Paul preaches to the Thessalonians and Bereans. His discourse to the Athenians.
Hovv in other parts of Macedonia he planted the Church, and namely at Thessalonica, 5 vvhere the obstinate Ievves are so malicious, that they pursue him also into Ber•a 14 From vvhence being conducted into Greece, he preacheth at Athens both to the Ievves and Gentiles, disputing vvith the Philosophers, 19 and in Areopagods, persuading them from their Idols vnto one God and IESVS CHRIST raised from the dead.
1And when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.Passando per Amfipoli, e per Apollonia, arrivarono a Tessalonica, dove era la Sinagoga de' Giudei.AND vvhen they had vvalked through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, vvhere there vvas a synagogue of the Ievves.Cum autem perambulassent Amphipolim et Apolloniam, venerunt Thessalonicam, ubi erat synagoga Judæorum. 2And Paul, according to his custom, went in unto them. And for three sabbath days he reasoned with them out of the scriptures:E Paolo secondo il suo solito andò da loro, e per tre sabati disputò con essi sopra le scritture,And Paul according to his custome entred in vnto them, & there Sabboths he discoursed to them out of the Scriptures,Secundum consuetudinem autem Paulus introivit ad eos, et per sabbata tria disserebat eis de Scripturis, 3Declaring and insinuating that the Christ was to suffer and to rise again from the dead; and that this is Jesus Christ, whom I preach to you.Facendo aperto, e dimostrando, come il Cristo dovea patire, e risuscitare da morte: e come questo è Gesù Cristo, cui (diceva) io annunzio a voi.declaring and insinuating that it behoued CHRIST to suffer and to rise againe from the dead: and that this is IESVS CHRIST, vvhom I preach to you.adaperiens et insinuans quia Christum oportuit pati, et resurgere a mortuis: et quia hic est Jesus Christus, quem ego annuntio vobis. 4And some of them believed and were associated to Paul and Silas: and of those that served God and of the Gentiles a great multitude: and of noble women not a few.E alcuni di essi credettero, e si unirono con Paolo, e Sila, come pure una gran moltitudine di proseliti, e di Gentili, e non poche matrone primarie.And certaine of them beleeued, and vvere ioyned to Paul and Silas, and of the Gentiles that serued God a great multitude, and noble vvomen not a fevv.Et quidam ex eis crediderunt et adjuncti sunt Paulo et Silæ: et de colentibus gentilibusque multitudo magna, et mulieres nobiles non paucæ. 5But the Jews, moved with envy and taking unto them some wicked men of the vulgar sort and making a tumult, set the city in an uproar: and besetting Jason’s house, sought to bring them out unto the people.Ma i Giudei, mossi da zelo, prendendo seco alcuni cattivi uomini del volgo, e fatta gente, misero la città in tumulto: e attorniata la casa di Giasone cercavano di tirarli davanti al popolo.But the Ievves enuying, & taking vnto them of the rascal sort certaine naughtie men, and making a tumult, stirred the citie: and besetting Iasons house, sought to bring them forth vnto the people.Zelantes autem Judæi, assumentesque de vulgo viros quosdam malos, et turba facta, concitaverunt civitatem: et assistentes domui Jasonis quærebant eos producere in populum.
6And not finding them, they drew Jason and certain brethren to the rulers of the city, crying: They that set the city in an uproar are come hither also:E non avendoli trovali, strascinaron Giasone, e alcuni fratelli ai capi della città, gridando: Que' che mettono sottosopra la terra, sono venuti anche qua,And not finding them, they drevv Iason and certaine brethren to the princes of the citie, crying, That these are they that stirre vp the vvorld, and are come hither,Et cum non invenissent eos, trahebant Jasonem et quosdam fratres ad principes civitatis, clamantes: Quoniam hi qui urbem concitant, et huc venerunt, 7Whom Jason hath received. And these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.A' quali ha dato, ricetto Giasone. E tutti costoro fanno contro gli editti di Cesare, dicendo esservi un altro Re, Gesù.vvhom Iason hath receiued, and al these doe against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is an other king, IESVS.quos suscepit Jason, et hi omnes contra decreta Cæsaris faciunt, regem alium dicentes esse, Jesum. 8And they stirred up the people: and the rulers of the city, hearing these things,E commosser la moltitudine, e i magistrati, che udivano tali cose.And they moued the people, and the princes of the citie hearing these things.Concitaverunt autem plebem et principes civitatis audientes hæc. 9And having taken satisfaction of Jason and of the rest, they let them go.Ma fatto dare mallevadore a Giasone, e agli altri gli rimandarono.And taking a satisfaction of Iason and of the rest, they dimissed them.Et accepta satisfactione a Jasone et a ceteris, dimiserunt eos. 10But the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea. Who, when they were come thither, went into the synagogue of the Jews.I fratelli però immediatamente la notte avviarono Paolo, e Sila a Berea. I quali subito arrivati andarono alla sinagoga de' Giudei.But the brethren forthvvith by night sent avvay Paul and Silas vnto Beroea. Vvho vvhen they vvere come, entred into the synagogue of the Ievves.Fratres vero confestim per noctem dimiserunt Paulum et Silam in Berœam. Qui cum venissent, in synagogam Judæorum introierunt. 11Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, who received the word with all eagerness, daily searching the scriptures, whether these things were so.Questi erano più generosi di quelli, che erano in Tessalonica, e ricevettero la parola con tutta avidità, esaminando ogni dì nelle scritture, se le cose stesser così.(And these were more noble then they that are at Thessalonica, vvho receiued the vvord vvith al greedines, daily searching the scriptures, if these things vvere so.Hi autem erant nobiliores eorum qui sunt Thessalonicæ, qui susceperunt verbum cum omni aviditate, quotidie scrutantes Scripturas, si hæc ita se haberent.
