had received bail from Jason and the others, they released them.
The Greek word for "bail" is ἱκανός (hikanos), meaning a large monetary pledge. After the city officials received a large monetary pledge, then they released the missionaries. The city officials wanted to make sure that the missionaries would leave the city and not return. This may have been why Paul wrote the 1 Thessalonians letter stating that he could not return.
Paul and Silas at Berea
10 The brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea at once, during the night. When they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
The brothers were the new converts of the Thessalonica church. They paid the bail so that Paul could leave the city. Since Paul and Silas left at once during the night, there seemed to be some kind of danger and urgency. Travelers usually did not travel at night. They traveled to Berea, which was 50 miles away. Cicero called Berea an “out of the way city.” There was a Jewish synagogue in Berea, so Paul taught on the Sabbath.
11 These Jews were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they eagerly received the message, examining the scriptures carefully every day to see if these things were so.
The Bereans possessed the exact opposite view of their sister city, Thessalonica. The Thessalonians did not listen to Paul's message. The Thessalonians hired gangs to humiliate Paul. The Thessalonians accused Paul and his party with false charges. The Thessalonians ran Paul out of town. The Bereans, on the other hand, received Paul and his party with an open mind.
The Greek word for "open-minded" is εὐγενής (eugenais), meaning more noble in nature. They had a generous spirit, which was free from prejudice. The Greek word for "received" is δέχομαι (dechomai), meaning that the Bereans received the message in a welcoming way. The Greek word for "eagerly" is προθυμία (prothumia), meaning a willing passion. The Greek word for "examining" is ἀνακρίνω (anakrino), meaning that they were judging and evaluating the words that Paul spoke from down to up. This is the opposite of katakrino, meaning to judge or condemn. The Bereans were receiving the message in an extremely welcome way. They had a passion for studying the Scriptures. They examined the Scriptures carefully and their evaluation was very high marks. They desired to know the truth, so they eagerly sought it.
12 Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.
Many Jews and Gentiles, male and female, believed the Scriptures, including many prominent Gentiles.
13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God in Berea, they came there too, inciting and disturbing the crowds.
The Jews from Thessalonica were not very kind. Instead of tolerating the message, they traveled over fifty miles to squash it.
14 Then the brothers sent Paul away to the coast at once, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea.
The Jews from Thessalonica were a threat to Paul, so the believers in Berea sent him to Athens. Silas and Timothy remained at Berea to disciple the new church.
15 Those who accompanied Paul escorted him as far as Athens, and after receiving an order for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.
Paul was escorted to Athens by some of the new converts from the Berean church. Once Paul arrived in Athens, he sent a message back to Berea, asking Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
Paul at Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was greatly upset because he saw the city was full of idols.
Athens no longer possessed the glory that she once experienced underneath Greek's Golden Age of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. However, she was still one of the intellectual centers of the Roman Empire. The Greek word for "waiting" is ἐκδέχομαι (ekdechomai), which means that he was waiting with great excitement and anticipation. The Greek word for "greatly upset" is παροξύνω (parazuno), meaning emotionally angry. Paul was emotionally angry at all of the idols that he saw in one of the greatest intellectual centers of the Roman world.
17 So he was addressing the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles in the synagogue, and in the marketplace every day those who happened to be there.
Paul followed his custom of preaching to the Jews first. The god-fearing Gentiles were "proselytes at the gate", meaning that they were Gentiles who were discouraged with idol worship and they were seeking the one true God. The market place was the agora, where business, religion, and politics took place. Paul visited the Jewish synagogues on the Sabbath, but he also entered the agora market places every day, speaking to whomever would listen.
18 Also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him, and some were asking, “What does this foolish babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.)
The Epicureans were the liberals or the party animals of the day. They believed that the gods were so far removed from human life that humans should attempt to be as happy as possible. They did not believe in a resurrection after death, so their philosophy was to "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die." The Evolutionists would make good Epicureans.
The Stoics were the conservatives of the day. They were basically pantheists, who believed that man should flow with the gods of nature. The stoic was to stay calm, cool, and collective, using logic and reason, and ridding himself of emotionalism or pleasure. The Star Trek Vulcan Spock would be a good stoic. The Buddhist and Hindu also practice a stoic mentality.
The Greek word for "foolish babbler" is σπερμολόγος (spermologos), meaning a seed picker, or one who picks up fragments of knowledge like a dumb bird. They believed that Paul was a dumb bird who had picked up fragments of knowledge, making him foolish.
The Greek word for "resurrection" is ἀνάστασις (anastasis), meaning that the dead stands up. Anastasis was also the name of a Greek God, so some of the philosophers thought that Paul was referring to this god.
