Chapter 17
Verse 1 – there had been a synagogue of the Jews in Thessalonica since early times because of its strategic trade location.
Verses 2-4, the ministry to the Jews in Thessalonica.
Verse 2 – “And Paul, as his manner was.” The word for “manner” is literally “custom,” a perfect active participle meaning to have a custom. “Paul, according to his custom.” From the very beginning of his missionary journeys Paul established a modus operandi which he always followed. He would go into a city and locate the synagogue of the Jews. He always went to the Jews first. The basis for following this custom is found in Romans 9-11.
“went in unto them” is literally, face to face with them, which means he has speaking opportunities in the synagogue.
“reasoned with them out from the scriptures” – he communicated categorically information. The word “reasoned” is dialegomai [dia = through; legomai = to speak], to speak through. It is where the word “dialogue” comes from; “out from the scriptures” is literally, “out from [a)po] the ultimate source of the scriptures.” The only Scriptures they had was the Old Testament.
Verse 3 – “Opening and alleging.” This was done out of the Scripture. “Opening” means to open the mind and explain, to explain something to an open mind. The word “alleging” means to deposit—paratiqhmi. In other words, he deposited doctrine with them. He opened their minds and poured something in them. He explained, spelled out, he taught. The principle: People cannot make a decision without information about Christ.
“that Christ must needs have suffered” – “must needs” means He was obligated. The Old Testament Scriptures indicates that Jesus Christ has an obligation to the human race. The whole point is that God the Father guaranteed that Jesus Christ would come, and that anyone living in Old Testament times could read their Scriptures could say that Christ was going to come.
“and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ” – he kept on preaching: kataggellw [kata = preposition of norm or standard; aggellw = to announce, declare], he communicated (that Jesus was the Christ) according to a norm or standard (the Old Testament Scriptures).
Verse 4 –
Verse 5 – “But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy.” When there is a rejection of the gospel or any type of spiritual phenomena there is always an activity in the mentality of the soul. These Jews were on negative volition and rejected Christ as saviour. They were religious and religion is the great enemy of Christianity. Because of their envy they began to take action. When it says they “believed not,” this is a present active participle which means they took a permanent stand and set a precedent in the synagogue. They were not persuaded with regard to Christ and therefore rejected Him. At the same time they were moved with envy. This is a present active participle which describes their constant attitude. When they saw Paul and the others they were jealous.
“took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort” – when it says they ‘took unto them’ it means they actually associated with these people for the purpose of using them. It doesn’t say “certain lewd fellows of the baser sought” at all. The only word we can say is in the Greek is the word “certain.” It is literally, “certain evil men from the agora.” The “agora” is the market place where the bums all hang out. Principle: Religion uses the mob. It is always using the rabble, some kind of discontented or pseudo-discontented organization. Here the religious Jews are the ones who hire the mob.
“and gathered a company” – this really means to form a mob, a rabble. When you use the word “mob” or “rabble” you are talking about people who have moved out of the area of the divine institutions, and whether their cause is just or evil or somewhere in between they have destroyed their cause by the means whereby they seek to rectify the situation.
“and set all the city on an uproar” – this can only be found in the King James version. It is one word in the Greek, qorubew, which means to incite a riot, to cause a commotion, and technically it means to disturb the peace. They destroyed the principle of law and order. Mobs are the enemy of law and order.
“and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people” – they tore down the gates and went in to try to find them. Obviously rhey couldn’t find them.
Verse 6 – “And when they found them not.” They were frustrated in their attempt to get rid of Paul; “they drew Jason” – the word “drew” means to drag. Usually the custom was to beat them up and then drag them out by the heels; “and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city” – rulers of the city is one word in the Greek: politarxhj. In the English we call it politarchs. Rulers in the Roman empire were called praetors. The city of Thessalonica was given the status of a free city by the Roman empire, of which there were only about half a dozen outside of Italy, e.g. Tarsus, Thessalonica, Athens. The Romans allowed the cities to choose their own form of government and they themselves stayed out of it entirely. Thessalonica chose politarchs, translated here “rulers of the city.” This particular title is peculiar to the city government of the Thessalonians at this time. Archaeologists discovered a marble arch there which was dated at the time of the reign of Claudius Caesar, the time when Paul was in Thessalonica. By this arch is was discovered that politarchs were ruling the city of Thessalonica, and they were actually named. There were seven named on this arch, and three of them were actually friends of Paul. One is Sopater of Berea—Acts 20:4; Gaius of Macedonia—Acts 19:29; Secundus—Acts 20:4.
