Lesson 17: Turning The World Upside Down (Acts 17)

Hundreds of years before Jesus lived on the earth, the Lord foretold that His Kingdom was going to be established (see Psalm 2; Isaiah 2.1-4; etc.) However, there have always been numerous kingdoms on the earth at any time, so what’s one more? But the Lord declared to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar that when His Kingdom was established, all others would crumble! “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,” (Daniel 2:44, ESV)

So far in our study of Acts we have seen the Kingdom expand as men and women heard the gospel message of Christ, placed their faith in Him and obeyed His commandments. However, there was always going to be resistance to the Kingdom (see Psalm 2.1-3). Acts 17 records how the Lord’s Kingdom was opposed by three forces: civil authorities (vss. 8-9), religious error (vss. 5,13) and worldly philosophy (vs. 32). However, no force could stop the Kingdom from turning the world upside down (vs. 6)!

Notes From The Text

Vss. 1-9, Thessalonica

• Vs. 1
  • Amphipolis was 30 miles away from Philippi, Apollonia another 35 miles away, Thessalonica another 37 miles away.
  • Thessalonica: “Chief city of Macedonia and the seat of Roman administration in the century before Christ. In addition to having a magnificent harbor, Thessalonica had the good fortune of being located on the overland route from Italy to the East. This famous highway, called the Egnatian Way, ran directly through the city.” (Tyndale Bible Dictionary)
• Vs. 2, note that preaching the gospel involves reasoning. Yes, the Lord opens the heart (16.14) but this does not eliminate the need for man to understand the truth of the gospel.
• Vs. 3, “That Messiah would suffer was a side of the Messianic prophecies that the Jews missed or ignored. They saw only the verses that spoke of Messiah being a glorious king like David or Solomon, and could not harmonize with this idea the verses that spoke of a suffering servant. Verses about the suffering of Messiah were a stumbling block to the Jews.” (Garreth Reese)
• Vs. 4, the aim of “reasoning” (vs. 2) is to “persuade”.
• Vs. 5, because of persecution Paul and his companions could stay in Thessalonica for only a short time. Paul would soon write to the saints of the city and would speak of how they endured persecution (see 1Thess. 1.5-10; 2.13-16).
• Vs. 7, the proclamation of Jesus as king was a direct challenge to Caesar. The lordship of Jesus was a prominent part of Jesus’ teaching (see 1Thessalonians 4.14; 5.2,23; 2Thessalonians 1.7-8; 2.1-12).
• Vs. 9, according to Roman practice, Jason would be bound to make sure Paul departed the city and not return. It’s impossible to know exactly how long Paul stayed in Thessalonica, but it was long enough to receive financial assistance from the saints at Philippi on two occasions (see Philippians 4.15-16).

Vss. 10-15, Berea

• Vs. 10, Berea was ~40 miles southwest of Thessalonica, but was about 30 miles off of the main highway. Cicero referred to Berea as an “out of the way town”.
• Vs. 11, Berea was an insignificant town compared to Thessalonica, but the Jews of this city proved themselves to be of more noble character. Wayne Jackson lists 6 notable characteristics of the Bereans:
  • They were honest in that they “received the word with all eagerness”
  • They had confidence in the integrity of the Old Testament scriptures as an inspired revelation from God.
  • They were scholarly in that they “examined the Scriptures”.
  • They were diligent because they examined the Scriptures “daily.
  • They were discriminating; they wanted to know if the preaching was “so,” obviously recognizing that not all teaching is.
  • These students were independent; they based their convictions upon deductions drawn from their own study, rather than swallowing the dogmatic decisions of an august body of clerics.
• Vs. 14, from Berea to Athens was a trip of 250 miles by land, but was only a 3 day journey by sea.

Vss. 16-34, Athens

• Vs. 16, the city of Athens had declined in significantly in political power from its heyday, but remained a center of culture and influence. It is estimated that the city of Athens may have had a population of only 10,000 inhabitants, but according to Pliny was home to over 30,000 idols.
• Vs. 18
  • Epicurean: founded by Epicurus (342-270 BC). Major tenets were 1) pleasure is the highest attainment in life, 2) the word was created from eternal atoms, 3) the soul is not eternal, 4) there is no future judgment with rewards and retribution and 5) the gods exist, but are not interested in human affairs.
  • Stoic: founded by Zenos (? – 264 BC). Major tenets were 1) the world was created by Zeus, but governed by the Fates, 2) self-denial is man’s highest purpose and 3) the soul is not eternal.
  • “babbler”, literally “picker of seeds”. “Stoics and Epicureans alike, much as they might differ from each other, agreed at least on this: that the new-fangled message brought by this Jew of Tarsus was not one that could appeal to reasonable people. They looked on him as a retailer of secondhand scraps of philosophy, ‘a picker-up of learning’s crumbs’.” (FF Bruce)
• Vs. 19, Areopagus (Hill of Mars) was the seat of the ancient Athenian court that discussed and decided questions of religion. Those who ruled on such matters were called Areopagites (see vs. 34).
• Vs. 22, “very religious” literally translates to “fear the gods”
• Vs. 23, “Pausanias, a Greek geographer who visited Athens in the 2nd century A.D., saw such altars. He wrote: ‘The Temple of Athene Skiras is also here, and one of Zeus further off, and altars of the Unknown gods’… The apostle is not suggesting that they legitimately reverenced the true God, and that the Creator honored their piety. One cannot genuinely worship in ignorance. Worship must be according to the truth (Jn. 4:24), and will-worship is void (Col. 2:23). Rather, he is simply suggesting this: ‘As a safety measure, you direct worship toward a god who is unknown to you. Well, there is, in fact, a God whom you do not know; I want to tell you about Him.” (Wayne Jackson)
• Vss. 24-25
  • Remember, Epicureans viewed the world as created by atoms, the Stoics by Zeus.
  • He is Lord of heaven and earth, showing His activity. Remember, the Epicureans held that the gods were unconcerned with man and the world; the Stoics held that everything was controlled by the Fates.
  • God cannot be contained in houses made by human hands (cf. 2Chron. 2:6) nor does He need us to serve Him. “In paganism, the images of the gods were clothed in splendid garments, and offered food. The true Lord needs no such therapy! He is the Sustainer, not the sustained.” (WJ, 214)
• Vs. 26, see Deuteronomy 32.8; Job 12.23; Daniel 2.21; 4.17.
• Vs. 27, remember that Epicureans taught that pleasure was the highest good and Stoics taught that self-denial was the highest good. The highest good is neither, rather the highest good is to seek after God!
• Vss. 28-29, Paul quotes from Epimenides, Aratus and Cleanthes. And if we are God’s offspring, how could we possibly think of God in terms of gold, silver or stone?
• Vs. 30, God overlooking man’s ignorance does not mean that they were guiltless (see Romans 1.21-32). Rather, God had not brought divine retribution on them (cf. Acts 14.16). Repentance is required of all (see Luke 13.1-3).
• Vs. 31, repentance is necessary because judgment has been fixed! And Christ’s resurrection is the proof that this judgment will occur!
• Vs. 32, the Greeks believed that Apollo once proclaimed, “Once a man dies and the earth drinks up his blood, there is no resurrection.” That was the general sentiment among the Greeks. Even those who believed in the immortality of the soul scoffed at the idea of the body having any future after death.