INTRODUCTION

Many scholars believe the passage describing Paul’s speech

in Athens to be one of the most important in the book of Acts.

This passage, 17:22-34, gives the readers a prime example of

Paul’s missionary zeal in proclaiming the gospel to the

Gentiles, and shows Paul’s contextualized gospel message to a

philosophical and pagan audience. The purpose of this paper is

to present a detailed analysis of Acts 17:22-34 and to discuss

Luke’s intended meaning for Theophilus.

The analysis will include several steps. First, a literary

context section will examine how Luke structured the book of

Acts and explain how the themes present within 17:22-34 connect

to the rest of the book. Next, a brief assessment of the texts

surrounding this passage will explain what is occurring before

and after Paul’s speech at the Areopagus. Furthermore, a

sentence-by-sentence exegesis will discuss what the text meant

to the original reader. Lastly, the final section will describe

how this specific passage functions within the Acts narrative

and will examine what Luke originally meant to convey to

Theophilus by including this passage within the book of Acts.

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Literary Context

The Structure of Acts

The book of Acts can be divided into two main sections: the

mission of the Jerusalem church and the mission of Paul. The

first five chapters discuss the early church’s life and work in

Jerusalem while chapters 6-12 describe the church’s mission

beyond the city. In the second section of the book, Luke’s

attention shifts to the missionary work of Paul. Chapters 13-21

deal with Paul and his three missionary journeys and chapters

21-28 relate Paul’s defense of his ministry to the Jewish

leaders and the Roman authorities.

Acts 1:4-11 recounts Christ’s ascension and his final

instructions to his disciples. Ignorantly, the apostles asked

their Lord when the restoration of Israel would occur. Jesus

explained that after the Holy Spirit fell on them, the believers

would be witnesses of the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

and to the ends of the earth. This command provides the

overarching theme of the entire book, world mission. Not only

did the church in Jerusalem saturate the city with the gospel,

but also the church of Antioch and the apostle Paul carried the

gospel all over the Roman Empire. Soon after Christ’s

commission, the Spirit fell upon the believers and Jerusalem is

filled with the gospel.

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All throughout Acts, Luke intricately intertwined the theme

of world mission with the theme of the providence of God. God is

the one who allowed all of the events in Acts to occur, and

those events ultimately led to the gospel spreading all over

Roman Empire. God’s sovereign control over all circumstances is

especially evident in Luke’s narrative of Stephen’s martyrdom

and the church’s scattering. The stoning of Stephen incited a

mass persecution of the believers that caused the church to be

scattered. This diaspora of the church caused the gospel to be

carried to the regions of Judea and Samaria.

Luke shifted his focus in the remaining portion of the book

from the mission of the Jerusalem church to the mission among

the Gentiles. The inclusion of the Gentiles is one of the themes

weaved into the latter portion of Acts. First, Luke introduced

Saul to the narrative as the main character who carried the

gospel to the Gentiles. God declared in Acts 9:15 that Saul had

been chosen to proclaim the gospel to the Gentile world and that

he would endure much suffering “for the sake of [his] name.”

The inclusive gospel theme is further developed when God

confirms to Peter that the Gentiles are in fact a part of the

people of God. To demonstrate this truth, God directed Peter to

witness to Cornelius, a Gentile God-fearer. God then poured out

his Spirit on Cornelius and his household as a visible sign of

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their acceptance into the people of God. The Gentile Pentecost

that Peter witnessed later served as a testimony to persuade the

Jerusalem church elders at the Jerusalem Council that

circumcision was not required for salvation.

Luke’s narrative continued the inclusive gospel theme all

throughout Paul’s missionary journeys. These three journeys took

Paul all over the Roman Empire causing the gospel to spread and

church to be in cities such as Pisidian Antioch, Lystra,

Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Ephesus, Corinth, Jerusalem, and

ultimately to Rome. The triumph of the gospel theme is also

prevalent in not only Paul’s missionary journeys, but also in

the mission of the early church community. Although the

believers faced countless obstacles, beatings, imprisonments,

false accusations, and many even faced death, the gospel

prevailed.

