Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary Acts》

Paul was most probably suffering still from his ‘shameful treatment’ at Philippi, 1 Thessalonians 2:2

διελέγ. argued, see reff.

ἀπὸ τ. γραφ. is best taken with διελέγ., not with διανοίγων: see reff.

Verse 3

3. ὅτι οὗτος.…] See examples of the change of construction, ch. Acts 1:4; Acts 23:22; Luke 5:14.

The rendering is nearly as E. V., literally, that this is the Christ, namely, Jesus, whom I preach unto you. So Meyer. The ὁ χριστός takes up τὸν χριστόν above, and attaches to ὁ ἰησοῦς the office concerning which this necessity of suffering, &c., was predicated.

Even the particularity of this παθεῖν ( ἀπέθανεν) κ. ἀναστῆναι is reproduced in 1 Thessalonians 4:14.

Verse 4

The sense is passive, not middle. The word is not uncommon in Philo.

σεβ. ἑλλ.] See reff.

The aptitude of women for the reception of the Gospel several times appears in this book,—see above, ch. Acts 16:13 ff., and below, Acts 17:12; Acts 17:34.

Verse 5

5. προσλαβ.] Having taken to them, as their accomplices, to assist them in the ὀχλοποιῆσαι which follows.

ἀγοραίων] Such men as Aristophanes calls πονηρὸς κἀξ ἀγορᾶς,—Demosthenes, περίτριμμα ἀγορᾶς,—Xenophon, τὸν ἀγοραῖον ὄχλον,—Plutarch, ἀγοραίους καὶ δυναμένους ὄχλον συναγαγεῖν: see many other instances in Wetstein, who mentions the modern ‘canaille’ (canalicolœ). Cicero calls them ‘subrostrani:’ Plautus,‘subbasilicani.’ These may be alluded to in οἱ ἴδιοι συμφυλέται, 1 Thessalonians 2:14. (See note on ἀγοραῖοι, ch. Acts 19:38.)

ἐπιστ., having fallen upon,—beset.

ἰάσονος] With whom (Acts 17:7) Paul and Silas lodged. He appears, perhaps (?), again with Paul at Corinth, Romans 16:21, but did not accompany him into Asia, ch. Acts 20:4.

Verse 6

6. πολιτάρχας] The following inscription, found on an arch at Thessalonica, is given from Boeckh, No. 1967, in C. and H. i. 395: πολειταρχουντων σωσιπατρου του κλεοπατρας και λουκιου ποντιου σεκουνδου πουβλιου φλαουιου σαβεινου δημητριου του φαυστου δημητριου του νικοπολεως ζωιλου του παρμενιωνος του και ΄ενισκου γαιου αγιλληιου ποτειτου.… Here we have this very title applied to the Thessalonian magistrates, shewing the exact accuracy of our narrative; and, curiously enough, we have three of the names which occur here, or in the Epistles, as companions of Paul: viz. Sosipater (of Berœa, ch. Acts 20:4; see Romans 16:21, and note); Secundus (of Thessalonica, ch. Acts 20:4); and Gaius (the Macedonian, note, ch. Acts 19:29).

τὴν οἰκ. ἀναστ.] The words presuppose some rumour of Christianity and its spread having before reached the inhabitants of Thessalonica.

Verse 7

7. οὗτοι πάντες] All these people, i.e. Christians, wherever found. A wider acquaintance is shewn, or at least assumed, with the belief of Christians, than extended merely to Jason and his friends.

ἀπέναντι … πράσς.] Not ‘do this in the face of the decrees,’ which would require τοῦτο with πράσς., but as E. V. The δόγματα in this case would be the Julian ‘leges majestatis.’

βασιλέα κ. τ. λ.] This false charge seems to have been founded on Paul’s preaching much at Thessalonica concerning the triumphant παρουσία of Christ. This appears again and again in his two Epistles: see 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; and particularly 2 Thessalonians 2:5, where he refers to his having often told them of these things, viz. the course, and destruction of Antichrist, by whom these Jews might perhaps misrepresent Paul as designating Cæsar.

Verse 9

Verse 10

βέροιαν] According to the Antonine Itinerary 61, according to the Peutinger Table 57 Roman miles (S.W.) from Thessalonica.