“crying” – screaming or yelling (what they were told to); “These [men] that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” – they recognise that they have turned the world upside down. Bible doctrine changes people, and when the people are changed as individuals there is dramatic change in the world. Satan uses the mob to obscure the truth.
Verse 7 – “Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar.” The word “do contrary” is the verb prassw which means to practice. They are actually not saying that they are doing something wrong but that they have a practice which is constantly wrong. Then the word a)penanti which means to practice against something. They have a modus operandi which is against the decrees or the law of Caesar. The decrees of Caesar is simply Roman law.
“saying that there is another king, one Jesus” – the word “another” means another of a different kind. It is quite obvious that religion will go to any extreme to destroy grace. The religious leaders have obviously heard the gospel, they have distorted what Paul said, and have taken this distortion and used it as a basis for saying Paul is against the law. The truth is not necessarily couched in the loud noises of the majority. Here the majority is wrong, and this is what happens when you have mob action.
Verse 8 – “And they troubled the people.”[1] The word to trouble means to stir up, to agitate in the mind. Here the mob actually influenced the government. A government which is intimidated by a mob is not fit to rule.
Verse 9 – “And when they had taken the security of Jason.” The politarchs finally got smart and let Jason go. The put him under bond and did likewise with the others, and they let them go. The Romans would not permit the violation of their law and these politarchs were wise enough to realise that this mob activity was contrary to the principle of Roman law and the sooner they got rid of the mob the better.
The mechanics of opposing the gospel in Thessalonica
1. Negative volition at the point of gospel hearing produces a vacuum into which is sucked mental attitude sins such as jealousy. Jealousy was what started the ball rolling. The religious Jews were jealous of Paul.
2. Mental attitude sins not only produce self-induced misery but they lead to acts of antagonism and revenge.
3. In this case jealousy produces a mob and a riot and the riot is used to attack Paul.
4. The criterion for a mob is emotion. The mob doesn’t think but riots on the basis of the emotion and the prejudice of the one who organises them.
5. Religion uses riots to disrupt good government and bully it into a course of action which is wrong and dishonest. Therefore religion uses rioting and mob order to influence a civil government to get rid of the gospel in this case. Anything that is corrected by violence will be destroyed by violence.
6. The emotional and rioting mob acts upon the government until the government is reduced to the same emotional and disorganised level as the mob.
7. Behind the scene religion hides its hypocritical face while manipulating the mob. Therefore religion disrupts government. It is not the objective of Christianity to disrupt good local government. It is the objective of Bible doctrine to sustain, to encourage, and to improve by peaceful means local government.
Verse 10 – Timothy is left behind here at Thessalonica, according to 1 Timothy 3:5,6, Luke was left at Philippi, and Paul and Silas are going on to Berea fifty
miles south west.
“who coming hither went into the synagogue of the Jews.” As always, Paul goes to the Jews first.
Verse 11 – “These were more noble.” Incorrect. They were not more noble, they were more open-minded. This is a comparative adjective and it describes a receptive mental attitude, positive volition at God-consciousness, positive volition at the point of gospel hearing.
“in that they received the word of God with all readiness of mind” – literally, “with all eagerness of mind.” The word to receive here means to receive and retain—dexomai. The word which they received was primarily Old Testament scriptures.
“and searched” – the word means to examine closely, to sift and to discern; “the scriptures daily” – the Old Testament.
“whether these things were so” is literally, “if these things [Old Testament scriptures] had it thus.” “If” is a fourth class condition [I hope you are], which indicates that they are searching the Scriptures to prove him right. They wanted these things to be true but they had to find out for themselves by going to the only authority they had, which was the Old Testament. These were Jews. There was a large synagogue in Berea and a large company of Jews.