The Immediate Context of 17:22-34

Acts 17:16-21 gives a brief narrative describing Paul’s

encounter with Athenian culture and give a foundation for the

main themes of Paul’s speech to the Areopagus. Paul had just

arrived in Athens from Berea and Thessalonica, where the zealous

Jews had driven him out from both cities. Athens, which was

considered to be the intellectual and cultural center of the

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Roman Empire, was a very pagan city with altars and temples to a

plethora of gods.1 Luke described the Athenians as ones who

enjoyed “telling or hearing something new” (21). The

philosophers, who had called Paul a babbler, took him before the

Areopagus so that they could understand the “new teaching” he

had been presenting in their marketplace (19). Although many

scholars argue that Paul’s speech is a watered-down version of

the gospel because of his apparent use of philosophical ideas,

the essence of the speech is rooted in biblical revelation and

Old Testament references. The main argument of the address to

the Areopagus is in response to the philosophers’ claim that

Paul was a “preacher of foreign divinities” (18). Paul

proclaimed to the Areopagites the existence of the one, true

God.

Following his speech in Athens, Paul journeyed to Corinth,

the largest and most urban city in Greece.2 Paul stayed in

Corinth for eighteen months and soon, Silas and Timothy joined

him from Macedonia. Paul spent a year and a half preaching and

edifying the Corinthian church.

Exegesis
1
D. H. Madvig, “Athens,” The International Standard Bible
Encyclopedia 1:351.
2
John B. Polhill, Acts, The New American Commentary
(Nashville: B&H, 1992), 380.
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22) The Areopagus, the ruling council of Athens, was situated

on the hill next to the Acropolis.3 Many commentators speculate

on whether or not Paul appeared before a formal or an informal

meeting of the council. The most likely answer is that Paul was

indeed appearing before a formal hearing of the Areopagus

because his trial seemed to parallel the trial of Socrates who

was also accused of introducing “foreign divinities” (18).4 Paul

began his address to the council with a compliment or capitatio

benevolentiae in order to gain his audience’s favor.5 Paul told

the Areopagites that he observed that they were “very

religious.” Paul’s use of the term “religious” has two possible

meanings: one who is very devout to religious matters or one who

is very superstitious.6 Paul most likely intended to mean

superstitious because of the previous reference to the

Athenians’ ignorance. Furthermore, Luke gave a clue to his

intended meaning of the term by using the same word in 25:19 in

3
The name Areopagus literally means “hill of Ares” who was
the Greek god of War. The Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars
which is why the alternate translation, “Mars Hill” is also
popular. Clinton E. Arnold, Acts, Zondervan Illustrated Bible
Background Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 388.
4
Polhill, 368.
5
Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-
Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 520.
6

Ibid.
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a derogatory manner.7

23 In order to qualify his commendation of the Athenian’s

religiosity, Paul related how he had observed the many altars

and temples throughout the city. Specifically, Paul referenced

the altar with the inscription, “to the unknown God.” Many

scholars have debated on whether or not this altar actually

existed in Athens. The ancient writers Pausanias, Diogenes

Laertius, and Philostratus all mention altars to unknown gods in

their writings, therefore, an altar to an unknown deity is

perfectly plausible.8 As previously mentioned, the Athenians, in

their “religious” zeal, had erected many altars and temples to a

wide array of gods. Their superstition was so great that to

avoid offending some god, they had built an altar dedicated to

an unknown god.9 The second part of verse 23 establishes the

theme for the rest of the speech. Paul expressed to the

Athenians that he was going to tell them about the God they

professed to not know. Greek philosophers placed great value on

the finding of truth through reason. Paul therefore, accused his

audience of what they looked down upon the most, ignorance.10 In

7
I. Howard Marshall, Acts, Tynadale New Testament
Commentaries (Leicester, England: Inter-Varisty, 1980), 285.
8
Arnold, 392.
9
T. C. Smith, Acts, Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville:
Broadman, 1970), 104.
10
Polhill, 372.
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the remainder of the speech, Paul presented to his listeners an

exposition of the Creator God, the providence of God, and what

proper worship of God should be.