12And many indeed of them believed: and of honourable women that were Gentiles and of men, not a few.E molti di loro credettero, e delle nobili donne Gentili, e degli uomini non pochi.And many surely of them beleeued, and of honest vvomen Gentiles, and men not a fevv.)Et multi quidem crediderunt ex eis, et mulierum gentilium honestarum, et viri non pauci. 13And when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was also preached by Paul at Berea, they came thither also, stirring up and troubling the multitude.Ma come ebber inteso i Giudei in Tessalonica, che anche in Berea era stata predicata da Paolo la parola di Dio, vi si portarono a incitare, e muovere a tumulto la moltitudine.And vvhen the Ievves in Thessalonica vnderstood, that at Beroea also the vvord of God vvas preached by Paul, they came thither also, mouing and troubling the multitude,Cum autem cognovissent in Thessalonica Judæi quia et Berœæ prædicatum est a Paulo verbum Dei, venerunt et illuc commoventes, et turbantes multitudinem. 14And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul, to go unto the sea: but Silas and Timothy remained there.E subito allora i fratelli mandaron via Paolo, perché andasse fino al mare: e si restaron ivi Sila, e Timoteo.And then immediatly the brethren sent avvay Paul, to goe vnto the sea: but Silas and Timothee remained there.Statimque tunc Paulum dimiserunt fratres, ut iret usque ad mare: Silas autem et Timotheus remanserunt ibi. 15And they that conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens: and receiving a commandment from him to Silas and Timothy, that they should come to him with all speed, they departed.Quelli poi, che accompagnavano Paolo, lo condusser fino ad Atene, e avuto ordine da lui per Sila, e Timoteo che speditamente andasser a lui, si partirono.And they that conducted Paul, brought him as farre as Athens, and receiuing commaundement of him to Silas and Timothee, that they should come to him very speedily, they departed.Qui autem deducebant Paulum, perduxerunt eum usque Athenas, et accepto mandato ab eo ad Silam et Timotheum ut quam celeriter venirent ad illum, profecti sunt. 16Now whilst Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, seeing the city wholly given to idolatry.E mentre Paolo gli attendeva in Atene, si affliggeva in lui il suo spirito, veggendo quella città abbandonata all'idolatria.And vvhen Paul expected them at Athens, his spirit vvas incensed vvithin him, seeing the citie giuen to Idolatrie.Paulus autem cum Athenis eos exspectaret, incitabatur spiritus ejus in ipso, videns idololatriæ deditam civitatem.
17He disputed, therefore, in the synagogue with the Jews and with them that served God: and in the market place, every day, with them that were there.Disputava egli pertanto nella Sinagoga con i Giudei, e co' proseliti, e nel foro ogni giorno con chi vi si incontrava.He disputed therfore in the synagogue vvith the Ievves, & them that serued God, and in the market-place, euery day vvith them that vvere there.Disputabat igitur in synagoga cum Judæis et colentibus, et in foro, per omnes dies ad eos qui aderant. 18And certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics disputed with him. And some said: What is it that this word sower would say? But others: He seemeth to be a setter forth of new gods. Because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.E alcuni filosofi Epicurei, e Stoici lo attaccavano, e alcuni dicevano: Che vuoi egli dire questo chiacchierone? Altri poi: È pare, che sia annunziatore di nuovi dei: perché annunziava loro Gesù, e la risurrezione.And certaine Philosophers of the Epicures and the Sto•kes disputed vvith him, and certaine said, Vvhat is it that this vvord-sovver vvould say? But others, He seemeth to be a preacher of nevv gods. because he preached to them IESVS and the resurrection.Quidam autem epicurei et stoici philosophi disserebant cum eo, et quidam dicebant: Quid vult seminiverbius hic dicere ? Alii vero: Novorum dæmoniorum videtur annuntiator esse: quia Jesum et resurrectionem annuntiabat eis. 19And taking him, they brought him to the Areopagus, saying: May we know what this new doctrine is, which thou speakest of?E presolo lo condussero all'Areopago dicendo: Possiam noi sapere quel, che siasi questa nuova dottrina, di cui tu parli?And apprehēding him, they led him to Areopagus, saying, May vve knovv vvhat this new doctrine is that thou speakest of?Et apprehensum eum ad Areopagum duxerunt, dicentes: Possumus scire quæ est hæc nova, quæ a te dicitur, doctrina ? 