Verse 12 – “Therefore.” Because of their positive volition, their eagerness toward doctrine; “many of them believed” – a tremendous response to the gospel in Berea.
“also of the honourable women” – the word “honourable” is really the word “noble.” There were some women of nobility who lived in that town and these “nobility” accepted Christ as saviour.
“who were Greeks, and of men, not a few” – many Gentiles, men and women.
Verse 13 – opposition came to Berea. The religious Jews followed Paul throughout his entire life providing constant opposition. Paul had to learn quickly that the battle is the Lord’s.
Verse 14 – “sent away Paul as it were to the sea.” They made it appear that Paul was going west when actually he was south. His next stop is going to be Athens. Silas and Timothy remained behind to organise the church.
Verse 15 – “And they that conducted” refers to those who had accepted Christ in Berea; “and brought him unto Athens.”
Verse 16 – “Now while Paul waited for them at Athens.” He is waiting for Silas and Timothy; “his spirit was stirred in him” – the word for “stir” here refers to the human spirit, the area where he has his Bible doctrine. Paul had a maximum understanding of doctrine. He cannot appreciate all of the 30,000 idols that exist around him and his conscience resents them. The Greek word for stirring is parocunw and it means to have a paroxysm, an extreme anger. The imperfect tense means he continued to be this way. And in his anger he devised a plan. This is justified anger, an attitude toward false doctrine. The plan he developed was to have Athens judge him. In order to be judged in Athens it was first of all necessary to go all over the city and declare your position. He was going to make this great city actually put him on trial. He has to get himself somehow before the people.
“he saw the city wholly given to idolatry” – the Greek doesn’t say that at all. For example, the words “wholly given” is e)imi, the verb for absolute status quo which means to be, and it should be translated “the city was to be full of idols.” In other words, the city was actually filled with idols.
Verse 17 – “Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews.” He always went to the synagogue first, and strangely enough at this time Athens had a very large Jewish population. The word “dispute” is a technical Greek word, dialegomai, and it actually means to use a question and answer system.
“and [even] with the devout [religious] persons” – he disputed with the unsaved religious persons in the synagogue.
“and in the market [Agora] daily with them that met him” – or those with whom he encountered.
Verse 18 – after he had been doing this for a few days everyone was talking about the gospel and this strange person who brought it to them, and there was immediately a reaction from the two philosophical schools in the city of Athens.
“Then certain philosophers [teachers of light in Athens]” – there were two philosophical systems, the first of which was known as the Epicurians. They derived the name from the founder who was Epicurus by name. His whole concept of philosophy was that happiness should be achieved through some form of pleasure. The second was known as the Stoics, founded by an Athenian philosopher by the name of Zeno. His name comes from the Greek word stoa, which means porch. Zeno taught on the porch of the various temples. Those who became adherents to this system were called porch people or stoics. Zeno took issue with Epicurus and said that the most important thing in life is your mind, what you think: reason should be the criterion instead of emotion. He said that the trouble with Epicurus was that he was too emotional and was constantly catering to his emotion through the gratification of self and the seeking of pleasure. So reason was the criterion instead of emotion and man must be in control of his emotions so that he can think well. He said that the most important thing in life was not pleasure but virtue.
Neither the Epicurians nor the Stoics could make anything of what Paul said, they didn’t understand it, and therefore for the first time in their lives they were baffled and didn’t have an immediate answer by which they could refute what he was saying. So they began to run him down.
“And some said [Stoics and Epicurians], What will this babbler say?” The word “babbler” is the Greek word “seed-picker.” A seed-picker generally refers to a bird like a sparrow, an inconsequential bird. The word had a very special meaning in Athens at the time of the writing which had nothing to do with any modern concepts. Athens had a lot of garbage. There were some interesting solutions to the problem of garbage in the ancient world. One was to have packs of wild dogs to scavenge. But the birds picked at the garbage too. About 200 years before Paul arrived the word “seed-picker” was transferred from the birds to people. Apparently one day some man went through the agora and was stupid, he tried to palm himself off as being smart. So one of the philosophers called him a seed-picker. This means that he was doing what the birds were doing, going around the agora picking up little scraps of information just as the birds were picking up little scraps of garbage. Then he would parrot them and pretend that he knew something that he really didn’t. In other words, a seed-picker was someone who wasn’t really very bright but would palm himself off as being brilliant. The term was used here is a derogatory fashion for the apostle Paul. It was apparent that they could not understand what he was saying, and to them he was babbling.
