16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 17 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. 18 Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” 21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
Commentary
Vs. 16-17 16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 17 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.
Now while the Apostle Paul was waiting for Timothy and Silas to come to Athens, he was deeply troubled in his spirit when he saw how the entire city though the mecca for “enlightened” thought and sophisticated culture was only given over to idols. For this troubled Paul deeply to see how the people there were looking for God, through their own logic and reasoning and understanding, but had only ended up worshiping and serving that which was made by human hands, which cannot satisfy the longings of one’s soul, nor save, nor profit, nor deliver anyone from their troubles. Therefore, Paul began first to preach the Gospel at the synagogue where he could use his standing in the Jewish community as a Pharisee and devout Jew to try to reach all who attended services there, whether they were Jews or Gentiles. This then gave him a preaching pulpit to explain to those who were basically grounded in Biblical truth, how the Word of God’s purposes of reconciling sinful mankind back to God by the remission of our sins and everlasting life are all fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ’s Person and Life, in His Death and Resurrection and Ascension back to heaven.
Now if that is all the Apostle Paul did then he would’ve left out a whole swath of humanity which is not steeped in Biblical truth, which is totally ignorant of the Word of God, and thus has neither its protections nor its provisions declared to them. Something which is utterly untenable. that those whom God created to know Him and love Him and be loved by Him are not given the opportunity to do so. Therefore, when not preaching in the synagogue to those who already have a foundation on which he could build their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he went out into the marketplaces where people are universally seeking for something to satisfy their deepest hunger and needs without knowing who or what that is. And so, it was there that the Apostle Paul (and every preacher) faced and faces his greatest challenges, because there are many things in this world that are vying for people’s hearts. and minds, and souls.
Vs. 18-20 18 Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”
And so, while Paul was witnessing to the Lord Jesus Christ and reasoning with the people in the marketplaces, there were certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers who encountered Paul. Who upon hearing him declare the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead, and all that that entails, became offended by Paul and said of him, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” (vs. 18). Now the Epicurean philosophers were followers of a philosopher named Epicurus (341-270 BC) who taught that pursuing pleasure and happiness and avoiding excesses and fear (especially fear of death) and pain was the path to tranquility and peace in our lives. He taught this while also teaching that excesses were to avoided since these only undermined one’s virtue, which only led to its own problems. Now his basically teaching the pursuit of pleasure while seeking to guide one’s flesh with wisdom was long ago tried and rebuffed by King Solomon as effectively accomplishing nothing (Read Book of Ecclesiastes). Indeed, in denying God above, or in the case of the Greeks the “gods”, he like all philosophers only left man to find and make his own peace, and find his own “tranquility” by his own pursuits and means. The Stoics, on the other hand were the antagonist party to the Epicureans, they were followers of an ancient philosopher named Zeno (335-263 BC) who founded this movement in ancient Athens. Basically, stoicism was a philosophy of personal ethics based on philosophical logic and its views of the natural world (Wikipedia). Stoics taught and held that peace is found by pursuing ethics and allowing oneself to be apart of the natural world, as it unfolds itself, thus accepting each moment as it happens. For they believed that there was a “great natural order” that was working itself out, and so one should submit oneself to it, and not allow oneself to be controlled by fear, or by pleasure, but rather use one’s mind to understand the natural world around them. However, anyone who has ever looked at nature, and or the natural world in general, soon realizes how cruel, callous, unjust, and seemingly random its workings often are. Finding peace then by trying to fit oneself into that “order”, that has only been broken by the sin, and is now the domain of Satan, or trying to understand all of the seemingly randomness that occurs in nature, that does not distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, etc. then seems to me to be the pathway to insanity, not peace! And so, to counter all of this confusion and chaos and destruction, (that is observed in the natural world), stoics believed that by controlling their emotions and excesses and indulgences they could not only avoid all the pitfalls of life, but they themselves could find peace and tranquility by submitting themselves again to the natural order. However, in doing so, in overtly restraining themselves from feeling, or at least expressing their emotions, they at the very least miss out on living and experiencing life to its fullest, and at its very worst incarnation they only become complacent to all the evils and injustices that take place in the natural order of things! For in expressing love and laughter, tears and joy, excitement and exuberation, frustration and disappointment and failure, even wrath and anger and outrage, one not only looks out for, and finds peace and justice, but one will likely see one’s own need for God, for all of our God given emotions have a right time and place when they need to be, and should be expressed (Ecc. 3:1-8).
And so, these two groups upon hearing the Apostle Paul preach the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection from the dead, and thus not only new and everlasting life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but also His Judgement to come, thus became the chief antagonists to what the Apostle Paul was declaring and reasoning in Christ, calling him a babbler (i.e., “seed picker”, i.e., one who takes pieces of knowledge from here and there and then passes it off as his own, Bible Knowledge Commentary) Nonetheless there were individuals there who wanted to hear more from him, and so they brought Paul to the Areopagus, saying, …“May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” Vs. 19-20 Again, the peaching of the Apostle Paul in bringing to light the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God the Prince of Peace, the only One who can bring peace, not only to this broken world, but more importantly to everyone who has been broken by it, was for these people of Athens and all they’re wanting to hear some new thing that might intellectually stimulate them, a “strange” new thing. For neither their “gods” nor their understanding of the natural law and order of things ever had their personal welfare and being in mind. And so, Paul is brought by them to their Supreme council, who along with them will each one render their own verdict on his preaching, whether to repent and believe, or to continue on in their own wayward philosophical paths. Now the Areopagus was the historic meeting place of Areopagus council, (equivalent to a Supreme court body), and it was located at the northern foot of the Acropolis; it is also referred to as Mars hill (because it was here, they believed their gods made decisions and gave their verdicts). In the N.T. times the Areopagus had become the place where the ruling council along and the people of Athens would gather to hear philosophical speakers and orators give their public addresses, and so it will be here that the Apostle Paul will give his oration of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.
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