Berœa was not far from Pella, in Macedonia Tertia, Liv. xlv. 30, at the foot of Mt. Bermius. It was afterwards called Irenopolis, and now Kara Feria, or Verria, and is a city of the second rank in European Turkey, containing from 15,000 to 20,000 souls. (Winer, Realw. C. and H. i. 399 f.) Wetstein quotes a remarkable illustration from Cicero in Pisonem, c. 26:—‘Thessalonicam omnibus inscientibus noctuque venisti, qui cum concentum plorantium et tempestatem querelarum ferre non posses, in oppidum devium Berœam profugisti.’

Verse 11

ταῦτα] viz. the doctrine of Acts 17:3, which Paul and Silas preached here also.

Verse 12

12.] The designation conveyed in ἑλληνίδων is to be supplied before ἀνδρῶν also. So εἰς πᾶσαν πόλιν κ. τόπον, Luke 10:1. See Winer, edn. 6, § 59. 5.

Verse 13

ἦλθον κἀκεῖ σαλ.] Not, as E. V., ‘they came thither also, and stirred up.…,’ which destroys the force of the sentence: but they came, and stirred up there also.…: no journey having been related of them before, but a precisely similar act of exciting the people. From the distance, some time must have elapsed before this could take place: and that some time did elapse, we may gather from 1 Thessalonians 2:18, where Paul relates that he made several attempts to revisit the Thessalonians (which could be only during his stay at Berœa, as he left the neighbourhood altogether when he left that town), but was hindered.

Verse 14

14. ὡς ἐπὶ τ. θ.] The various readings seem to have arisen from not understanding ὡς,—which cannot, here or any where else, be redundant (as De Dieu, Raphel, Wolf, Heinrichs, &c.): nor can it well here signify that his going, ‘as if to the sea,’ was only a feint, to deceive his enemies (as Beza, Piscator, Grot., Olsh., Neander, &c.): for, as there is no mention of any land journey, or places passed through on his way to Athens, there can be little doubt that he did really go by sea. But ὡς ἐπὶ τ. θ. I believe simply to indicate the direction in which the Berœan brethren sent him forth [implying probably that all that was known at Berœa of his intended route was, that it was in the direction of the sea]. ὡς is used thus before participles and prepositions, without any assignable reference to its (more usual) subjective reference in such a connexion. Thus Hermann on Soph. Philoct. 58, says ‘cogitationem significat particula ὡς. Sed multo usu factum est, ut aliquandoetiam ibi usurparetur, ubi non opus esset respici id, quod quis in mente haberet.’ We have the same expression in Pausan. ii. 25, καταβάντων δὲ (the walls of Tyrius) ὡς ἐπὶ θάλασσαν, ἐνταῦθα οἱ θάλαμοι τῶν προίτου θυγατέρων εἰσίν,—and Diod. Sic. xiv. 49, κελεύσας κατὰ τάχος λάθρα πλεῖν ὡς ἐπὶ συρακοσίους,—and Polyb. passim in Wetst.,—e.g. καθήκουσαν ( τὴν σελουκείαν) ὡς ἐπὶ θάλασσαν, v. 59,—and with the same signification. Where he embarked for Athens, is not said: probably (C. and H. i. 403) at Dium, near the base of Mt. Olympus, to which two roads from Berœa are marked in the ancient tables.

Verse 15

The course of Timotheus appears to have been, as far as we can follow it from the slight notices given, as follows:—when Paul departed from Berœa, not having been able to revisit Thessalonica as he wished (1 Thessalonians 2:18), he sent Timotheus (from Berœa, not from Athens) to exhort and confirm the Thessalonians, and determined to be left at Athens alone (1 Thessalonians 3:1), Silas meanwhile remaining to carry on the work at Berœa. Paul, on his arrival at Athens, sends (by his conductors, who returned) this message to both, to come to him as soon as possible. They did so, and found him (ch. Acts 18:5) at Corinth. See Prolegg. to 1 Thess., Vol. III.