“other some” is simply the Greek word “but,” and this should be translated “but others.” This is a conjunction of contrast: some actually responded.
“He seemeth to be a setter forth [an announcer]of strange gods” – he seems to be announcing alien gods, gods with whom we are not familiar.
“for he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.”
Verse 19 – remember that Paul is angry and has gone through Athens is a paroxysm. He deliberately went through Athens making an issue of the gospel so that they would be forced to try him. In reality they are not going to put Paul on trial, they are going to put Christianity on trial. This is exactly what Paul wants, he wants the issue clarified in Athens.
“And they [the citizens of Athens] took him” – they seized him violently; “and they brought him to the Areopagus.” The Greek word for Mars is Aries. Mars is a Latin word, and Mars is the god of war. Aries is the Greek equivalent. Mars hill had three things that frightened everyone. There was the temple to the god of war. Down the hill a little and carved out of rock was a courtroom where Socrates was condemned to death. Then below it was another temple, the temple of the Furies which frightened everyone. Paul is now being put on trial at the courtroom by the people of Athens.
“saying” now introduces the first comments of the judge; “May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?” The Greek starts out by saying, “Are we able to know?” This is an idiom. This is a polite question but it is actually filled with a great deal of sarcasm. To them this was a “new doctrine.” It was entirely foreign to their thinking that man would be regarded as a sinner needing a saviour. Added to this the people of Athens were on negative volition at the point of God-consciousness, and having reached that negative volition they have a vacuum set up in the mind. Into that vacuum they have religion, rationalism, and the usual mental attitude sins that produce self-induced misery.
Verse 20 – “For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears.” The word to bring means to bring into, to fill the mind by way of the ear gate: “certain shocking things.” Their minds are literally shocked by the gospel. They are now ready to hear Paul’s defence.
Verse 22 – a critical observation. “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious [religious].” Paul is not intimidated. This slaps them right in the face. To be called too religious when they considered themselves to be very intellectual and very proud was just too much. But Paul is going to make it stick. The word translated “superstitious” in the KJV is an Attic Greek word, a compound word which means “fear of the gods,” and it came to mean religion. Paul is using “religion” in its doctrinal sense: all religion is Satanic, from the devil himself. Satan is the father of religion. Jesus condemned religion in Matthew 23, and the type of religion used in Athens is the devil’s communion table, as per 1 Corinthians 10:19-21. Actually, Paul is saying in effect, You are really too smart a person. He is saying something they will not resent, though really this is strictly sarcasm as far as Paul is concerned—“I have observed that you are a very religious people.”
Verse 23 – “For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions.” This word “devotions” is another sarcastic word. It means “your religious worship.” Both of the dominant systems of philosophy in Athens, Epicureanism and Stoicism, actually rejected God, and so every statue of a god standing in Athens was something that these philosophical system had totally rejected. Really, to these philosophers and the people who adhered to them, this was now simply a form of art. So immediately Paul has taken the pseudo-intellectual who prides himself on his mental ability, academic knowledge and cultural background, and has called his attention to the fact that both Stoicism and Epicureanism, the two systems that have put Paul on trial, have no place for any supernatural being. There is nothing that galls a pseudo-intellectual more than to be called religious! Paul breaks through their whole system of pseudo-intellectualism right from the start. Just one little sarcastic barb and he has them.
Then he says in effect that there is one religious practice, one altar, which they have in their city which really explains what he has been trying to tell them. For many days Paul has been speaking to these same people, this is not the first time they had heard him. For days he has been declaring the gospel and it is because of his declaration of the gospel that he is brought to the open air courtroom. Everyone in the city has now heard the gospel and are familiar with the fact that Christ died for their sins. But this is his last and parting shot, his final message to them.
