Chapter 17

Acts 17:1–7. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to Paul’s custom, he went in to them, and for three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, opening and setting forth that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, and that “This is the Christ, Jesus, whom I proclaim to you.” And some of them were persuaded and joined themselves to Paul and Silas, both a great multitude of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews who did not believe took along certain wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar; and assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. But not finding them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the city rulers, crying out that “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them; and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

Acts 17:8–9. And they troubled the crowd and the city rulers who heard these things. And when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. “Passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia.” They pass by the small cities and hasten on to the greater ones, since from these the word was to spread to the neighboring towns. “They came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.” Although he had said, “We turn to the Gentiles,” yet he did not abandon these, for he had great longing for them. “He reasoned from the Scriptures, setting forth that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead.” Above all he proclaims the Passion, for he knew this to be the source of salvation. “A great multitude of the devout Greeks.” By devout Greeks he means those who, though of the Jews, spoke Greek, or else he means the proselytes from among the Greeks who kept the law and so belonged to the Jews. He calls them devout because they observed the law. “And they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” Their fathers too accused Jesus in just this way, saying that He called Himself king. But those at least had a somewhat plausible, if deceptive, pretext, because the one accused was still alive; yet what escape from their lie did these men have, when they declared that the apostles proclaimed Jesus as king—one who, according to them, had died, and whom the kings of the earth had no longer any cause to fear, since they saw that He no longer appeared at all?

Acts 17:10–15. And the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea; and on arriving they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and not a few of the honorable Greek women and men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there too, stirring up and troubling the crowds. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul away, to go as it were toward the sea; but Silas and Timothy remained there. And those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy that they should come to him as quickly as possible, they departed. “More noble,” that is, more reasonable. As for “examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so”—they searched not as unbelievers (for they had already believed), but as those who had no share in the tradition of the prophets; and indeed by this they became all the more faithful, searching the Scriptures and finding that the matters concerning the Lord’s incarnate dispensation agreed with the words of the ancient prophets. “Then the brothers immediately sent Paul away as far as Athens.” They withdrew by a providential arrangement, not out of cowardice; for otherwise they would have ceased preaching, and not rather have provoked their enemies further. But from this two things resulted: both the anger of those men was quenched, and the preaching was extended further. They send Paul alone, for they feared for him especially, lest he suffer something, since he was the chief. Thus grace did not work for them everywhere, but left them also to themselves—now rousing them, now casting them into anxiety.

Acts 17:16–21. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him as he beheld the city full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace daily with those he met. And certain of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. And taking hold of him, they brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which is spoken by you? For you bring certain strange things to our ears; we wish therefore to know what these things mean.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners staying there spent their time in nothing else but telling or hearing something newer. “His spirit was stirred within him.” By “was stirred” he does not here mean anger; for the gift of grace is far from anger and indignation. What then is “was stirred”? He was roused; he could not bear it, but was consumed within. “Certain of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him.” The Epicureans are those who say that all things exist without providence; and aiming his discourse chiefly against them, Paul says, “He Himself gives to all life and breath, having appointed determined times and the boundaries of their habitation,” thus showing the providence of God. The philosophers did not laugh at him as he spoke in this way, for they did not understand any of what was said. For how could they—some saying that God is a body, others that blessedness is pleasure? “And some said, What does this babbler wish to say?” A ‘babbler’ (spermologos) they call a most worthless little bird that is accustomed to gather up the seeds scattered at the crossroads; with this name, raising an empty eyebrow over their broad tongue and thinking great things of themselves, they likened Paul. For “they call the wise base,” says the writer of Proverbs. Since, then, the spermologos is a small bird, fit neither for food nor for delight, they used to call worthless people ‘spermologoi.’ “Others said, He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities.” For they supposed the resurrection too to be some god, since they were accustomed to worship female deities as well; for they called their gods ‘daimonia.’ “They brought him to the Areopagus”—not that they might learn from him, but that they might punish him, where the trials for murder were held. It was called the Areopagus because Ares there, as they say, paid the penalty for adultery. ‘Pagos’ means a high place, for that court stood upon a hill. It should be noted that, although they spent their time in speaking and hearing, they nevertheless reckoned those things to be strange which they had never heard before; and besides, had he preached that a man had been crucified, what was said would not have been strange; but since he said that God had been crucified and raised, he was indeed speaking strange things.

