Acts 17

PLUS
Chapter 17

17:3  Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.

Christ

The Christ, i.e. that, according to the Scriptures, the Messiah must die and rise again. That Jesus was the Messiah was the second part of his argument.

17:6  And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;

drew

dragged. See margin ref., (See Scofield "Acts 16:19") .

17:12  Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

Therefore Illustrates John 5:46 . Believing the O.T. they believed the Gospel.

honourable Greek women of honourable estate.

17:16  Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

stirred

provoked within him as he beheld the city full of idols.

17:18  Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.

Epicureans Disciples of Epicurus, B.C. 342-271, who abandoned as hopeless the search by reason for pure truth, cf. John 18:38 seeking instead true pleasure through experience.

Stoicks Disciples of Zeno, B.C. 280, and Chrysippus, B.C. 240. This philosophy was founded on human self-sufficiency, inculcated stern self-repression, the solidarily of the race, and the unity of Deity. Epicureans and Stocis divided the apostolic world.

17:19  And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?

Areopagus

Mars' hill.

17:26  And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

blood

"blood" is not in the best manuscripts. R.V. omits.

17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

For we

Found in the sritings of Aratus and Cleanthes.

17:29  Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.

offspring of God

(Greek - gevno = "race)." The reference is to the creation-work of God in which He made man (i.e. mankind, the race in Adam) in his own likeness, Genesis 1:26 Genesis 1:27 thus rebuking the thought that "the Godhead is like unto gold," etc. The word "Father" is not used, not does the passage affirm anything concerning fatherhood or sonship, which are relationships based on faith, and the new birth.

Cf John 1:12 John 1:13 ; Galatians 3:26 ; 4:1-7 ; John 5:1 .

17:30  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

Repent

Repentance is the trans. of a (Greek - gevno ("metanoia-metanoeo") meaning "to have another mind," "to change the mind," and is used in the N).T. to indicate a change of mind in respect of sin, of God, and of self. This change of mind may, especially in the case of Christians who have fallen into sin, be preceded by sorrow 2 Corinthians 7:8-11 but sorrow for sin, though it may "work" repentance, is not repentance. The son in Matthew 21:28 Matthew 21:29 illustrates true repentance.

Saving faith: (See Scofield "Hebrews 11:39") includes and implies that change of mind which is called repentance.

17:31  Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

world

"oikoumene" = inhabited earth. (See Scofield "Luke 2:1") .