“I found an altar with this inscription” – many times when there was no form of a god that could be fashioned they simply built an altar and put a plaque on it, and something could be offered on that altar. The word is in the perfect passive indicative and should be translated, “I found an altar on which had been engraved.”
“TO THE UNKNOWN GOD” – this gives Paul an opportunity to give one of his most brilliant messages to the type of audience involved. He is speaking to a pseudo-intellectual and cultural audience, the most difficult type of audience outside of a religious organization.
“Whom ye ignorantly worship” – the Greek says, “Whom ye, being ignorant, worship.” There are two verbs here. The first is a)gnoew, a present active participle, and it means here “you being ignorant.” Then the verb to worship is in the present active indicative, and it is literally, “You being ignorant keep on worshipping.” Here is the one being judged suddenly turning into a judge; “him [this one] I declare unto you.” Now Jesus Christ is going to be brought in at this point. He is going to take the ‘unknown god’ and say, This is actually the one that I have been preaching, and the only reason that He is unknown to you is that you have not personally trusted in Him, or you are trying to examine Him in the frame of reference of Stoicism or Epicureanism; but whatever system you are trying to use He does not fit into these categories: “him I announce according to a fixed standard.” The word “declare” means to announce according to a fixed standard—kataggellw [kata = norm or standard; a)ggellw = announce]. The norm or standard is the Word, and the Word is revelation, not man’s surmisings or philosophical systems.
Verse 24 – these people have been hearing the gospel many times from Paul, therefore he takes this new tack. “God that made the world and all things therein” – the word “God” in the Greek is literally, “The God,” and it is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ; “who made the word” – Colossians 1:16. The definite article indicates that Paul is taking about the only God. He is saying in effect that the entire pantheon of Greek gods is a false concept, is Satanic in nature, and that there is only one revealed God—three persons in the Trinity but one is revealed.
“made with hands” is not a verb but an adjective, and it is important to understand this because the absence of a verb here suddenly opens the whole thing up. At this point Paul is becoming very forceful. What he is saying is that man is finite and imperfect, and an imperfect man cannot make a house for God but perfect God can make a house or a plan for man. They have it backwards. God has a plan for man and that plan begins at the cross, but man cannot make a house for God. Man can dwell in God’s plan through grace but God cannot dwell in man’s plans through legalism. There is therefore no way that God can take their temples and their concepts and use them, for they are entirely contrary to His character, to His person, and to His plan. These Athenians, therefore, are operating out of the plan of God, and the implication is Acts 4:12.
Verse 25 – “Neither is worshipped with man’s hands.” Here is the problem of heathenism. They had great artists and sculptors who were able to design a body and say this was a certain god. Principle: Heathenism assumed that the gods needed their offerings and sacrifices for happiness. They concluded that man is necessary to make God happy, rather than God is necessary to make man happy.
“as though he needed anything” – Paul recognised their failure, i.e. their assumption that God was like they were. This is normal in man: imposing on God the characteristics of man. What breaks this up is revelation, the Word of God, Bible doctrine, which tells us what God is like, what His plan is like, and so on.
“seeing he giveth to all” – God doesn’t need anything from us; we need something from God; “life and breath” – soul life. God gives life to the soul.
“and all things” – the grace of God in His plan, starting at regeneration. The principle is: We do not give to God; He gives to us. This is the antithesis of all Greek philosophy. There is also another principle here, and that is that no man can be happy apart from relationship with God.
Verse 26 – “And he hath made [referring to the Lord Jesus Christ] from one,” i.e., from Adam. Adam was the only member of the human race who was totally created—Genesis 2:7. Even the woman was not totally created because she was taken from man. The word “blood” does not occur in the original.
“all nations” – the world is divided into nations under three concepts: racial, geographically, and linguistically. All nations indicates divine institution #4 whereby the human race survives. Without nationalism there could be no human race, but nationalism has guaranteed that the human race will continue to exist upon the earth and that in every generation the human race will be evangelised. Nationalism makes it possible for the human race to be evangelised and internationalism destroys that concept.