ἀθηνῶν] See a long and interesting description of the then state of Athens, its buildings, &c., in C. and H. chap. 10 vol. i. pp. 407 ff.; and Lewin, i. pp. 268 ff. It was a free city. Strabo (ix. 1) gives an epitome of its fortunes from the Roman conquest nearly to this time: ῥωμαῖοι δʼ οὖν παραλαβόντες αὐτοὺς δημοκρατουμένους ἐφύλαξαν τὴν αὐτονομίαν αὐτοῖς κ. τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. ἐπιπεσὼν δʼ ὁ ΄ιθριδατικὸς πόλεμος τυράννους αὐτοῖς κατέστησεν οὓς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐβούλετο, τὸν δʼ ἰσχύσαντα μάλιστα τὸν ἀριστίωνα κ. ταύτην βιασάμενον τὴν πόλιν. ἐκ πολιορκίας ἑλὼν σύλλας ὁ τῶν ῥωμαίων ἠγεμὼν ἐκόλασε· τῇ πόλει δὲ συγγνώμην ἔνειμε, καὶ μέχρι νῦν ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ τε ἐστὶ κ. τιμῇ παρὰ τοῖς ῥωμαίοις. See also Tacit. Ann. ii. 53.

Verse 16

The multitude of statues and temples to the gods in Athens is celebrated with honour by classic writers of other nations, and with pride by their own. A long list of passages is given in Wetstein. The strongest perhaps is from Xen. de Repub. Ath⁽⁸³⁾, who calls Athens ὅλη βωμός, ὅλη θῦμα θεοῖς καὶ ἀνάθημα.

Verse 17

17.] The οὖν (as De W. remarks against Meyer and Schneckenburger) does not necessarily give the consequence of what has been stated in Acts 17:16, but only continues the narration. See above on ch. Acts 11:19.

ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ] Strabo (x. 1) speaking of the Eretrians in Eubœa says that some suppose them to have been named ἀπὸ τῆς ἀθήνῃσιν ἐρετρίας, ἣ νῦν ἐστιν ἀγορά (as distinguished from the Ceramicus, which was the old forum). It was the space before the στοὰ ποικίλη, where the Stoics held their διαλέξεις.

Verse 18

18. ἐπικουρείων] The Epicurean philosophy was antagonistic to the gospel, as holding the atomic theory in opposition to the creation of matter,—the disconnexion of the Divinity from the world and its affairs, in opposition to the idea of a ruling Providence,—and the indissoluble union, and annihilation together, of soul and body, as opposed to the hope of eternal life, and indeed to all spiritual religion whatever. The Epicureans were the materialists of the ancient world. The common idea attached to Epicureanism must be discarded in our estimate of the persons mentioned in our text. The summum bonum of the real Epicureans, far from being a degraded and sensual pleasure, was ἀταοαξία of mind, based upon φρόνησις,—perhaps the best estimate of the highest good formed in the heathen world;—and their ethics were exceedingly strict. But the abuse to which such a doctrine was evidently liable, gave rise to a pseudo-Epicureanism, which has generally passed current for the real, and which amply illustrated the truth, that ‘corruptio optimi est pessima.’ For their chimerical ἀταραξία, Paul offered them τὴν εἰρήνην τὴν ὑπερέχουσαν πάντα νοῦν, Philippians 4:7.

στοϊκῶν] So named from the στοὰ ποικίλη (see above), founded by Zeno⁽⁸⁴⁾ of Cittium in the fourth century B.C., but perhaps more properly by Cleanthes and Chrysippus in the third century B.C. Their philosophy, while it approached the truth in holding one supreme Governor of all, compromised it, in allowing of any and all ways of conceiving and worshipping Him (see below, Acts 17:24-25),—and contravened it, in its pantheistic belief that all souls were emanations of Him. In spirit it was directly opposed to the gospel,—holding the independence of man on any being but himself, together with the subjection of God and man alike to the stern laws of an inevitable fate. On the existence of the soul after death their ideas were various: some holding that all souls endure to the conflagration of all things,—others confining this to the souls of good men,—and others believing all souls to be reabsorbed into the Divinity. By these tenets they would obviously be placed in antagonism to the doctrines of a Saviour of the world and the resurrection,—and to placing the summum bonum of man in abundance of that grace which ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τελεῖται, 2 Corinthians 12:9.

