Acts 17:16-18

Paul at Athens

17:16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, ¹  his spirit was greatly upset ²  because he saw ³  the city was full of idols. 17:17 So he was addressing ⁴  the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles ⁵  in the synagogue, ⁶  and in the marketplace every day ⁷  those who happened to be there. 17:18 Also some of the Epicurean ⁸  and Stoic ⁹  philosophers were conversing ¹⁰  with him, and some were asking, ¹¹  “What does this foolish babbler ¹²  want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” ¹³  (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) ¹⁴ 

Acts 17:29-30

17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity ¹⁵  is like gold or silver or stone, an image ¹⁶  made by human ¹⁷  skill ¹⁸  and imagination. ¹⁹  17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked ²⁰  such times of ignorance, ²¹  he now commands all people ²²  everywhere to repent, ²³ 

[17:16]  ¹ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[17:16]  ² tn Grk “greatly upset within him,” but the words “within him” were not included in the translation because they are redundant in English. See L&N 88.189. The term could also be rendered “infuriated.”

[17:16]  ³ tn Or “when he saw.” The participle θεωροῦντος (qewrounto") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle; it could also be translated as temporal.

[17:17]  ⁴ tn Although the word διελέξατο (dielexato; from διαλέγομαι, dialegomai) is frequently translated “reasoned,” “disputed,” or “argued,” this sense comes from its classical meaning where it was used of philosophical disputation, including the Socratic method of questions and answers. However, there does not seem to be contextual evidence for this kind of debate in Acts 17:17. As G. Schrenk (TDNT 2:94-95) points out, “What is at issue is the address which any qualified member of a synagogue might give.” Other examples of this may be found in the NT in Matt 4:23 and Mark 1:21.

[17:17]  ⁵ tn Or “and the devout,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44, and the note on the phrase “God-fearing Greeks” in 17:4.

[17:17]  ⁶ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[17:17]  ⁷ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase in this verse.

[17:18]  ⁸ sn An Epicurean was a follower of the philosophy of Epicurus, who founded a school in Athens about 300 b.c. Although the Epicureans saw the aim of life as pleasure, they were not strictly hedonists, because they defined pleasure as the absence of pain. Along with this, they desired the avoidance of trouble and freedom from annoyances. They saw organized religion as evil, especially the belief that the gods punished evildoers in an afterlife. In keeping with this, they were unable to accept Paul’s teaching about the resurrection.

[17:18]  ⁹ sn A Stoic was a follower of the philosophy founded by Zeno (342-270 b.c.), a Phoenician who came to Athens and modified the philosophical system of the Cynics he found there. The Stoics rejected the Epicurean ideal of pleasure, stressing virtue instead. The Stoics emphasized responsibility for voluntary actions and believed risks were worth taking, but thought the actual attainment of virtue was difficult. They also believed in providence.

[17:18]  ¹⁰ tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβάλλω 1 has “converse, confer” here.

[17:18]  ¹¹ tn Grk “saying.”

[17:18]  ¹² tn Or “ignorant show-off.” The traditional English translation of σπερμολόγος (spermologo") is given in L&N 33.381 as “foolish babbler.” However, an alternate view is presented in L&N 27.19, “(a figurative extension of meaning of a term based on the practice of birds in picking up seeds) one who acquires bits and pieces of relatively extraneous information and proceeds to pass them off with pretense and show – ‘ignorant show-off, charlatan.’” A similar view is given in BDAG 937 s.v. σπερμολόγος: “in pejorative imagery of persons whose communication lacks sophistication and seems to pick up scraps of information here and there scrapmonger, scavenger…Engl. synonyms include ‘gossip’, ‘babbler’, chatterer’; but these terms miss the imagery of unsystematic gathering.”

[17:18]  ¹³ tn The meaning of this phrase is not clear. Literally it reads “strange deities” (see BDAG 210 s.v. δαιμόνιον 1). The note of not being customary is important. In the ancient world what was new was suspicious. The plural δαιμονίων (daimoniwn, “deities”) shows the audience grappling with Paul’s teaching that God was working through Jesus.

[17:18]  ¹⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[17:29]  ¹⁵ tn Or “the divine being.” BDAG 446 s.v. θεῖος 1.b has “divine being, divinity” here.

[17:29]  ¹⁶ tn Or “a likeness.” Again idolatry is directly attacked as an affront to God and a devaluation of him.

[17:29]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “by the skill and imagination of man,” but ἀνθρώπου (anqrwpou) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[17:29]  ¹⁸ tn Or “craftsmanship” (cf. BDAG 1001 s.v. τέχνη).

[17:29]  ¹⁹ tn Or “thought.” BDAG 336 s.v. ἐνθύμησις has “thought, reflection, idea” as the category of meaning here, but in terms of creativity (as in the context) the imaginative faculty is in view.

[17:30]  ²⁰ tn Or “has deliberately paid no attention to.”

[17:30]  ²¹ tn Or “times when people did not know.”

[17:30]  ²² tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[17:30]  ²³ sn He now commands all people everywhere to repent. God was now asking all mankind to turn to him. No nation or race was excluded.