“to dwell” is a present active infinitive and this means to dwell according to a norm of standard. The norm or standard by which we dwell upon the earth are the divine institutions. The verb is katoikew [kata = norm or standard; o)ikew = to dwell].
“and hath determined” – the word o(rizw means to appoint a boundary, to decree something, to appoint something. The way it is used here is determined by the Greek word for times, kairoj, which means time broken up into separate entities and is a synonym for “dispensations.” It is time as an epoch, time as a period. So times have also been appointed to protect the human race.
“the times before appointed” – perfect passive participle, appointed in the past with results that go on forever; and the bounds of their habitation” – the word “bounds” refers not only to the divine institutions but also to the dispensations; “habitation” has to do with the national entities which exist.
So here in this passage the apostle Paul is pointing out that the very system which they are trying to use against him, which is the system of a courtroom and law and order, is actually designed for another purpose. It is designed to give them the gospel, to make volition the issue in the gospel. Volition depends entirely on the individual when he hears the facts. To hear the facts there must be law and order in the devil’s world. The devil will do all that he can to obstruct the gospel, and the only possible way that he can fill his mission of obstructing the gospel is to destroy the lines of demarcation whereby the human race is perpetuated. Therefore Satan is constantly trying to destroy all the divine institutions.
Verse 27 – from the principle of how they exist Paul goes on to the next concept. This is connected with the two great principles whereby all members of the human race are given a chance. All normal members of the human race reach the point of God-consciousness and when they do the volition in on the line. If a person goes on negative signals God has no further responsibility, but if the person goes on positive signals then God is responsible for providing gospel information for that person. The second factor is gospel hearing. Again, positive volition at gospel hearing expresses itself by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the issue of this verse and is a logical progression from the standpoint that God has established order in the human race, regardless of the wishes of the human race, so that the human race can be evangelised, perpetuated and function.
“That” introduces a purpose clause; “they should seek after the Lord.” The word “Lord” is literally, “the God,” and to “seek after” here simply expresses positive volition at the point of God-consciousness. So to seek after the God simply means that all members of the human race become aware of the existence of the God. This is followed by a fourth class condition in the word “if” – “if they might feel after [I wish they would but they are not].” The word for feeling after is a very strange word, if is from Aeolic Greek, one of the few in the New Testament, and is an aorist active optative. The word means to touch, to handle, or to grope after something in the dark. It is used here in the sense of groping after something in the dark. At the point of God-consciousness mankind is only aware of the existence of God, he does not have information on which to be saved. God-consciousness merely means to be aware of the existence of God and it stops right there, it never implies knowing anything about the gospel. Since he is in the dark as to the exact nature of God it takes gospel hearing to straighten everything out. Man by man’s thinking does not have the ability to actually put together the gospel, the gospel must always be revealed to him. Here is a point of grace. We can become aware of the existence of God by our mental ability but can go no further with it. No one has ever dreamed up the gospel or worked it out mentally. You have to hear the gospel; it has to be communicated; it has to be revealed.
“and find him” – a reference to the point of gospel hearing. Again, this is an aorist active optative. The optative mood expresses a wish or a desire and it goes with the fourth class condition. Paul is saying, I wish all of you would be on positive volition at the point of God-consciousness, and at the point of gospel hearing go on positive volition again—“if,” I wish it were true but it isn’t.
“though he be not far from any one of us” – the Greek says literally, “he exists not far from any one of us,” u(parxw, meaning to exist. God is as far as their positive volition.
Verse 28 – he explains something of the existence of God. “For in him we live” – soul life, bodily function and breath; “and we move” – to move, exercise, fulfil the functions of life; “and having our being” is literally, “and we are.”
Then he quotes a Stoic poets: “as certain also of your poets have said, For we are also his offspring” – the word “offspring” means progeny. This indicates that the Stoics recognised the fact that God made man and man did not make God. Paul used their very own literature to prove to them that the basic beliefs which they held at the present time were inconsistent with their own philosophical system. So without realising it these Stoic writers not only recognised that God existed before man existed but at the same time that all of the idols in the city of Athens were ridiculous.
