Acts 17:33

Act 17:33-34. So Paul departed from among them — Leaving his hearers divided in their judgment, and the generality of them in that deplorable state of ignorance, folly, and superstition, in which he found them; being himself astonished, no doubt, that men who professed wisdom were so little able to discern truth. Howbeit, certain men clave unto him — And inquired further into the evidence of that extraordinary doctrine which he taught concerning Jesus and his resurrection; the consequence of which was, that they believed the gospel, and made a public and courageous confession of it. Among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite — One of the judges of that court; and a woman named Damaris — One of considerable rank and character in the city; and others with them — Whose names it is not necessary here to mention. These, it seems, were the only persons Paul met with in this famous mart of learning, capable of seeing and acknowledging the absurdity of the prevailing idolatry! It is not said that Paul wrought any miracles at Athens; and the little success with which he preached, gives reason to suppose that he wrought none. Doubtless, this was by divine appointment, and probably to try what reception the gospel would meet with from learned and inquisitive men, when offered to them merely on the footing of its own reasonableness. The truth is, if such an experiment was anywhere to be made, in order to confute those in after times who should affirm that the general reception of the gospel, in the first stage, was owing not to miracles, but to the absurdities of heathenism, and to the reasonableness of the gospel doctrine, Athens surely was the place where the trial could be made with most advantage, and Paul’s oration in the Areopagus was the discourse which should have convinced reasonable men. Nevertheless, at Athens, where the human faculties were carried to the greatest perfection, the apostle was not able to convince his hearers of the folly of idolatry, nor of the reasonableness of worshipping and serving the one living and true God, by purity of mind and goodness of life!

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 17:33. Οὕτως, so) the obedience of the hearers being doubtful [ancipiti auditorum obsequio]: having performed no miracle.—ἐξῆλθεν, went forth) He did not obtrude himself on them.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_17:33-34. Οὕτως] i.e. with such a result.

κολληθέντες αὐτῷ] having more closely attached themselves to him. Comp. Act_5:13, Act_9:26.

ὁ Ἀρεοπαγ.] the assessor of the court of Areopagus. This is to be considered as the well-known distinctive designation (hence the article) of this Dionysius in the apostolic church. Nothing further is known with certainty of him. The account of Dionysius of Corinth in Eus. H. E. iii. 4, iv. 23, comp. Constitt. ap. vii. 46. 2, that he became bishop of Athens, where he is said to have suffered martyrdom (Niceph. iii. 11), is unsupported. The writings called after him (περὶ τῆς οὐρανίας ἱεραρχίας κ.τ.λ.), belonging to the later Neoplatonism, have been shown to be spurious. According to Baur, it was only from the ecclesiastical tradition that the Areopagite came into the Book of Acts, and so brought with him the fiction of the whole scene on the Areopagus.

Δάμαρις] wholly unknown, erroneously held by Chrysostom to be the wife of Dionysius (which is just what Luke does not express by the mere γυνή). Grotius conjectures Δάμαλις (juvenca), which name was usual among the Greeks. But even with the well-known interchange of λ and ρ (Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 179), we must assent to the judgment of Calovius: Quis nescit nomina varia esse, ac plurima inter se vicina non tamen eadem. As a mans name we find Δαμαρίων in Boeckh, Inscr. 2393, and Δαμάρης, 1241, also Δαμάρετος in Pausan. v. 5. 1; and as a womans name, Δαμαρέτη, in Diod. xi. 26.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 17:33 . οὕτως : may mean, with this scanty result, or simply, after these events, in this state of the popular mind, with an expectation of being heard again (Alford); “ancipiti auditorum obsequio; nullo edito miraculo”: Bengel. ἐκ μέσου αὐτῶν : at the opening Paul stood ἐν μέσῳ Act 17:22 , τοῦ Ἀ . π .: “the two expressions correspond to and explain each other, … he that ‘went forth from the midst of them’ must have been standing ‘in the midst of them’ ”; cf. Ramsay, Expositor , September, 1895, and for the bearing of the words see above on Act 17:22 . For similar phrase with μέσου as frequent in St. Luke’s writings, Friedrich, p. 22. Ramsay thinks that some danger is indicated, but nothing is said of this; the words apparently refer to no trial, although, perhaps, to some kind of preliminary inquiry, see above, Act 17:22 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So Paul departed--Whether he would have opened, to any extent, the Gospel scheme in this address, if he had not been interrupted, or whether he reserved this for exposition afterwards to earnest inquirers, we cannot tell. Only the speech is not to be judged of as quite complete.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 33. So Paul departed from among them.] He could not be convicted of having done any thing contrary to the law; and, when the assembly broke up, he was permitted to go about his own business.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

So Paul departed from among them. As it was high time, when they fell to deriding and scoffing at him; for hereby they judged themselves unworthy of the Gospel ministry: the Ethiopic version adds, "from Athens"; but it does not appear that the apostle went directly out of the city; we read afterwards of his departing from Athens, Act 18:1 but the sense is, that he went out of the Areopagus, from that court of judicature; and from among the judges of it, and the philosophers of every sect, that stood around him in it; they having no more to say to him, nor he to them. And this shows, that he was not brought to be tried and judged, in order to be punished, but only to be heard concerning his doctrine; of which, when they had heard enough, he departed quietly, no one molesting him, unless with scoffs and jeers.

Acts 17:34

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

33 So Paul departed from among them.

Ver. 33. So Paul departed] They said they would hear him again at better leisure εις αυριον τα σπουδαια, as that trifler said), but they never had another opportunity: procrastinators seldom speed better; it fareth with them as Plutarch writes of Hannibal, that when he could have taken Rome he would not, when he would he could not. See Jer 14:19.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So Paul departed - Seeing there was little hope of saving them. It was not his custom to labor long in a barren field, or to preach where there was no prospect of success.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Leaving what he had said to God’s blessing and their consideration.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thus for so, A.V. and T.R.; went out for departed, A.V. The meaning is that he left the assembly in the Areopagus. At ver. 22 we were told that he stood ejn mesw tou jAreiou pagou (where see note); now he went out ejk mesou aujtwn, leaving them still sitting on their benches, while he walked down the steps to the city again from the place where he stood.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So Paul departed - Leaving his hearers divided in their judgment.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

See notes on verse 32

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

33. καὶ before οὕτως omitted with אAB. Vulg. has only ‘sic.’

33. ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ μέσου αὐτῶν, he departed from among them. Clearly being free to go when he pleased, though it may surprise us that he did not remain longer with those who had promised him another hearing. On this Chrysostom says: τί δή ποτε πείσαντος οὕτως αὐτοῦ ὡς καὶ εἰπεῖν Ἀθηναίους, ἀκουσόμεθά σου πάλιν περὶ τούτου, καὶ κινδύνων οὐκ ὄντων ἐπείγεται τὰς Ἀθήνας ἀφεῖναι ὁ Παῦλος; ἴσως ᾔδει οὐ μέγα ὠνήσων, ἄλλως τε καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος εἰς Κόρινθον ἤγετο. And presently afterwards he adds: οἱ γὰρ Ἀθηναῖοι καίτοι ξένης ὄντες ἀκροάσεως ἐρασταὶ ὅμες οὐ προσεῖχον. οὐ γὰρ τοῦτο ἐσπούδαζον ἀλλ’ ὥστε ἀεί τι ἔχειν εἰπεῖν.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. οὕτως] ‘In this state of the popular mind:’ (with an expectation of being heard again?) [The “so” of the E. V. does not give this forcibly enough, but looks like a mere particle of transition.]

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.