Acts 17:22–28. And Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are exceedingly religious. For as I passed through and beheld your objects of worship, I found also an altar on which was inscribed: To an Unknown God. Him, therefore, whom you worship without knowing, this One I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, He, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He served by human hands as though needing anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things. And He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, having appointed determined times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after Him and find Him, though indeed He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also certain of your own poets have said: For we are also His offspring.”

Acts 17:29. … being the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine is like gold or silver or stone, shaped by the art and imagination of man. “That you are exceedingly religious.” One who is ‘deisidaimon’ is one who fears the daimonia, who deifies everything—wood and stone and spirit. He seems to be praising them. By “more religious” he means rather “more reverent”; and he said this on account of the altar. The altar had been set up by them for the following reason. A war once broke out for the Athenians against their enemies; faring badly, they withdrew. And since it was their custom to hold games in honor of the daimones, one of the daimones appeared and said that he had never yet received any honor from them, and that, being angry with them, he had been the cause of this defeat. So they built a temple to him; and, as if guarding against suffering the same thing again at some other time should they pass over some god unknown to them, they set up that altar with the inscription, “To an Unknown God,” meaning by this: If there is any other god unknown to us, let this altar be raised in his honor, that he may be merciful to us, even though, being unknown, he is not worshiped. And the whole inscription of the altar was: “To the gods of Asia and Europe and Libya; to the unknown and foreign god.” “For as I passed through and beheld your objects of worship.” He found in the city not a divine book but an altar standing; and from the inscription of the altar he tore the altar down. For what else was he to do? The Greeks were all impious. If he reasoned with them from the Gospels, they would laugh; if from the prophets, they would not believe. So from the enemy’s own weapons he overcame them; and this is what he means: “I became to those without law as one without law.” He saw the altar and turned its writing to his own purpose—or rather, he transferred its meaning. “It was inscribed,” he says, “on the altar: To an Unknown God.” And who was this other unknown God but Christ? What then? Did the Athenians write this on account of Christ? If they wrote it for Christ’s sake, the achievement of Paul would be no great wonder. But they wrote it with another intent, while he had the power to turn it to another meaning. It is necessary to say why they wrote, “To an Unknown God.” Those people had many gods, both native and foreign. Of these, some they had received from their mothers, others from the neighboring nations. Since, then, they had not received them all from the beginning, but these had been introduced little by little—some in the time of their fathers, some of their grandfathers, some in their own generation—they came together and said: “Just as we did not know these gods and afterward came to know them, so it may be that there is yet another who is unknown, and who, though being God, is not known by us, and on this account remains unnoticed, neglected and unworshiped.” So they set up an altar and inscribed: “To an Unknown God,” saying by this writing that: “If there is yet some other God unknown to us, him also we will worship.” See the excess of their fear of the daimones. Therefore Paul said: “In all things I perceive that you are exceedingly religious,” that is, more reverent: for you worship not only the daimones known to you, but also those not yet made known to you. And having taken their thought captive, he directed their mind’s gaze toward Christ. “For Him whom you worship without knowing, this One I proclaim to you.” The Athenians were about to bring this charge against Paul: “You bring in a strange teaching, you introduce a God whom we do not know.” Wishing therefore to free himself from suspicion and to show that he was not preaching a new God, but the One whom they themselves had already honored beforehand by their worship, he says: “You have anticipated me; your worship has outrun my preaching, for I proclaim to you that God whom you worship without knowing.” “The God who made the world and all things in it.” He uttered a single word and overthrew all the positions of the philosophers. For the Epicureans assert that all things arose of themselves and from atoms; but he says that the world and all that is in it is the work of God. “He does not dwell in temples made with hands.” Lest they suppose the God preached by him to be one of the many, Paul completes his statement: “He does not dwell in temples made with hands,” but in the human soul. What then? Did He not dwell in the temple at Jerusalem? Indeed He did not dwell there, but He worked there. How then was He served by human hands among the Jews? Not by hands, but by the mind, since He did not seek those outward things, having no need of them: “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?” and what follows. “Not needing anything, He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things.” Two proofs of divinity: that He Himself needs nothing, and that He provides all things to all. And here too Paul shows that God is not the begetter of the soul, but its Creator. “Having appointed determined times.” He appointed that men should seek God, yet He did not appoint this forever, but for determined times—showing that even without seeking they found Him. And since, when they did seek Him, they did not find Him, he shows that the Lord is as plainly evident as some object examined in an open place; for heaven is not here while absent elsewhere, nor present at one time and not at another. So that at every time and in every region it is possible to find Him; thus He so ordered it that one is hindered neither by place nor by time. For this very fact especially worked upon the hearers—that heaven is everywhere and stands fixed for all times. The Lord is so near to us, the apostle says, that without Him it is impossible to live. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” He proves the nearness of the Lord by a sensible example: it is impossible, he says, not to know that the air is poured out everywhere and is not only near each one of us but even within us. That we have received life from God, that we act and do not perish—all this he calls God’s providence and care for us. “As also certain of your own poets have said.” One wise man, Aratus, said of Zeus: “For we are also his offspring”; but the apostle says it of the Creator, not affirming that the Creator and Zeus are one and the same—God forbid! — but applying the expression properly to the Creator; just as he called the altar His (the Creator’s), and not that of the one whom the Athenians worshiped. He called us the offspring of God, that is, His nearest kinsmen, since from our race God was pleased to be born on earth. He did not say, “You ought not to think the Divine like gold or silver or stone,” but used a more humble turn of phrase: “We ought not.” And see how he introduced the incorporeal; for the mind, when it suspects a body, also supposes distance.