τινες ἔλεγον.… οἱ δέ] These are not to be taken as belonging the one to the Epicureans, the other to the Stoics,—but rather as describing two classes, common perhaps to both schools,—the one of which despised him and his sayings, and the other were disposed to take a more serious view of the matter, and charge him with bringing in new deities.

σπερμολόγος] σπερμολόγος εἶδος ἐστὶν ὀρνέου λωβωμένου τὰ σπέρματα· ἐξ οὗ οἱ ἀθηναῖοι σπερμολόγους ἐκάλουν τοὺς περὶ ἐμπόρια καὶ ἀγορὰς διατρίβοντας, διὰ τὸ ἀναλέγεσθαι τὰ ἐκ τῶν φορτίων ἀποῤῥέοντα, καὶ διαζῇν ἐκ τούτων. Eustath⁽⁸⁵⁾ ad Odyss. ε. 490, where Damm observes, σπερμολογεῖν, ‘verbum recentiorum; dicitur ἐπὶ τῶν ἀλαζονευομένων ἀμεθόδως ἐπὶ μαθήμασιν ἐις τινῶν παρακουσμάτων, si quis quid arripuit forte ex disciplinis, eoque se imperite jactat:’ babbler is the very best English word: as both signifying one who talks fluently to no purpose, and hinting also that his talk is not his own.

ξένων δαιμ.] ἀδικεῖ σωκράτης.… καινὰ δαιμόνια εἰσφέρων, was one of the charges on which Athens put to death her wisest son.

δαιμόνια is not plural for singular, as Kuin.: nor merely, though this is somewhat more probable, marks the category, as Meyer: nor can it refer (Chrys., Theophyl., Œcum., Hammond, Heinrichs) to Jesus and the ἀνάστασις, mistaken for a goddess (a sufficient answer to which strange idea is, that ἡ ἀνάστασις is merely a statement in the mouths of others, of the doctrine taught by Paul, which he would hardly ever, if ever, specify by this word,—compare Acts 17:31-32): but alludes (as De Wette) to the true God, the God of the Jews, and Jesus Christ His Son: the Creator of the world (Acts 17:24), and the Man whom He hath appointed to judge it, Acts 17:31.

καταγγελεύς] Compare Acts 17:23, end; which is an express answer to this charge.

Verse 19

ἐπὶ τὸν ἄρειον πάγον] There is no allusion here to the court of Areiopagus, nor should the words have been so rendered in E. V.—especially as the same ἀρείου πάγου below (Acts 17:22) is translated ‘Mars’ Hill.’ We have in the narrative no trace of any judicial proceeding, but every thing to contradict such a supposition. Paul merely makes his speech, and, having satisfied the curiosity of the multitude who came together on Mars’ Hill, departs unhindered:—they brought him up to the hill of Mars. Wordsworth believes he finds a trace of a judicial proceeding in ἄνδρες ἀθηναῖοι, denoting rather a public apology than a private discussion: and in the conversion of Dionysius the Areopagite. But what words other than those would St. Paul have been likely to use in making a speech to a concourse of Athenians? for no one supposes it to have been a private discussion. And why should not Dionysius have been present? As a convert of note, he would naturally have his title attached.

The following note is borrowed from Mr. Humphry’s Commentary:—‘It might be expected that on the hill of Mars the mind of the stranger would be impressed with the magnificence of the religion which he sought to overthrow. The temple of the Eumenides was immediately below him: opposite, at the distance of 200 yards, was the Acropolis, which, being entirely occupied with statues and temples, was, to use the phrase of an ancient writer (Aristides), ἀντʼ ἀναθήματος, as one great offering to the gods. The Persians encamped on the Areiopagus when they besieged the Acropolis (Herod. viii. 52): from the same place the Apostle makes his first public attack on Paganism, of which the Acropolis was the stronghold. Xerxes in his fanaticism burnt the temples of Greece (Æschyl. Pers.: Cic. de Leg. ii. 10). Christianity advanced more meekly and surely: and though the immediate effect of the Apostle’s sermon was not great, the Parthenon in time became a Christian church (Leake, Athens, p. 277). Athens ceased to be a κατείδωλος πόλις,—and the repugnance of the Greeks to images became so great, as to be a principal cause of the schism between the churches of the east and west in the eighth century.’

