Acts 17 Study Notes

17:1 The next major stop on this second missionary journey was Thessalonica, where once again Paul began by visiting the local synagogue. He did this for three weeks (v. 2).

17:2-3 These verses give us insight into what Paul did when he visited synagogues. He reasoned . . . from the Scriptures, identifying Jesus as Messiah and explaining the necessity of his death and resurrection. Among Jews, who revered the OT as God’s Word, Paul used the Scriptures as the basis for his argumentation.

17:4-5 The conversion of a large number of God-fearing Greeks and leading women prompted jealousy among unbelieving Jews. Paul had encountered resistance before, but this was an orchestrated movement involving the roundup of wicked men from the marketplace. Jason was apparently one of the Thessalonians who had become a believer. He had welcomed Paul into his home (v. 7), so the mob attacked his house.

17:6 The phrase these men who have turned the world upside down may indicate that the Christians were mistaken for Jewish nationalists who had caused riots throughout the Roman Empire, but more likely it is an exaggerated reference to the unrest caused from town to town by Jews who opposed the Christian message.

17:7 Declaring that there was another king besides Caesar was a serious crime in the Roman Empire. This same false charge was used to condemn Jesus before Pilate (Lk 23:2).

17:8-9 The security bond from Jason probably promised he would send Paul and Silas away in order to guarantee the peace (cp. 1Th 2:14-18).

17:10 Paul and Silas were sent out of town at night, most likely in order to conceal their departure. Rather than deciding to play it safe from this point on, they traveled to Berea and made straight for the synagogue of the Jews. Would they be persecuted here also?

17:11 The Bereans exemplify the ideal stance of disciples: They were of more noble character and open to biblical instruction. They examined the Scriptures daily to see if the teachings were true.

17:12 Note again the international appeal of the gospel as Greek women and men came to faith.

17:13 Just as the appeal of Christ knows no borders (both Jews and Gentiles follow him), so too opposition to Christ knows no borders. Agitators from Thessalonica were unwilling to let faith flourish in Berea, and so they came there too, intent on thwarting the missionaries.

17:14 Paul set sail for Athens, while Silas and Timothy stayed behind and braved the opposition in Berea. This seems to indicate that Paul had become the focal point of Jewish opposition to the Christian message.

17:15 Athens was 195 miles from Berea.

17:16 While waiting for Silas and Timothy to arrive from Berea, Paul observed Athens closely. He saw that it was full of idols. Athens was a beautiful city with many magnificent buildings and other monuments, many of them related to pagan worship (e.g., the Parthenon). The city was also a center of intellectual, philosophical, and religious discussion. All of this deeply distressed Paul as a person who knew the one true God and his Son Jesus Christ.

17:17 Paul followed his custom and reasoned in the synagogue, but also expanded his audience even before the onset of trouble from the Jews, by taking the gospel to the marketplace and engaging whoever was there, likely including philosophers, rhetoricians, and teachers.

17:18 Epicurean and Stoic philosophers comprised two of the best-known philosophical schools of thought. Epicureans taught that one ought to lead a tranquil and contemplative life, free of passions and destructive emotions. They didn’t deny the existence of gods but believed they were indifferent to humanity. Stoics were pantheists and believed the divine principle was found everywhere. Humans ought to live by reason, the divine principle within them, so as to achieve a virtuous life. Epicureans and Stoics attracted many followers who gathered in various parts of the city to discuss the leading issues of the day. In their arrogance, some of them depicted Paul as an ignorant show-off. This was actually a slang term that meant “seed-picker.”

17:19-21 The Areopagus was a rocky hill in Athens overlooking the marketplace. The word Aeropagus was also used to refer to the council that originally met on the hill. During Hellenistic times, the council probably met in the agora—or marketplace. The Greek text here is ambiguous. So it could be that Paul gave an address on the hilltop or that he appeared before this Athenian council elsewhere. The term Areopagus means “hill of Ares.” Ares, the Greek god of war, was equivalent to the Roman god, Mars. So the hilltop was also known as Mars Hill.

17:22-31 This is Paul’s third and final missionary speech in the book of Acts. He appealed to the Athenians’ religious inclinations, drew upon observable data from nature to discuss the attributes of God, marshaled insights from pagan poets, and identified God and the need for humans to repent in preparation for the day in which God will judge the world in righteousness through Jesus Christ, whom God vindicated by raising him from the dead.

17:22-23 As an example of Athenian superstition, Paul noted the altar erected To an Unknown God. No such inscription has been found, but it is no surprise that such an altar existed. Doubtless it was erected to ensure that no gods were overlooked (and thus angered) in the people’s devotion.

17:24-29 Paul’s argument from nature included a basic natural theology: God is Creator of all things; God is beyond the human realm (transcendent); God is not obligated to any human; God is sovereign over all peoples; God as Creator is quantitatively different from his creation.

17:27 Paul did not believe a person could achieve salvation through his own search for God (v. 30), but he did believe God is near to each person and that people through their own reasoning and observation of nature can achieve rudimentary knowledge of who God is. Special revelation from God is necessary for fuller understanding and salvation (see note at Rm 10:14-15).

17:28 Paul quoted (For we are also his offspring) someone whom these philosophers would have recognized—a Greek poet named Aratus who lived about 315-240 BC.

17:30-31 Paul built upon his argument from natural theology by introducing an eschatological dimension. God had overlooked the times of ignorance, but now commands humanity to acknowledge its evil ways and turn from them (repent). He has established a day of judgment on which the world will be held accountable to the righteous standard set by Jesus, whom God raised from the dead.

17:32-33 Neither Stoics nor Epicureans believed in the possibility of bodily resurrection, though the Stoics did believe the human spirit continued to exist after bodily death. In any event, Paul’s talk about bodily resurrection earned him ridicule but also a measure of curiosity.

17:34 Paul’s missionary efforts in Athens were not as successful as they were elsewhere since he founded no church there. But there were a number of converts. These included a member of the Areopagus, Dionysius, a man of distinction because of this prestigious membership. Damaris may also have been a woman of distinction since Luke bothered to name her (vv. 4-5).