32 And having heard of a rising again of the dead, some, indeed, were mocking, but others said, `We will hear thee again concerning this;'
And certain of the Epicurean and of the Stoic philosophers, were meeting together to see him, and some were saying, `What would this seed picker wish to say?' and others, `Of strange demons he doth seem to be an announcer;' because Jesus and the rising again he did proclaim to them as good news,
why is it judged incredible with you, if God doth raise the dead?
and others mocking said, -- `They are full of sweet wine;'
`And they began with one consent all to excuse themselves: The first said to him, A field I bought, and I have need to go forth and see it; I beg of thee, have me excused.
for He saith, `In an acceptable time I did hear thee, and in a day of salvation I did help thee, lo, now `is' a well-accepted time; lo, now, a day of salvation,' --
we `are' fools because of Christ, and ye wise in Christ; we `are' ailing, and ye strong; ye glorious, and we dishonoured;
but certain questions concerning their own religion they had against him, and concerning a certain Jesus who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive;
because He did set a day in which He is about to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom He did ordain, having given assurance to all, having raised him out of the dead.'
And Lot goeth out, and speaketh unto his sons-in-law, those taking his daughters, and saith, `Rise, go out from this place, for Jehovah is destroying the city;' and he is as `one' mocking in the eyes of his sons-in-law.
now, then, may we go forth unto him without the camp, his reproach bearing;
also we -- we preach Christ crucified, to Jews, indeed, a stumbling-block, and to Greeks foolishness,
See, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish, because a work I -- I do work in your days, a work in which ye may not believe, though any one may declare `it' to you.'
and Herod with his soldiers having set him at nought, and having mocked, having put around him gorgeous apparel, did send him back to Pilate,
And the men who were holding Jesus were mocking him, beating `him';
for in your turning back unto Jehovah, your brethren and your sons have mercies before their captors, even to return to this land, for gracious and merciful `is' Jehovah your God, and He doth not turn aside the face from you, if ye turn back unto Him.' And the runners are passing over from city to city, in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun: and they are laughing at them, and mocking at them, only, certain from Asher, and Manasseh, and from Zebulun, have been humbled, and come in to Jerusalem.
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.