Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Acts: Chapter 17]
eispher•n\, Xen. _Mem_. I). On this charge the Athenians voted
the hemlock for their greatest citizen. What will they do to
Paul? This Athens was more sceptical and more tolerant than the
old Athens. But Roman law did not allow the introduction of a new
religion (_religio illicita_). Paul was walking on thin ice
though he was the real master philosopher and these Epicureans
and Stoics were quacks. Paul had the only true philosophy of the
universe and life with Jesus Christ as the centre (Col
1:12-20), the greatest of all philosophers as Ramsay justly
terms him. But these men are mocking him. {Because he preached
Jesus and the resurrection} (\hoti ton I•soun kai t•n anastasin
eu•ggelizato\). Reason for the view just stated. Imperfect middle
indicative of \euaggeliz•\, to "gospelize." Apparently these
critics considered \anastasis\ (Resurrection) another deity on a
par with Jesus. The Athenians worshipped all sorts of abstract
truths and virtues and they misunderstood Paul on this subject.
They will leave him as soon as he mentions the resurrection
(verse 32). It is objected that Luke would not use the word in
this sense here for his readers would not under stand him. But
Luke is describing the misapprehension of this group of
philosophers and this interpretation fits in precisely.
17:19 {And they took hold of him} (\epilabomenoi de autou\).
Second aorist middle participle of \epilamban•\, old verb, but in
the N.T. only in the middle, here with the genitive \autou\ to
lay hold of, but with no necessary sense of violence (Ac 9:27;
23:27; Mr 8:23), unless the idea is that Paul was to be tried
before the Court of Areopagus for the crime of bringing in
strange gods. But the day for that had passed in Athens. Even so
it is not clear whether "{unto the Areopagus} (\epi ton Areion
Pagon\") means the Hill of Mars (west of the Acropolis, north of
the agora and reached by a flight of steps in the rock) or the
court itself which met elsewhere as well as on the hills, usually
in fact in the Stoa Basilica opening on the agora and near to the
place where the dispute had gone on. Raphael's cartoon with Paul
standing on Mars Hill has made us all familiar with the common
view, but it is quite uncertain if it is true. There was not room
on the summit for a large gathering. If Paul was brought before
the Court of Areopagus (commonly called the Areopagus as here),
it was not for trial as a criminal, but simply for examination
concerning his new teaching in this university city whether it
was strictly legal or not. Paul was really engaged in proselytism
to turn the Athenians away from their old gods to Jesus Christ.
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/AC17.RWP.html (14 of 23) [28/08/2004 09:07:06 a.m.]