20For thou bringest in certain new things to our ears. We would know therefore what these things mean.Imperocché tu ci suoni alle orecchi; certe nuove cose: vorremmo adunque sapere quel, che ciò abbia da essere.for thou bringest in certaine nevv things to our eares. Vve vvil knovv therfore vvhat these things may meane. (nova enim quædam infers auribus nostris: volumus ergo scire quidnam velint hæc esse. 21(Now all the Athenians and strangers that were there employed themselves in nothing else, but either in telling or in hearing some new thing.)(Or gli Ateniesi tutti, e i forestieri ospiti a niun altra cosa badavano, che a dire, o ascoltare qualche cosa di nuovo.)And al the Athenians, and the strangers seiourning there, emploied them selues to nothing els but either to speake, or to heare some nevves.)(Athenienses autem omnes, et advenæ hospites, ad nihil aliud vacabant nisi aut dicere aut audire aliquid novi.) 22But Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious.E Paolo stando in piedi in mezza dell'Areopago, disse: Uomini Ateniesi, io vi veggo in tutte le cose quasi più che religiosi,But Paul standing in the middes of Areopagus, said: Ye men of Athens, in al things I perceiue you as it vvere superstitious.Stans autem Paulus in medio Areopagi, ait: Viri Athenienses, per omnia quasi superstitiosiores vos video.
23For passing by and seeing your idols, I found an altar also, on which was written: To the Unknown God. What therefore you worship without knowing it, that I preach to you:Imperocché passando io, e considerando i vostri simulacri, ho trovato anche un'ara, sopra la quale era scritto: Al Dio ignoto. Quello adunque, cui voi adorate senza conoscerlo, io annunzio a voi.For passing by and seeing your Idols, I found an altar also vvherevpon vvas vvritten, To the vnknovven God. That therfore vvhich you vvorshippe, not knovving it, the same do I preach to you.Præteriens enim, et videns simulacra vestra, inveni et aram in qua scriptum erat: Ignoto Deo. Quod ergo ignorantes colitis, hoc ego annuntio vobis. 24God, who made the world and all things therein, he being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.Dio, il quale fece il mondo, e le cose tutte, che in esso sono, essendo egli il Signore del cielo, e della terra, non abita in templi manofatti,The God that made the vvorld and al things that are in it, he being Lord of heauen & earth, dvvelleth not in temples made vvith hand,Deus, qui fecit mundum, et omnia quæ in eo sunt, hic cæli et terræ cum sit Dominus, non in manufactis templis habitat, 25Neither is he served with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing: seeing it is he who giveth to all life and breath and all things:Né è servito per le mani degli uomini, quasi di alcuna cosa abbisogni egli, che da a tutti la vita, il respiro, e tutte le cose.neither is he serued vvith mens hands, needing any thing, vvhereas him self giueth life vnto al, and breathing, and al things:nec manibus humanis colitur indigens aliquo, cum ipse det omnibus vitam, et inspirationem, et omnia: 26And hath made of one, all mankind, to dwell upon the whole face of the earth, determining appointed times and the limits of their habitation.E fece da un solo la progenie tutta degli uomini, che abitasse tutta quanta, la estensione della terra, fissati avendone i determinati tempi, e i confini della loro abitazione,and he made of one al mākinde, to inhabite vpon the vvhole face of the earth, assigning set times, and the limits of their habitation,fecitque ex uno omne genus hominum inhabitare super universam faciem terræ, definiens statuta tempora, et terminos habitationis eorum, 27That they should seek God, if haply they may feel after him or find him, although he be not far from every one of us.Perché cercassero Dio, se a sorte tasteggiando lo rinvenissero, quantunque ei non sia lungi da ciascheduno di noi.for to seeke God, if happily they may feele or finde him, although he be not farre from euery one of vs.quærere Deum si forte attrectent eum, aut inveniant, quamvis non longe sit ab unoquoque nostrum.
