The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 60

Ver. 21.-Now for /or, A.V.; thr, ~!rangers them for that ~,.,,,~11,µovla which it was the enjnur11ing there for strangers ii:l11r;h ~ere whole ohject or hiR sermon to conrlemn. o;erc, A. V. Spent their time, T_h1e '-?1vee Joacphus (' Contr. Apion.,' i. 12) calls the the general sense, but the mnrgrn ot tl,e I Athenians Toi, EV<1E8Eo"rd:rovsTWv EAA~vwv, n:r., had leisure for nothing_ el•~• is much the most religions of all Greeks (Howson). more nccurnte. E/11ta1p,iv, which ta not c_on- Ver. 23.-Paooed alonlJ for passed by, A.V.; si<lcred goo,! Greek, is only used by Polyb111s, ohser11ed the ol,jects of ynu7 wo-r,hip for 11nd in tho sense either of "boing wenllhy" beheld your devotions, A.V. (-rr1t cref3c/.crµ11-ra. or of "having leisure" or "opportunity." ~µ.wv: see 2 These. ii. 4); also an altar for In tho Now Testnment it occurs in l\fork vi. an altar, A.V.; an for the, A. V.; what for 31 and 1 Cor. xvi. 12. Some new thing, So whom, A.V. and T.R.; ,cor.oliip in ignorance Cleon (Thucyd., iii. 38) rates the Athenians for ignoranay worship, A.V. ; th;s for him, upon their being entirely guiclecl by words, A.V. and T.R.; set forth for deda,·e, A.V. and constantly doceivecl by any novelty of AN UNKNOWN GOD. There is no direct speech (1taiv&11rro, 7'.ryov). And Dem?sth?neB o.ncl explicit testimony in nncient writers to in his first • Philippio' (p. 43, 7), mve1ghe the existence of any one snch altar at 1gninst them because, when they ought to be Athens, but Pausanfas and others speak of up nnd doing, they went about the Agora, altars to "unknown gods," as to be seen in asking one another, "Is there any ne"'.s? Athens, which may well be unrlcrstoo,l of (Al-,,e-ral .,., ,ca,v&v ;)." The comparative several snch altars, each dedicated to an un- «arvonpov is a little stronger th11n 1taiv&v: known god. One of these was seen by St. "the very last news" (Alford). Paul, and, with inimibble tact, ma.de the Ver.22.-Andforthen, A.V.; the .AreopagUB text of his sermon. He was not preaching for Mars' hill, A. V.; in all things I perceive a foreign god to them, but mal.ing known that for I perceive that in all things, A. V. ; to them one whom they had already in- somewhat for too, A. V. In the midst is cluded in their devotions without knowing simply a local description. He stood in the him. midst or the excavated quadrangle, while Ver. 24:.-The God for God, A.V. (snrely his hearers probably sat on the seats all a change for the worse); he being Lord for round. Ye men of Athens. The Demosthenes seeing that he is Lo,·d, A.V. Made with of the Church uses the identical address- hands (x«po1ro,fi..-or,); see the same phrase ~Avopes 'A011vcti'o,-which the great orator in Ma1·k xiv. 5, 8; eh. 'Vii. 48; Heb. b:. ll. St. used in his stitTing politico.l speeches to the Paul applies it, too, to the circnmcision made Athenian people. Somewhat superstitious, with the k"Ilife, as distinguished from that There is a difference of opinion among wronght by the Holy Spirit (Eph. iii. 11). commentators whether these words imply It is freqnent in the LXX. It is a striking praise or blame. Chrysostom, followed by instance of St. Paul's nnflinehing boldness many others, takes it as said iu the way and fidelity to the truth, that he should of encomium, and understands the word expose the hollowness of heathen worship, liwnlia,µ.ovecr·dpovs as equivalent to ,bl\a• standing within e. stone's threw of the Par- f!Jecr·dpovs, very religious, more than com- thenon and the temple or Theseus and the monly religious. And so Bishop Jacobson countless other temples of gods and god- (' Speaker's Commentary'), who observes desses, which were tho pride nnd glory of that the substantive li«cr,lia,µ.ovla is used the Athenian people. Note how he begins five times by Josephus, and always in the his catcchetico.l instruction to the Athe- sense of "religion," or "piety." On the ninns with the first article of the Creed : other band, the Vulgate (superstitiosiores), "I belie'Ve in God the Father almighty, the English Versions, Erasmus, Luther, Mnker of heaven and earth.'' Calvin, etc., take the word in its most Ver. 25.-Is he served by for is ioorshipped common classical sense of "superstitious;" toith, A.V.; he himself for he, A.V. Served and it weighs for something towards by men's hands. Sepa1r,6eTa,, is "wo.i ted determining St. Luke's use of the word upon," as u. man is waited upon by his ser- that Plutarch uses 1i«cr1'6a,µ.ovla. alw11ys in e. vant, who ministers to his wants; 0epa.1rw,• bed sense, of superstition, as in his life of and Oepa1revTtis are "an ntteudaut." So in Alexnnder and elsewhere, and in his tract Hebrew: 1JJ.l, to serve God; ,:iv, a servant; 'De Supcrstitione' (ti..,cr,oaiµ.ovlct). Perhaps the conclusion is that St. Pnul, having his of God; n,\JJI service as of tl;~· Levites in spirit stirred by seeing the city full of the tempi~, ~t~. Anything; or ns some take i<lols, <letermined to attack that spirit in it, 11s if ho nee<led anybody's helF o:r service. !he Athenian people which led to so much The argument, as Chrysostom sugge~ts, is 1~lolntry; which he did in the speech which similar to thnt in Pa. I. 8-12. follows. But, ncting with his usual wisdom, Ver. 26.-He made for hath made, A.V.; he used nn inoffe11sive term at the outset of of one for o/ one blood, A.V. and 'r.R.; every bid speech. Ho could not u1equ to proiso ,wtion for all nations, .A,.V.; havi11f! deter- (i2 THE ACTS 01<' THE APOSTLES. [011 xvu. 1-34.