Acts 17:19

Areopagus The Hill of Mars: the seat of the ancient and venerable Athenian court which decided the most solemn questions connected with religion. Socrates was arraigned and condemned here on the charge of innovating on the state religion. It received its name from the legend of the trial of Mars for the murder of the son of Neptune. The judges sat in the open air upon seats hewn out in the rock, on a platform ascended by a flight of stone steps immediately from the market-place. A temple of Mars was on the brow of the edifice, and the sanctuary of the Furies was in a broken cleft of the rock immediately below the judges' seats. The Acropolis rose above it, with the Parthenon and the colossal statue of Athene. "It was a scene with which the dread recollections of centuries were associated. Those who withdrew to the Areopagus from the Agora, came, as it were, into the presence of a higher power. No place in Athens was so suitable for a discourse upon the mysteries of religion" (Conybeare and Hewson).

Acts 17:19-21 . And — The crowd increasing to a greater number than could conveniently hear him, in the place where they then were; they took and brought him unto Areopagus — Or, the hill of Mars, dedicated to Mars, the heathen god of war, the place where the Athenians held their supreme court of judicature, of which the original number of judges was twelve, but it was afterward increased to three hundred, who were generally men of the greatest families in Athens, and were famed for justice and integrity. Paul, however, was certainly not carried thither to be tried as a criminal, but to be heard discoursing concerning his new doctrine: for they said, May we know what this new doctrine is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears — Exceedingly different from what we have ever received from any of those many professors, of various learning, which this city has produced: we would know, therefore, what these things mean — And wish to hear them from thine own mouth, rather than by the uncertain report of others. This course, it must be observed, the Athenians took with Paul, not from the love of truth, but from mere curiosity: for, as the historian proceeds to observe, all the Athenians, and strangers sojourning there — And catching their distemper; spent their time in nothing else but either to tell — To others; or to hear — For themselves; some new thing — Greek, τι καινοτερον , literally, some newer thing.

New things quickly grew cheap, and they wanted those that were newer still. The apostle, therefore, “being thus called to declare the new doctrine whereof he spake, to an assembly consisting of senators, philosophers, rhetoricians, and statesmen, willingly embraced the opportunity; and, in a most eloquent discourse, prepared his illustrious auditors for receiving that doctrine which appeared to them so strange, by showing them the absurdity of the commonly-received idolatry, and by speaking on that delicate subject with an address, and temper, and strength of reasoning, which would have done honour to the greatest orators of Greece or Rome.” — Macknight.

The city of Athens was divided into five wards, or parts; one of which was called Areopagus, from the temple of Mars, which stood upon a hill in it: nigh unto which temple, or in some part of it, was their chiefest court kept; and here they judged of all religious affairs: here they condemned Diagoras, Protagoras, and Socrates; and hither they bring Paul, though rather to inquire of him (there being the resort of learned men) concerning his doctrine, than to condemn him for it.

Acts 17:19 . Ἄρειον πάγον ) The court of justice was held on a hill (in Greek πάγος ) opposite the citadel of Cecrops, outside the city, and received its appellation from Mars ( Ἄρης ). Thither they brought Paul, almost as if he were one to be put on his trial.— δυνάμεθα γνῶναι ) A formula of questioning, as among the Latins, Possumne scire? Moreover it has, in the intention of these Attic questioners, a degree of irony; for a “seed-picker,” such as they supposed Paul to be, is full of chinks [Terence Eun. i. 2, 25, plenus rimarum, one who can keep nothing to himself ]: nor did they think that anything could be said to them, which they did not know thoroughly before.— καινὴ ) They desire to hear, if he has anything new .— ἡ ὑπὸ σοῦ λαλουμένη , which is spoken of by thee ) deliberately and earnestly.

And they took him, and brought him unto {k} Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? (k) This was a place called, as one would say, Mars hill, where the judges sat who were called Areopagita upon important matters, who in ancient time arraigned Socrates, and afterward condemned him of impiety.

19. they took him, and brought him to Areopagus—"the hill where the most awful court of judicature had sat from time immemorial to pass sentence on the greatest criminals, and to decide on the most solemn questions connected with religion. No place in Athens was so suitable for a discourse on the mysteries of religion" [Howson]. The apostle, however, was not here on his trial, but to expound more fully what he had thrown out in broken conversations in the Agora.