28For in him we live and move and are: as some also of your own poets said: For we are also his offspring.Imperocché in lui viviamo, e ci muoviamo, e siamo: come anche taluni, de' vostri poeti han detto: imperocché di lui eziandio siamo progenie.For in him vve liue and moue and be, as certaine also of your ovvne poëtes said, For of his kinde also vve are.In ipso enim vivimus, et movemur, et sumus: sicut et quidam vestrorum poëtarum dixerunt: Ipsius enim et genus sumus. 29Being therefore the offspring of God, we must not suppose the divinity to be like unto gold or silver or stone, the graving of art and device of man.Essendo adunque noi progenie di Dio, non dobbiamo stimare, che l'esser divino sia simile all'oro, o all'argento, o alla pietra scolpita dall'arte, e dall'invenzione dell'uomo.Being therfore of Gods kinde, vve may not suppose, the Diuinitie to be like vnto gold or siluer, or stone, the grauing of art and deuise of man.Genus ergo cum simus Dei, non debemus æstimare auro, aut argento, aut lapidi, sculpturæ artis, et cogitationis hominis, divinum esse simile. 30And God indeed having winked at the times of this ignorance, now declareth unto men that all should every where do penance.Ma sopra i tempi di una tal ignoranza avendo Dio chiusi gli occhi, intima adesso agli uomini, che tutti in ogni luogo facciano penitenza.And the times truely of this ignorance vvhereas God dispised, novv he denounceth vnto men that al euery vvhere doe penance,Et tempora quidem hujus ignorantiæ despiciens Deus, nunc annuntiat hominibus ut omnes ubique pœnitentiam agant, 31Because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in equity, by the man whom he hath appointed: giving faith to all, by raising him up from the dead.Conciossiachè ha fissato un giorno, in cui giudicherà con giustizia il mondo per mezzo di un uomo stabilito da lui, come ne ha fatto fede a tutti con risuscitarlo da morte.for that he hath appointed a day wherein he vvil iudge the world in equitie, by a man vvhom he hath appointed, giuing al men faith, raysing him vp from the dead.eo quod statuit diem in quo judicaturus est orbem in æquitate, in viro in quo statuit, fidem præbens omnibus, suscitans eum a mortuis. 32And when they had heard of the resurrection of the dead, some indeed mocked. But others said: We will hear thee again concerning this matter.Sentita nominare la resurrezione de' morti, alcuni ne fecer beffe, altri poi dissero: Ti ascolteremo sopra di ciò un'altra volta.And vvhen they had heard the resurrection of the dead, certaine in deede mocked, but certaine said, Vve vvil heare thee againe concerning this point.Cum audissent autem resurrectionem mortuorum, quidam quidem irridebant, quidam vero dixerunt: Audiemus te de hoc iterum.
33So Paul went out from among them.Così Paolo si parti da loro.So Paul vvent forth out of the middes of them.Sic Paulus exivit de medio eorum. 34But certain men, adhering to him, did believe: among whom was also Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.Alcuni però insinuatisi con lui credettero: tra' quali e Dionigi Areopagita, e una donna per nome Damaride, e altri con questi.But certaine men ioyning vnto him, did beleeue: among vvhom vvas also Dionysius Areopagîta, and a vvoman named Dámaris, and others vvith them.Quidam vero viri adhærentes ei, crediderunt: in quibus et Dionysius Areopagita, et mulier nomine Damaris, et alii cum eis.
17:1
about the year A.D. 51.
17:2
Mat. Polus
It was customary with St. Paul to open the Scriptures first to the Jews, (Acts 13:46.) and to argue with them from the law and the prophets. (Acts 28:23.) St. Paul made use of the same passages of Scripture to convince the Jews, as Jesus Christ did on a similar occasion. (Mat. Polus.)
17:3
Denis the Carthusian
That the Christ was to suffer. The suffering of Christ was the great stumbling-block to the Jews, which St. Paul now attempted to remove, by shewing them from the Scripture, that this was one of the necessary characters of the Messias, contained in the prophets. All the other marks were likewise accomplished in Christ. (Denis the Carthusian)
And that this is Jesus Christ, whom I preach to you. the transition form an oblique to a direct mode of speech is very common, especially in the holy Scriptures.
17:4
Witham
And some of them, that is, of the Jews, in whose synagogue he preached, believed, and of those that[Ver. 4. De colentibus Gentilibusque. In the common Greek copies, there is no and, but only of the worshipping Gentiles, ton de sebomenon elleuon, but in other copies, kai ellenon.] worshipped God, that is, of those who adored the only true God, though they had not submitted themselves to circumcision, and to the ceremonies of the Jewish law, and of the Gentiles, that is, of such as till that time had been heathens, and idolaters; so that here three sorts of persons were converted by St. Paul: 1. Jews; 2. worshippers of the true God that were not Jews; and 3. Gentiles. In this book of the Acts, mention is several times made of worshippers, to wit, of God, by which many understand Jewish proselytes: but as they neither were Jews already, nor perhaps ever designed to become Jews, we may distinguish two sorts of the Jewish proselytes. Some were proselytes to the Jewish religion, by a submission to circumcision, and to all the precepts and ceremonies of the Mosaic laws. These are also by some called proselytes of the covenant, being as much Jews as they who had been always so. Others are called proselytes of the gate, or proselytes to the God of the Jews, but not to the religion of the Jews. Of such seems to have been Cornelius, the centurion, (Acts x.) Lydia, (Acts 16:14.) and Titus Justus (Acts 18:7.) Such also seems to have been the eunuch of Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, (Acts viii.) Naaman, the Syrian, after he was cured of his leprosy, (4 Kings 5:17.) and many others, that lived in Judea, and in other countries. These, therefore, are called worshippers, meaning of the true God, though they embraced not the legal precepts and ceremonies of the Jews. See Monsr. Heure's Dictionary. (Witham)
17:6
Witham
Who disturb the city,[Ver. 6. Qui urbem concitant, in the common Greek copies, oikoumenen, orbem: so that this difference might happen in the Latin, by the change of one letter only of urbem, for orbem: but some Greek manuscripts have ten polin, civitatem.] put it in an uproar. In the ordinary Greek copies, for the city, we read the whole world. (Witham)
17:7
Haydock
Another king. These Jews suppress, with great artifice, their true cause of vexation against the apostles, and change a mere question of religion into one of temporal policy. The accusation of raising up a new power in opposition to Caesar's, had been sufficiently refuted and disavowed before Pilate by the author of our religion, and was therefore too gross to be repeated now. My kingdom, says our blessed Saviour, is not of this world. There is no necessary connection between spiritual and temporal power. It is thus that the abettors of persecution are never at a loss for pretexts, when necessary. Mad zeal is not scrupulously nice in the choice of arguments. (Haydock)
17:10
Denis the Carthusian
Synagogue. In flying from the face of persecution in due season, St. Paul imitated the instruction and example of his master. When his labours are unsuccessful in one place, he renews them in another, and wherever he is, his object is always the same, to announce the truth to the Jews first, then to the Gentiles. (Denis the Carthusian)
17:11
These were more noble than those of Thessalonica. According to the common exposition, the sense is, that these of Beroea, were of a more noble and generous disposition of mind, not carried away with envy and malice, like those of Thessalonica.