Acts 17:30–34. Therefore the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent; because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has ordained, having given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead. And hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again concerning this.” And so Paul went out from their midst. But certain men joined themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. “Therefore the times of ignorance.” He does not speak of those who have died, but of those to whom he now gives the command: as for the things He did not speak of, He overlooked them. Nor does he say, “You willingly committed evil,” but, “You were ignorant.” He gives the command, then, not demanding their punishment as though they deserved it, but now calling them to repentance. “Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world.” Of necessity, he says, He will hold a judgment over all deeds and all thoughts by a Man whom He has ordained to be judge of the living and the dead; and this is the Lord who became man. But hearing great and lofty truths, they did not even answer, but mocked the resurrection. “For the natural man,” it says, “does not receive the things of the Spirit of God.” “And so Paul went out from their midst.” How “so”? Having persuaded some, and being mocked by others. “But certain men believed, among whom was also Dionysius the Areopagite.” The court of the Areopagus stood outside the city. The Areopagites judged concerning all wrongs and lawless deeds. For this reason they drag Paul, as a proclaimer of foreign deities, before the council of the Areopagus; but the divine Dionysius, who at that time belonged among the Areopagites as a judge, rendered to the truth, by right of his office, an unappealable verdict; and bidding farewell to the foolish solemnity of the assembly of the Areopagites, he laid hold of illumination by the light of truth. For although the Romans then held power, they nevertheless left Athens and Lacedaemon autonomous; and so even among the Athenians the government was still conducted according to the Areopagites. Thus the doctrines of salvation are accomplished through Paul; and Dionysius is instructed, as a disciple by his teacher, by the great Hierotheus.