The hill of Mars was so called according to Paus. i. 28. 5, ὅτι πρῶτος ἄρης ἐνταῦθα ἐκρίθη. It was on the west of the Acropolis. The Areiopagus, the highest criminal court of Athens, held its sittings there. To give any account of it is beside the purpose, there being no allusion to it in the text. Full particulars may be found sub voce in Smith’s Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Antt.

δυνάμ. γνῶν.] A courteous method of address (not ironical, as Kuin. and Stier).

Verse 21

εὐκαιρῶ, vaco, Gloss. Vet. It is not a classic Attic word: εὐκαιρεῖν οὐδεὶς εἴρηκε τῶν παλαιῶν, ἕλληνες δέ, Mœris. “ σχολὴν ἄγω,” καὶ “ εὖ σχολῆς ἔχω,” οὐ “ σχολάζω·” τὸ δὲ “ εὐκαιρεῖν” πάντη ἀδόκιμον, Thom. Mag.

On this character of the Athenians, compare that given of them, Thucyd. iii. 38, μετὰ καινότητος μὲν λόγου ἀπατᾶσθαι ἄριστοι, where the scholiast evidently has our text in his mind; ταῦτα πρὸς τοὺς ἀθηναίους αἰνίττεται, οὐδέν τι μελετῶντας πλὴν λέγειν τι καὶ ἀκούειν καινόν:—Demosth. (Philippic. i. p. 43), ἢ βούλεσθε, εἰπέ μοι, περϊιόντες αὑτῶν πυθέσθαι κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν λέγεταί τι καινόν; γένοιτο γὰρ ἄν τι καινότερον ἢ ΄ακεδὼν ἀνὴρ κ. τ. λ. (so also in Philipp. Epist. pp. 156, 157.) The comparative, καινότερον, is used as here by Theophr. in giving the character of a loquacious person: οἷος ἐρωτῆσαι ἔχεις περὶ τοῦδε εἰπεῖν καινόν; καὶ ἐπιβαλὼν ἐρωτᾷν ΄ὴ λέγεταί τι καινότερον; It implies, as we should say, the very last news.

Verse 22

ἄνδρες ἀθ.] The regular and dignified appellation familiar to them as used by all their orators,—of whose works Paul could hardly be altogether ignorant.

κατὰ π., in every point of view: see reff.

δεισιδαιμονεστέρους] carrying your religious reverence very far: an instance of which follows, in that they, not content with worshipping named and known gods, worshipped even an unknown one. Blame is neither expressed, nor even implied: but their exceeding veneration for religion laid hold of as a fact, on which Paul, with exquisite skill, engrafts his proof that he is introducing no new gods, but enlightening them with regard to an object of worship on which they were confessedly in the dark. So Chrysost.: δεις., τουτέστιν εὐλαβεστέρους.… ὥσπερ ἐγκωμιάζειν αὐτοὺς δοκεῖ, οὐδὲν βαρὺ λέγων.

To understand this word as E. V. ‘too superstitious’ (‘superstitiosiores,’ Vulg., so Luther, Calov., Wolf), is to miss the fine and delicate tact of the speech, by which he at once parries the charge against him, and in doing so introduces the great Truth which he came to preach.

The word itself has both senses: δεισιδαίμων, ὁ εὐσεβής, Hesych⁽⁸⁶⁾:— ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ (in battle) γὰρ δὴ οἱ δεισιδαίμονες ἧττον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους φοβοῦνται, Xen. Cyrop. iii. 3. 58: and on the other hand, Theophrast. Char. 16, explains δεισιδαιμονία by δειλία πρὸς τὸ δαιμόνιον: and Pollux, εὐσεβής, θεῶν ἐπιμελής, ὁ δὲ ὑπερτιμῶν, δεισιδαίμων καὶ δεισίθεος.

The character thus given of the Athenians is confirmed by Greek writers: thus, Pausan. i. 24. 3, ἀθηναίοις περισσότερόν τι ἢ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐς τὰ θεῖά ἐστι σπονδῆς. See other instances in Wetstein. Josephus, c. Apion. ii. 11, calls them εὐσεβεστάτους τῶν ἑλλήνων.

Verse 23