Witham
Searching the Scriptures, or those places of the prophets by which St. Paul proved that Jesus was the Messias, who was to suffer death, etc. (Witham)
Daily searching the Scriptures, etc. The sheep are not hereby made judges of their pastors, the people of the priests, and lay men and women of St. Paul's doctrine. The Beroeans did not read the Old Testament (and the New was not then published) to dispute with the apostles, or to sanction his doctrines: but it was a great comfort and confirmation to the Jews that had the Scriptures, to find, even as St. Paul said, that Christ was God, crucified, risen, and ascended to heaven; which by his expounding they understood, and never before, though they read them, and heard them read every sabbath. So it is a great comfort to a Catholic to see in the Scriptures the clear passages that prove the truth of his tenets, and shew the grounds for his hopes. But this by no means authorizes him to be judge of the true pastors of the Church, whom he is commanded by Jesus Christ to hear and obey, and from whom they are to learn the genuine sense of the Scriptures.
17:16
about the year A.D. 52.
Lactanius ridicules the folly of idolatry in a neat strain of irony, which he introduces by the following verses from Lucilius: Ut pueri infantes credunt signa omnia ahena Vivere et esse homines; sic isti omnia ficta Vera putant, etc.
Lactanius
The poet compares these fools to children. I think them worse; for the latter only take the statues for men, they for gods. Age causes the error of the one, folly of the other. These soon cease to be deceived, but the folly of those lasts and increases always. (Lactanius, de fals. Relig. lib. i.)
17:18
Calmet
Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. The former of these philosophers held as their doctrine, that the Almighty did not interfere by his providence in the government of the world; that the soul did not subsist after the body; and consequently, that there was no future state of retribution. The latter denied that man had liberty of action, and maintained, that all things happened by destiny and fatal necessity. These were the two opposite sects St. Paul had to contend with. (Calmet)
Estius
The Stoics believed in the immortality of the soul, and came the nearest to the Christian religion: but both Stoics and Epicureans, with all pagan philosophers, denied the resurrection of bodies; hence St. Augustine says, the faith of a resurrection is peculiar to Christians. (Estius)
Witham
What is it that this babbler[Ver. 18. Semini-verbius, o spermologos, the critics derive it from legein spermata, colligere semina.] would say? A word of contempt, which some translate, this prattler. It is thought to be a metaphor from birds picking up little seeds, or the like, for their food; and to signify, that St. Paul had picked up words and sentences without any solid meaning. (Witham)
17:19
Witham
To the Areopagus. In this place sat the Athenian judges: but some think that by this word may be here signified, some large hall or court, joining to the Areopagus, where all sorts of people met. (Witham)
Calmet
The Areopagus was the supreme and most famous tribunal of all Greece, before which all great causes were tried. The persons who composed it were much renowned for their wisdom. Cicero, and many other Romans, were ambitious of the honour of being an Areopagite; but the power of Athens being now much diminished, this court had sunk in importance, and was now not much more than the shadow of a great name. (Calmet)
17:22
Witham
Over-religious.[Ver. 22. Superstitiosiores, deisidaimonosterous, from deido, timeo, and daimon. Deisidaimonia is sometimes taken in a good sense for religio, as also superstitio in Latin. See Budaeus, and Plutarch apud Scapulam. See also Suidas.] Or very superstitious. To be superstitious, or given to superstition, is commonly taken for a vain and groundless religious worship, but it is also sometimes used in a good sense. And perhaps St. Paul, in the beginning of his speech to so many men of learning, does not so openly blame them for being vainly and foolishly superstitious, but by their inscription, to the unknown[Ver. 23. Ignoto Deo, agnosto theo. See Cornelius a Lapide.] God, he takes notice how nice and exact they pretended to be, in not omitting to pay some kind of homage to any god, or gods of all other nations, whom they might not know. For some interpreters think, that by this altar they designed to worship every god of any nation, who was not come to their knowledge: or to worship that great God hinted at in the writings of Plato: or as others conjecture, that God of the Jews, of whom they might have heard such wonders, and whose name the Jews themselves said