6 And G1161 when they found G2147 them G846 not, G3361 they drew G4951 Jason G2394 and G2532 certain G5100 brethren G80 unto G1909 the rulers of the city, G4173 crying, G994 G3754 These G3778 that have turned G387 the world G3625 upside down G387 are come G3918 hither G1759 also; G2532
7 Whom G3739 Jason G2394 hath received: G5264 and G2532 these G3778 all G3956 do G4238 contrary G561 to the decrees G1378 of Caesar, G2541 saying G3004 that there is G1511 another G2087 king, G935 one Jesus. G2424
8 And G1161 they troubled G5015 the people G3793 and G2532 the rulers of the city, G4173 when they heard G191 these things. G5023
9 And G2532 when they had taken G2983 security G2425 of G3844 Jason, G2394 and G2532 of the other, G3062 they let G630 them G846 go. G630
10 And G1161 the brethren G80 immediately G2112 sent away G1599 G5037 Paul G3972 and G2532 Silas G4609 by G1223 night G3571 unto G1519 Berea: G960 who G3748 coming G3854 thither went G549 into G1519 the synagogue G4864 of the Jews. G2453
11 G1161 These G3778 were G2258 more noble G2104 than those in G1722 Thessalonica, G2332 in that they G3748 received G1209 the word G3056 with G3326 all G3956 readiness of mind, G4288 and searched G350 the scriptures G1124 daily, G2250 G2596 whether G1487 those things G5023 were G2192 so. G3779
12 Therefore G3767 G3303 many G4183 of G1537 them G846 believed; G4100 also G2532 of honourable G2158 women G1135 which G3588 were Greeks, G1674 and G2532 of men, G435 not G3756 a few. G3641
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 17
Commentary on Acts 17 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 17
We have here a further account of the travels of Paul, and his services and sufferings for Christ. He was not like a candle upon a table, that gives light only to one room, but like the sun that goes its circuit to give light to many. He was called into Macedonia, a large kingdom, ch. 16:9. He began with Philippi, because it was the first city he came to; but he must not confine himself to this. We have him here,
Act 17:1-9
Paul's two epistles to the Thessalonians, the first two he wrote by inspiration, give such a shining character of that church, that we cannot but be glad here in the history to meet with an account of the first founding of the church there.
Act 17:10-15
In these verses we have,
Act 17:16-21
A scholar that has acquaintance, and is in love, with the learning of the ancients, would think he should be very happy if he were where Paul now was, at Athens, in the midst of the various sects of philosophers, and would have a great many curious questions to ask them, for the explication of the remains we have of the Athenian learning; but Paul, though bred a scholar, and an ingenious active man, does not make this any of his business at Athens. He has other work to mind: it is not the improving of himself in their philosophy that he aims at, he has learned to call it a vain thing, and is above it (Col. 2:8); his business is, in God's name, to correct their disorders in religion, and to turn them from the service of idols, and of Satan in them, to the service of the true and living God in Christ.
Act 17:22-31
We have here St. Paul's sermon at Athens. Divers sermons we have had, which the apostles preached to the Jews, or such Gentiles as had an acquaintance with and veneration for the Old Testament, and were worshippers of the true and living God; and all they had to do with them was to open and allege that Jesus is the Christ; but here we have a sermon to heathens, that worshipped false gods, and were without the true God in the world, and to them the scope of their discourse was quite different from what it was to the other. In the former case their business was to lead their hearers by prophecies and miracles to the knowledge of the Redeemer, and faith in him; in the latter it was to lead them by the common works of providence to the knowledge of the Creator, and the worship of him. One discourse of this kind we had before to the rude idolaters of Lystra that deified the apostles (ch. 14:15); this recorded here is to the more polite and refined idolaters at Athens, and an admirable discourse it is, and every way suited to his auditory and the design he had upon them.
Act 17:32-34
We have here a short account of the issue of Paul's preaching at Athens.