19 So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming?”
The Areopagus means "the hill of Ares" or "Mars Hill". The council of Greek philosophers met here for centuries to supervise Greek religion, culture, and education. These philosophers always wanted to hear something new, mostly so they could debate it.
20 “For you are bringing some surprising things to our ears, so we want to know what they mean.”
These philosophers of Greece were the first Gentiles that Paul spoke to who had no Old Testament background.
21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to spend their time in nothing else than telling or listening to something new.)
Paul was given the opportunity to share the gospel with the world's most intellectual philosophers.
22 So Paul stood before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects.”
The Greek word for "religious" is δεισιδαίμων (deisidaimion), meaning fear of demons. The Greeks took this as a complement, meaning pious or religious. The Jews took this as a warning, because demons are behind all of the religions of the world. Paul used this word in an ambiguous manner, so that it could be interpreted either way. He was not complementing or insulting his audience, but simply making a statement of fact.
23 “For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, this I proclaim to you.”
The Greeks of Athens had many altars dedicated to unknown gods. They did not want to make any of them angry by leaving them out. Paul was not breaking Roman law and proclaiming a new god. He was telling his audience about an old God who had existed forever.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it, who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands,”
The Stoics taught the eternity of matter. Paul informed the Stoics that an eternal God created everything, including matter. There were not 30,000 gods who created different things. There was only one Creator God and he created everything. God does not live in temples made by human hands, like the Parthenon. God is omnipresent. He is everywhere.
25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone.”
The true Creator God was not made of stone or metal, like the 30,000 Greek gods in Athens. He did not need sacrifices from people to make him happy, like the Epicureans taught. Everything, including life and breath, came from God.
26 “From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live,”
The Athenians claimed to have been raised up from the soil of their native land. Paul taught that all men, Jews and Greeks and barbarians, all came from one man. Therefore, the Greeks do not have their own special creator. It was not fate or luck that controlled history, but all history was controlled by a sovereign God. The Greeks believed that they were appointed a special place to live above everyone else, but Paul taught that God determines where everyone lives.
27 “so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”
The Greek word for "grope" is ψηλαφάω (psailapho), meaning that man was like a blind man reaching out in darkness and attempting to touch a solid object. When blind man reaches to touch a solid object, he needs to know that the solid object is God and he is near to every one.
28 “For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’”
The reason that anyone (including Greeks) live and move about and exist is because of God. Even many of the Greek poets, (Cleanthes, 300–220 B.C.; Aratus, 315–240 B.C.; and Epimenides, about 500 B.C.,) made similar observations.
29 “So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and imagination.”
Since man was created in the image of God, then it is foolish for man to be creating idols from different metals, stone, and wood.
30 “Therefore, although God has overlooked such times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent,”
The Greek word for "overlooked" is ὑπερεῖδον (hupereidon), meaning to wink or overlook. God has always been opposed to idolatry and polytheism, but he overlooked it or winked at it for a while. Now that Jesus has been revealed, he expected all Gentiles to turn away from these demonic idols. In the past, Gentiles were only responsible for responding to natural revelation. Now, Gentiles are responsible for responding to special revelation.
31 “because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
The day of judgement is the Great White Throne Judgement. On this day, God will judge everyone in the entire world. Jesus will be there as the standard of righteousness. Everyone will be judged by the standard of righteousness that Jesus established, meaning that everyone must be perfect. Since no man can equal the righteousness of Jesus, then every man at the Great White Throne Judgement will be condemned to the Lake of Fire. The reason that believers know this coming judgement is a reality is because God raised Jesus from the dead.
32 Now when they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
Paul did not get to finish his message, because these Athenian philosophers ridiculed him. The Epicureans did not believe in resurrection of the body, so they answered with ridicule. This is exactly how the skeptic answers today. The Stoics said that they wanted to hear him on another day, but this was a polite way of dismissing the argument. The great philosophers of Athens boasted of their great human intellect and philosophy, but without the Spirit of God, they were blinded by the satanic world culture.
33 So Paul left the Areopagus.
Paul left Athens and never returned. He returned to other Greek cities, but not Athens. Athens was too blinded by the Greek philosophies, which were nothing but humanism and Satanism.
34 But some people joined him and believed. Among them were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
No church was planted in Athens, but some did believe. Dionysius was a member of the Council of Areopagus and he believed. The woman Damaris was most likely a member of the Greek aristocrat.
Paul was debating with the greatest of Greek philosophers from the schools of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Athens was known worldwide as the greatest intellectual center of the Roman Empire. Paul taught about the resurrection of Christ, but they saw it as foolishness. Modern textbooks glorify the achievements of the Greek philosophical society, but according to divine viewpoint, it is nothing but foolishness. "The message of the cross is foolishness to this who are perishing."