to be unknown and ineffable. However, from this inscription St. Paul takes an occasion, with wonderful dexterity, with sublime reflections, and with that solid eloquence, of which he was master, and which he employed, as often as it was necessary, to inform them, and instruct them, concerning the works of the one true God, of whom they had little knowledge, by their own fault: that this one true God made the world, and all things in it: that from one man he raised all mankind: that his presence is not confined to temples made by the hands of men, being every where, and in all creatures, preserving them every moment: that in him we live, move, and have our being, or subsist: that it is he, who hath determined the time, limits, or bounds of every empire, and kingdom, and of every man's life: that this true God, who made, preserves, and governs all things in heaven and on earth, cannot be like to gold, silver, or any thing made by the art, or fancy of men. He puts them in mind that according even to one of their own heathen poets, Aratus, men themselves are the offspring of God, being blessed with a being and knowledge above all other creatures in this world: who by the light of reason ought to seek God, and by considering the visible effects of Providence over the world, and the creatures in it, might come to the knowledge of this one God, the author of all, at least to an imperfect knowledge of him, as men find out things by feeling, or as it were, groping in the dark. He then adds, (ver. 30.) that having, as it were, overlooked, and permitted men for many ages to run on in this ignorance and blindness, in punishment of their sins, (this their ignorance of one true God, the author of all things, being wilful and inexcusable) now the same true God hath been pleased to announce to all men, that henceforward they acknowledge, and worship him, that they repent, and do penance for their sins. (Witham)
17:23
It may be asked, why they had not implicit faith, worshipping the true, though unknown, God?[5] 1st. because the worship of the true God can never exist with the worship of idols; 2nd. because an explicit faith in God is required of all; 3rd. because it is repugnant to implicit faith, to admit any thing contrary to it, as comparing this unknown God with the pagan idols; for God to be at all, must be one. Lucan towards the end of his 2nd book, hath these words: ----------Et dedita sacris Incerti Judaea Dei.
What, therefore, you improperly worship, that I preach to you, and instruct you in the true worship, far different from what you pay to your strange gods.
17:24
God...dwelleth not in temples. He who is infinite cannot be confined to space; nor stand in need of what human hands can furnish. Temples are not for God, but for man. It is the latter who derives assistance from them. The same may be observed of all exterior acts of worship. They are serviceable, inasmuch as they proceed from, or powerfully assist, interior devotion, by the impressions which exterior objects leave upon the soul. The reciprocal action of one upon the other, in our present state of existence, is great and inevitable. (Haydock) See Acts 7:48.
God, indeed, dwelleth in the temple, yes, and in the soul of the just man, but he is not confined there, as the idols were to their temples. Hence the prayer of Solomon at the consecration of the temple: if heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thy immensity, how much less this house, which I have erected? God dwelleth there, then, to receive the prayers and sacrifices of the faithful, but not as though he needed any thing. See ver. 25.
Challoner
God is not contained in temples; so as to need them for his dwelling, or any other uses, as the heathens imagined. Yet by his omnipresence, he is both there and every where. (Challoner)
17:27
Witham
Feel after him. Si forte attrectent eum, ei arage pselapheseian. It signifies palpare quasi in tenebris. (Witham)
17:28
St. Paul here cites Aratus, a Greek poet, and his own countryman, a native of Cilicia.
17:29
Cherubim, with extended wings, were ordered by God to be made, and placed over the propitiatory; (Exodus 37:7.) the brazen serpent is declared by Jesus Christ himself to have been a figure of him; therefore to blame the universally received practice of the Catholic Church, with regard to pictures and images, betrays either great prevention, or great ignorance. St. Gregory says: "What writing does for readers, that a picture does for the ignorant; for in it they see what they ought to follow, and in it they read, who know no letters." And he sharply rebukes Serenus's indiscreet zeal for removing pictures, instead of teaching the people what use may be made of them. (lib. ix. ep. 9.)