24 The one true God, Paul expressed, is the one “who made the

world and everything in it.” The concept of a personal creator

is very different from the Epicureans’ view of a random

combination of atoms or from the Stoics’ belief in virtual

pantheism.11 They were completely oblivious to the existence of a

supreme deity who created and governed the universe. Moreover,

if God is the sovereign creator and instigator of all existence

in the universe, then naturally two things follow. First,

“temples made by man” cannot bind him. Any attempt to restrict

the creator of all existence within the confines of an earthly

temple, idol, or altar would be crazy. The language Paul used to

describe God in this verse is language very similar to the Old

Testament Scriptures. When Paul affirms that that there is only

one creator God, he quotes Isaiah 42:5.12 Furthermore, Solomon

asks in 1 Kings 8:27 that if “heaven and the highest” cannot

contain God, “how much less can he be held by a temple built by

11
John R. W. Stott, The Message of Acts: The Spirit, the
Church, and the Word (Downer’s Grove: Intervarsity, 1990), 285.
12
Edward Fudge, “Paul’ Apostolic Self-Consciousness at
Athens,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 14, no.
3 (1971): 194.
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man?

25 Paul’s second criticism of human worship was that God

cannot be “served with human hands.” The pagan priests presented

sacrificial offerings to appease their man-made idols.13 The true

God does not need food or drink offerings because he is

completely self-sufficient and he is the one who “gives to all

mankind life and breath and everything.” Again, this truth of

God’s self-sufficiency is rooted in the Old Testament writings.

In Psalm 50:9-12, the psalmist proclaimed that God has no need

of anything man could offer because God is owner of “the world

and its fullness.”14 Despite the underlying Old Testament roots

in both of theses criticisms, Paul’s Greek audience would have

identified with his statements because Greek philosophy viewed

divinity as being completely self-sufficient from mankind and as

being unbound from earthly temples.15

26 Verses 26 through 27 function as the core of Paul’s speech

and emphasize God’s providence over mankind and man’s response

to God. The main clause of these two verses, “he made from one

13
French L. Arrington, The Acts of the Apostles:
Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Peabody, Ma:
Hendrickson, 1988), 180.
14

F. F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts, New International

Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988),
337.
15

Polhill, 373.
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man every nation of mankind,” possess two subordinate clauses:

1) “to live on all the face of the earth” (26) and 2) “that they

should seek God” (27).16 Moreover, since mankind is commanded to

dwell in all the earth, the second part of verse 26 says that

God, in his providence, has “determined allotted periods and

boundaries of their dwelling place.” The exact meanings of the

terms “periods” and “boundaries of their dwelling place” have

proved to be unclear. “Periods” could either refer to historical

ages or seasons of times while “boundaries of their dwelling

place” could refer to the boundaries between nations or

habitable zones of the earth. Either way, Paul emphasized God’s

providence over creation.

27 Paul then expressed that since God providentially

determined everything about his creations’ lives, man’s second

purpose was to seek God in the hope of finding him. The language

Paul used in this statement can be understood in the Greek sense

of the philosophical search for a divine being without a sure

hope of success. The odd element of this verse is in the phrase

“feel their way toward him” which is suggestive of men groping

in the dark to find God. “In the hope” implies that this manner

of finding God is not a sure one. The statements in both verses

26 and 27 possess strong undertones of natural theology. Since

16
Paul’s mention of the “one man” from whom all other
nations stem is most likely a reference to Adam. Polhill, 374.
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God partly revealed himself through nature, all of humanity is

responsible for this knowledge of God. This revelation, however,

is not sufficient to find God. In this verse Paul used optative

mood to express his doubt of humanity actually finding God

through his revelation in nature.17 Even though God is “not far

from” any person, human beings are in the dark trying to find

God. While seeking God can only be a response to the revelation

in nature, worshipping God is man’s responsibility to God.

28 Paul confirmed his aforementioned point with two statements

of pagan origin that demonstrated the relationship between

mankind and God. Paul took bits of truth from pagan philosophy

and applied them to the nature of God. Furthermore, by quoting

lines from familiar Greek poems, Paul was addressing his pagan

listeners in terms they would understand. The line “in him we

live and move and have our being” is quoted from a poem

attributed to Epimenides the Cretan while the line “for we are

indeed his offspring” is from a poem to Zeus by Aratus.18

17
Polhill, 375.
18