Acts 17:22-34 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Acts 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... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Acts 17:32-34

We have here a short account of the issue of Paul's preaching at Athens. I. Few were the better: the gospel had as little success at Athens as any where; for the pride of the philosophers there, as of the Pharisees at Jerusalem, prejudiced them against the gospel of Christ. 1. Some ridiculed Paul and his preaching. They heard him patiently till he came to speak of the resurrection of the dead (Acts 17:32), and then some of them began to hiss him: they mocked. What he had said before was... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 17:22-31

17:22-31 Paul stood up in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I see that in all things you are as superstitious as possible. As I came through your city and as I saw the objects of your worship. I found amongst them an altar with the inscription, 'To the Unknown God.' So then, what you worship and do not know, this I preach to you. God, who made the universe and everything in it, this God is Lord of heaven and earth and does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is he... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 17:32-34

17:32-34 When they heard of a resurrection of dead men, some mocked and some said, "We will hear about this again"; but some attached themselves to him and believed. Amongst these were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman called Damaris. together with others. It would seem on the whole that Paul had less success in Athens than anywhere else. It was typical of the Athenians that all they wanted was to talk. They did not want action; they did not even particularly want conclusions. They... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 17:22

Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill ,.... Or of Areopagus, as it is better rendered in Acts 17:19 for it is the same place, and it is the same word that is here used: Paul stood in the midst of that court of judicature, amidst the Areopagites, the judges of that court, and the wise and learned philosophers of the different sects that were assembled together: and said, ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious ; or "more religious", than any other... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 17:23

For as I passed by ,.... Or "through"; that is, through the city of Athens: and beheld your devotions ; not so much their acts of worship and religion, as the gods which they worshipped; in which sense this word is used in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 and the altars which were erected to them, and the temples in which they were worshipped; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "the houses", and "places of your worship"; and the Ethiopic version, "your images", or "deities", I... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 17:24

God that made the world, and all things therein ,.... In this account of the divine Being, as the Creator of the world, and all things in it, as the apostle agrees with Moses, and the rest of the sacred Scriptures; so he condemns both the notion of the Epicurean philosophers, who denied that the world was made by God, but said that it owed its being to a fortuitous concourse of atoms; and the notion of the Peripatetics, or Aristotelians, who asserted the eternity of the world; and some of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 17:25

Neither is worshipped with men's hands ,.... Or "served" with them; or "ministered unto" by them, as the Syriac version renders it: and the sense is, that men by worshipping God do not give anything to him, that can be of any use or service to him; he, being God all sufficient, stands in need of nothing; for external worship is not here intended by worshipping with men's hands, in distinction from, and opposition to, internal worship, or to the worship of God with the heart; but that whether... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 17:26

And hath made of one blood ,.... That is, of one man's blood; the Vulgate Latin version reads, "of one"; and the Arabic version of De Dieu reads, "of one man"; of Adam, the first parent of all mankind, and who had the blood of all men in his veins: hence the Jews F21 Caphtor, fol. 37. 2. say, "the first man was דמו של עולם , "the blood of the world";' and this by propagation has been derived from him, and communicated to all mankind. They also say F23 T. Hieros.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 17:27

That they should seek the Lord ,.... Or "God", as the Alexandrian copy and others, and the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read; their Creator, and kind Benefactor, and who has appointed their time of life, and their habitations for them; and this should engage them to seek to know him, who has done all this for them, and to fear and serve him, and to glorify his name: if haply they might feel after him, and find him ; which shows, that though it is possible for men, by a... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Acts 17:22-31

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Acts 17:32-34

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 17:22-31

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 17:32-34

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 17:22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 17:23

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 17:24

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 17:25

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 17:26

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 17:27

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