Verse 19. - Took held of for took , A.V.; the Areopagus for Areopagus , A.V.; teaching is for doctrine ... is , A.V.; which is spoken by thee for whereof thou speakest , A.V. Took hold of him . The word ἐπιλάβεσθαι means simply to "take hold of" the hand, the hair, a garment, etc. The context alone decides whether this taking held is friendly or hostile (for the former sense, see Matthew 14:31 ; Mark 8:23 ; Luke 9:47 ; Luke 14:4 ; Acts 9:27 ; Acts 23:19 , etc.; for the latter, Luke 23:26 ; Acts 16:19 ; Acts 18:17 ; Acts 21:30, 33 ). Here the sense is well expressed by Grotius (quoted by Meyer): "Taking him gently by the hand." The Areopagas . Mars' Hill, close to the Agora ("the market") on the north, was so called from the legend that Mars was tried there before the gods for the murder of a son of Neptune. It is (says Lewin) a bare, rugged rock, approached at the south-eastern corner by steps, of which sixteen still remain perfect. Its area at the top measures sixty paces by twenty-four, within which a quadrangle, sixteen paces square, is excavated and leveled for the court. The judges seem to have sat on benches tier above tier on the rising rock on the north side of the quadrangle. There were also seats on the east and west sides, and on the south on either side of the stairs. The Areopagus (the upper court) was the most august of all the courts at Athens. Socrates was tried and condemned before it for impiety.

19 . And they took him ] Better, took hold of him . (As R. V. ) But there is no need to suppose that any violence was used or intended. The same verb is used often of taking by the hand to aid or protect (so Mark 8:23 ; Acts 23:19 ), and is the word by which the action of Barnabas is described ( Acts 9:27 ) when “he took Paul and brought him to the apostles.” Moreover the whole context shews that the action of the crowd was in no sense that of an arrest, for we read ( Acts 17:33 ) when his speech was done “Paul departed from among them,” evidently having been under no kind of restraint. and brought him unto Areopagus ] More clearly expressed if we read “ the Areopagus .” This place, the name of which is translated “Mars’ hill” below in the text and here in the margin of the A.V., was an eminence to the west of the Acropolis at Athens. It was famous in classic literature as the meeting-place of the Athenian council of Areopagus which took its name from the place where it met. To this hill of Mars (Ares) the philosophers led St Paul, probably at a time when it was unoccupied (though some suppose that the court was sitting), that they might the better hear him away from the bustle of the market-place, and that he might more conveniently address a larger audience. May we know ] The verb here rendered “may” = literally “are we able.” But there is no doubt that its force is well given by the A.V.

For the literal force “to be able” often merged itself in that of “to wish” or “to be willing.” Cp. Luke 11:7 , where the verb is translated “I cannot (= I am not able to) rise and give thee,” but the sense is “ I don’t wish to rise,” for after importunity he does arise and do all that is asked. The Stoics and Epicureans were not likely to doubt their own ability to understand all that St Paul might say to them. what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is ] Better (with R. V. ), “ what this new doctrine is which is spoken by thee .” The sense conveyed by the verb ( λαλεῖν ) is often in N. T. that of announcing or publishing , and the word is not unfrequently used of messages spoken by God or by his prophets (cp. Luke 1:45 ; Luke 1:55 ; Luke 1:70 ; Luke 24:25 ; Acts 3:21 ; Acts 3:24 ; James 5:10 ). The Apostle was not speaking to the Athenians about the doctrine, his words were the doctrine.

Acts 17:19-20 . Ἐπιγαβόμενοι ] Grotius aptly says: “manu leniter prehensum.” Comp. Acts 9:27 , Acts 23:19 . Adroitly confiding politeness. Acts 17:21 proves that a violent seizure and carrying away to judicial examination is not indicated, as Adami (see in Wolf) and others imagined, but that the object in view was simply to satisfy the curiosity of the people flocking to the Areopagus. And this is evinced by the whole proceedings, which show no trace of a judicial process, ending as they did partly with ridicule and partly with polite dismissal ( Acts 17:31 ), after which Paul departed unhindered. Besides, the Athenians were very indulgent to the introduction of foreign, particularly Oriental, worships (Strabo, x. p. 474; Philostr. Vit. Apollon . vi. 7; Hermann, gottesd. Alterth . § 12), provided only there was not conjoined with it rejection of the native gods, such as Socrates was formerly accused of. To this the assertion of Josephus, c. Revelation 2 , is to be limited: νόμῳ δʼ ἦν τοῦτο παρʼ αὐτοῖς κεκωλυμένον καὶ τιμωρία κατὰ τῶν ξένον εἰσαγόντων Θεὸν ὥριστο θάνατος ,—which, perhaps, is merely a generalization from the history of Socrates. And certainly Paul, as the wisdom of his speech ( Acts 17:22 ff.) attests, prudently withheld a direct condemnatory judgment of the Athenian gods.