Verse 29 – Paul summarises. “Forasmuch then as we are [exist: u(parxw] the offspring of God.” In other words, God made us; we did not make God. Then he gives his conclusion. All of the statuary in Athens is a disgrace. It indicates the idea that man created God when in reality God created man. This is what he wanted them to see because the thing that was keeping them from God was idolatry.
Verse 30 – “And the times of this ignorance.” This refers to a succession of events between God-consciousness and gospel hearing. It is the time in which man is ignorant as to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“God winked at” – the word means to overlook or to disregard, or to bear with someone. God overlooked it because the issue is hearing the gospel.
“but now” – the point of gospel hearing. Now God is going to hold them responsible for all of this; “he commandeth” – the point of gospel hearing; “all men everywhere” – everyone in the sound of his voice, all of the people in the great courtroom; “to repent” – to change their attitude.
Verse 31 – the alternative of repentance. This is a reference to the last judgment.
“by that man” – Jesus Christ, John 5:22; “whom he hath ordained” – God the Father providing the plan of salvation; “whereof he hath given faith to all” – all members of the human race have faith as a non-meritorious system of perception. So God the Father not only provided His Son but He provided the way by which you can meet His Son and have salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is the object of faith.
“in that he hath raised him from the dead” – now he mentions the resurrection because faith is not simply faith in someone who is dead and departed but it is faith in a resurrected Christ.
Verse 32 – “And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.” Some were on negative volition at the point of gospel hearing. The word for mocking means to scoff and to ridicule, and these would be primarily the Epicureans.
“and others said, We will hear more of this” – many of them were persuaded, though some were procrastinating for the moment, but this is an expression of their positive volition.
Verse 33 – as soon as he had made his point he simply walked out of court.
Verse 34 – there were some results. “Howbeit certain men clave unto him” – they associated with him; “and believed” – aorist tense, they accepted Christ as their saviour in a point of time.
Two people are mentioned. One of them was prominent among the judges in the courtroom—Dionysius. From extra-biblical sources it is known that he was also a famous man with literary attainments in his day.
This is one of the most unusual approaches ever used by Paul. Not once did he mentioned Jesus Christ by name. He mentions Him as the one who was resurrected. But remember that Paul had been witnessing to these people every day, so that all of the people there listening had previously heard his message. But now it was a matter of pointing out to them that everything within the frame of reference of their life only had one road, a dead end, i.e. the cross and resurrection. He brought them around to the fact that no matter what road you take you must face the issue of Christ; otherwise you have had it.
[1][1] “ . . . in Acts a variety of official, Gentile and Jewish, show good will towards Paul and other Christian missionaries, or at least admit that there is no basis for the accusations brought against them by their opponents. In Cyprus the distinguished proconsul of the island in favourably impressed by the apostles and their message (13:7, 12). At Philippi the chief collegiate magistrates of the colony apologize to Paul for their illegal beating and imprisonment (16:17ff). At Corinth Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, decrees that the charges brought by the local Jewish community against Paul and his colleagues relate to internal matters of Jewish religion and pronounces them guiltless of any offence against Roman law (18:12ff). At Ephesus the Asiarchs, leading citizens of the province of Asia, are Paul’s friends, and the chief executive officer of the city administration absolves him of the charge of public sacrilege (19:31, 35ff). In Palestine the procurators Felix and Festus successively find him innocent of the serious crimes of which the Sanhedrin accuse him, and the Jewish client king Herod Agrippa II and his sister Bernice agree that he has done nothing deserving death or even imprisonment (24:1-26:32). And when he appeals, as a Roman citizen, to have his case heard by the emperor in Rome, he carries on his missionary activity for two years in that city, under constant surveillance, without anyone trying to hinder him (28:30f.). If Christianity were such a lawless movement as was widely believed, Paul would certainly not have been allowed to propagate it by the imperial guards in whose charge he was!” The Book of the Acts, F.F. Bruce, pp. 20-21.