17:30
Witham
Overlooked. Despiciens, uperidon. It may either signify looking down on the ignorant world, and so taking pity of it; or rather that God having overlooked, and permitted mankind to go on so long in their sins, now invites them to repentance, by sending Jesus, their Saviour and Redeemer. See the Analysis, dissert. xxxiv. (Witham)
17:31
Witham
Because he hath appointed a day for judging all men with equity, by the man, to wit, Christ Jesus, a man, and also his true Son, whom he has appointed to be their judge; and by raising him (Jesus) from the dead, he hath made it credible, and given sufficient proofs of this truth, that every one shall rise from death. (Witham)
17:32
Witham
When they heard of the resurrection of the dead. This seemed so impossible, even to the philosophers among them, that some of them presently laughed, and made a jest of it. Others said, we will hear thee on this another time, and some believed. (Witham)
17:34
Estius
Dionysius the Areopagite. This illustrious convert was made the first bishop of Athens. The martyrologies say, St. Paul raised him to that dignity. It is the same person, who, observing the convulsions of nature, which paid homage, as it were, to its God, expiring upon the cross, and not knowing the cause, is said to have exclaimed: Either the universe is falling to ruin, or the God of nature must be suffering. It appears from his writings, that he was, previous to his conversion, of the Platonic school. Ven. Bede was mistaken in supposing that he was afterwards the bishop of Corinth, of that name, who so successfully employed his pen for the good of the Church. This Dionysius lived a whole century after the Areopagite. (Estius)
17:6
City. Urbem.... In the Greek, the world.
17:11
More noble.... The Jews of Berea are justly commended, for their eagerly embracing the truth, and searching the scriptures, to find out the texts alleged by the apostle: which was a far more generous proceeding than that of their countrymen at Thessalonica, who persecuted the preachers of the gospel, without examining the grounds they alleged for what they taught.
17:24
Dwelleth not in temples.... God is not contained in temples; so as to need them for his dwelling, or any other uses, as the heathens imagined. Yet by his omnipresence, he is both there and everywhere.
17:5
Zelantes. This is the zeale of Heretikes, and a liuely paterne of their dealing at this day against Catholike Priests and preachers and the good Iasons that receiue them.
17:11
11. Searching the Scriptures.) The Heretikes vse this place to proue that the heaters must trie and iudge by the Scriptures, The people may not iudge of the sense of Scriptures. vvhether their teachers and preachers doctrine be true, and so reiect that that they find not in the Scriptures, as though here the sheepe vvere made iudges of their Pastors, the people of the Priests, and men and vvomen of al sortes, euen of S. Paules doctrine it self: which vvere the most folish disorder in the vvorld. And they did not therfore read the Scriptures of the old Testament (for none of the nevv vvere yet extant commonly) to dispute vvith the Apostle, or to trie and iudge of his doctrine, or vvhether they should beleeue him or no: for they vvere bound to beleeue him and obey his vvord, vvhether he alleaged Scripture or no, and vvhether they could reade or vnderstand the Scriptures or no, but it vvas a great comfort and confirmation for the Ievves that had the Scriptures, to finde euen as S. Paul said, that Christ vvas God, crucified, risen, The comfort of Christian men by hearing or reading the Scriptures. and ascended to heauen: vvhich by his preaching and expounding they vnderstood, and neuer before, though they read them, and heard them read euery Sabboth. As it is a great comfort to a Catholike man, to heare the Scriptures declared & alleaged most euidently for the Churches truth against Heretikes, in Sennons or othervvise. And it doth the Catholikes good & much confirmeth them, to vew diligently the places alleaged by the Catholike preachers. Yet they must not be iudges for al that, ouer their ovvne Pastors, vvhom Christ commaundeth them to heare and obey, and by vvhom they heare the true sense of Scriptures.
17:18
〈Greek〉
daemoniorum.
17:21
In the liturgy The Epistle for S. Dionysius Areopagita. Octob. 9.
17:22
22. Superstitious.) S. Paul calleth not them superstitious for adoring the true and only God vvith much deuotion or many ceremonies or in comely prescribed order, The Protestāts call deuotion, superstition. or for doing due reuerence to holy Sacraments, to Saincts and their memories, Images, or Monuments: or for keeping the prescribed lavves, daies, and fastes of the Church, or for fulfilling vowes made to God, or for blessing vvith the signe of the Crosse, or for capping and kneeling at the name of IESVS, or for religiously vsing creatures sanctified in the same name, or any other Christian obseruation, for vvhich our nevv Maisters cōdemne the Catholike people of Superstition: them selues vvholy voide of that vice by al vvise mens iudgement, The Apostle speaketh of the Heathens superstition. because they haue in maner taken avvay al religion, and are become Epicureians and Atheists: vvho are neuer troubled vvith superstition, because it is a vice consisting in excesse of vvorship or religion, vvhereof they are void, but the Apostle calleth them superstitious for vvorshipping the Idols and goddes of the Heathen, and 〈Greek〉 for the feare that they had, lest they should leaue out any God that vvas vnknovven to them: for thus their Altar vvas inscribed: Dijs Asia, Europa, & Lybia, Deo ignoto & peregrino. that is, To the gods of Asia, Europe, and Lybia: Aug. de cōs. Euāg. li. 1 •. 26. to the vnknovven and strange God. This superstition (saith S. Augustine) is vvholy taken avvay from the Church by Christs incarnation, The Catholike Church alloweth no superstition. and by the Apostles preaching, and by Martyrs holy life and death. Neither doth the Catholike Church allovv this or any other kinde of superstitious obseruation. Only vve must take heede that vve beleeue not her Aduersaries definition of superstition, for they vvould imply therein al true religion.
