Kisah Para Rasul 17:14-22

17:14 Then the brothers sent Paul away to the coast ¹  at once, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea. ²  17:15 Those who accompanied Paul escorted him as far as Athens, ³  and after receiving an order for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left. ⁴ 

Paul at Athens

17:16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, ⁵  his spirit was greatly upset ⁶  because he saw ⁷  the city was full of idols. 17:17 So he was addressing ⁸  the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles ⁹  in the synagogue, ¹⁰  and in the marketplace every day ¹¹  those who happened to be there. 17:18 Also some of the Epicurean ¹²  and Stoic ¹³  philosophers were conversing ¹⁴  with him, and some were asking, ¹⁵  “What does this foolish babbler ¹⁶  want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” ¹⁷  (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) ¹⁸  17:19 So they took Paul and ¹⁹  brought him to the Areopagus, ²⁰  saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming? 17:20 For you are bringing some surprising things ²¹  to our ears, so we want to know what they ²²  mean.” 17:21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to spend their time ²³  in nothing else than telling ²⁴  or listening to something new.) ²⁵ 

17:22 So Paul stood ²⁶  before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious ²⁷  in all respects. ²⁸ 

[17:14]  ¹ tn Grk “to the sea.” Here ἕως ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν ({ew" epi thn qalassan) must mean “to the edge of the sea,” that is, “to the coast.” Since there is no mention of Paul taking a ship to Athens, he presumably traveled overland. The journey would have been about 340 mi (550 km).

[17:14]  ² tn Grk “remained there”; the referent (Berea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ³ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[17:15]  ⁴ sn They left. See 1 Thess 3:1-2, which shows they went from here to Thessalonica.

[17:16]  ⁵ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[17:16]  ⁶ tn Grk “greatly upset within him,” but the words “within him” were not included in the translation because they are redundant in English. See L&N 88.189. The term could also be rendered “infuriated.”

[17:16]  sn His spirit was greatly upset. See Rom 1:18-32 for Paul’s feelings about idolatry. Yet he addressed both Jews and Gentiles with tact and reserve.

[17:16]  ⁷ tn Or “when he saw.” The participle θεωροῦντος (qewrounto") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle; it could also be translated as temporal.

[17:17]  ⁸ tn Although the word διελέξατο (dielexato; from διαλέγομαι, dialegomai) is frequently translated “reasoned,” “disputed,” or “argued,” this sense comes from its classical meaning where it was used of philosophical disputation, including the Socratic method of questions and answers. However, there does not seem to be contextual evidence for this kind of debate in Acts 17:17. As G. Schrenk (TDNT 2:94-95) points out, “What is at issue is the address which any qualified member of a synagogue might give.” Other examples of this may be found in the NT in Matt 4:23 and Mark 1:21.

[17:17]  ⁹ tn Or “and the devout,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44, and the note on the phrase “God-fearing Greeks” in 17:4.

[17:17]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[17:17]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase in this verse.

[17:18]  ¹² sn An Epicurean was a follower of the philosophy of Epicurus, who founded a school in Athens about 300 b.c. Although the Epicureans saw the aim of life as pleasure, they were not strictly hedonists, because they defined pleasure as the absence of pain. Along with this, they desired the avoidance of trouble and freedom from annoyances. They saw organized religion as evil, especially the belief that the gods punished evildoers in an afterlife. In keeping with this, they were unable to accept Paul’s teaching about the resurrection.

[17:18]  ¹³ sn A Stoic was a follower of the philosophy founded by Zeno (342-270 b.c.), a Phoenician who came to Athens and modified the philosophical system of the Cynics he found there. The Stoics rejected the Epicurean ideal of pleasure, stressing virtue instead. The Stoics emphasized responsibility for voluntary actions and believed risks were worth taking, but thought the actual attainment of virtue was difficult. They also believed in providence.

[17:18]  ¹⁴ tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβάλλω 1 has “converse, confer” here.

[17:18]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “saying.”

[17:18]  ¹⁶ tn Or “ignorant show-off.” The traditional English translation of σπερμολόγος (spermologo") is given in L&N 33.381 as “foolish babbler.” However, an alternate view is presented in L&N 27.19, “(a figurative extension of meaning of a term based on the practice of birds in picking up seeds) one who acquires bits and pieces of relatively extraneous information and proceeds to pass them off with pretense and show – ‘ignorant show-off, charlatan.’” A similar view is given in BDAG 937 s.v. σπερμολόγος: “in pejorative imagery of persons whose communication lacks sophistication and seems to pick up scraps of information here and there scrapmonger, scavenger…Engl. synonyms include ‘gossip’, ‘babbler’, chatterer’; but these terms miss the imagery of unsystematic gathering.”

[17:18]  ¹⁷ tn The meaning of this phrase is not clear. Literally it reads “strange deities” (see BDAG 210 s.v. δαιμόνιον 1). The note of not being customary is important. In the ancient world what was new was suspicious. The plural δαιμονίων (daimoniwn, “deities”) shows the audience grappling with Paul’s teaching that God was working through Jesus.

[17:18]  ¹⁸ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[17:19]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:19]  ²⁰ tn Or “to the council of the Areopagus.” See also the term in v. 22.

[17:19]  sn The Areopagus has been traditionally understood as reference to a rocky hill near the Acropolis in Athens, although this place may well have been located in the marketplace at the foot of the hill (L&N 93.412; BDAG 129 s.v. ῎Αρειος πάγος). This term does not refer so much to the place, however, as to the advisory council of Athens known as the Areopagus, which dealt with ethical, cultural, and religious matters, including the supervision of education and controlling the many visiting lecturers. Thus it could be translated the council of the Areopagus. See also the term in v. 22.

[17:20]  ²¹ tn BDAG 684 s.v. ξενίζω 2 translates the substantival participle ξενίζοντα (xenizonta) as “astonishing things Ac 17:20.”

[17:20]  ²² tn Grk “these things”; but since the referent (“surprising things”) is so close, the repetition of “these things” sounds redundant in English, so the pronoun “they” was substituted in the translation.

[17:21]  ²³ tn The imperfect verb ηὐκαίρουν (hukairoun) has been translated as a customary or habitual imperfect.

[17:21]  ²⁴ tn BDAG 406-7 s.v. εὐκαιρέω has “used to spend their time in nothing else than telling Ac 17:21.”

[17:21]  ²⁵ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. The reference to newness may be pejorative.

[17:22]  ²⁶ tn Grk “standing…said.” The participle ζηλώσαντες (zhlwsante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[17:22]  ²⁷ tn The term δεισιδαιμονεστέρους (deisidaimonesterou") is difficult. On the one hand it can have the positive sense of “devout,” but on the other hand it can have the negative sense of “superstitious” (BDAG 216 s.v. δεισιδαίμων). As part of a laudatory introduction (the technical rhetorical term for this introduction was capatatio), the term is probably positive here. It may well be a “backhanded” compliment, playing on the ambiguity.

[17:22]  ²⁸ tn BDAG 513 s.v. κατά B.6 translates the phrase κατὰ πάντα (kata panta) as “in all respects.”