17:23
〈Greek〉
The Aduersaries (in the nevv Test. 1580) trā slate, your deuotions, most corruptly against the nature of the Greeke vvord (2 Thes. 2, 4) and most vvickedly, against the laudable deuotion of good Christians, calling the Pagās idolatrie and superstitiō, their deuotions.
17:24
God is not concluded in Temples, nor needeth them for his necessitie of dvvelling, or other vses of indigence. See Annot. c. 7. Act. v. 48.
Concordance Act. 7, 48.
17:28
Aratus.
17:29
29. This Diuinitie to be like.) Nothing can be made by mans hand of vvhat forme or sort so euer, that is like to Gods essence, or to the forme or shape of his Godhead or Diuinitie. therfore hovvsoeuer the Heathens did paint or graue their Idols, they vvere nothing like to God. And this also is impertinently alleaged by Heretikes against the Churches images: Vvhich are not made, either to be adored vvith godly honour, or to be any resemblance of the Diuinitie or any of the three persons in Godhead, but only of Christ as he vvas in forme of man, vvho in that respect may be truely expressed, as other men by their purtraites: and of the Holy Ghost, not as he is in him self, but as he appeared in firy tongues or in the similitude of a doore, How there may be Images or resemblāces of the thre persons in Trinitie, and of Angels. or such like. And so to paint or graue any of the three persons as they appeared visibly and corporally, is no more inconuenient or vnlavvful, then it vvas vndecent for them to appeare in such formes. And therfore to paint or portraite the Father also being the first person, Dan. 7, 22. as he hath shevved him self in vision to any of the Prophetes of the old or nevv Testament (namely to Daniel as an old man) or the three Angels representing the three Persons to Abraham, Gen. 18, 2. or the one Angel that vvrastling vvith Iacob bare our Lords Person, Gen. 32, 24 no such thing is any vvhere forbidden, but is very agreable to the peoples instruction. Exo. 37, 7, In vvhich sort the Angels vvere commonly pourtered (and namely the Cherubins ouer the Propitiatorie) as they be novv in the Church, not in their natural forme, but vvith corporal vvinges (as the Seraphins appeared to Esay the Prophete) to expresse their qualitie and office of being Gods Angels, Esa. 6, 2. that is, Messengers: and God the Father vvith the vvorld in his hand, to signifie his creation and gouernement of the same, and such like: Vvhereof the people being vvel instructed may take much good, Images are for the peoples instruction. and no harme in the vvorld, being novv through their faith in Christ far from al fond imagination of the false gods of the Pagans. And therfore S. Gregorie saith of the Churches Images, Grego. li. 9 ep. 9. That vvhich scripture or vvriting doth to the readers, the same doth the picture to the simple that looke therevpon. for in it euen the ignorant see vvhat they ought to folovv, in it they do read, that knovv no letters. Vvhere he calleth it a matter of antiquitie and very conuenient, that in holy places Images vvere painted to the peoples instruction, so they be taught that they may not be adored vvith diuine honour. and he in the same place sharply rebuketh Serenus the Bishop of Massilia, that of indiscrete zele he vvould take avvay Images, rather then teach the people hovv to vse them.
17:34
34. Dionysius Areopagita.) This is that famous Denys that first conuerted France, and vvrote those notable and diuine vvorkes de Ecclesiastica & ca•lesti hierarchia, de diuinis nominibus, S. Dionysius Areopagita is al for the Catholikes. and others, in vvhich he confirmeth and proueth plainely almost al things that the Church novv vseth in the ministration of the holy Sacraments, and affirmeth that he learned them of the Apostles, giuing also testimonie for the Catholike faith in most things novv controuersed, so plainely, that our Aduersaries haue no shift but to deny this Denys to haue been the author of them, •eyning that they be an others of later age. Vvhich is an old flight of Heretikes, but most proper to these of al others. Vvho seeing al antiquitie against them, are forced to be more bold or rather impudent then others in that point.
Dyonysius Areopagita.
17:2
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
(Recapitulation.) “Three sabbath-days,” it says, being the time when they had leisure from work, “he reasoned with them, opening out of the Scriptures” (
17:3
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… xiii. 46 ), he did not leave these alone: such was the longing affection he had towards them. For hear him saying, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved” ( Rom. x. 1 ): and, “I wished myself accursed from Christ for my brethren.” ( ib. ix. 3 .) But he did this
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 35.14
… Sackcloth, haply He calleth His mortal flesh. Wherefore Sackcloth? For the likeness of sinful flesh. For the Apostle saith, “God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, that through sin He might condemn sin in the flesh:” that is, He clothed His Own Son with sackcloth, that through sackcloth
17:4
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… so little were they ashamed of it, knowing it to be the cause of salvation. “And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.” (
17:5
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Persecution at Alexandria 1
… But the people having assembled in the great Church (for it was the fourth day of the week), Count Heraclius on the following day takes with him Cataphronius the Prefect of Egypt, and Faustinus the Receiver-General , and Bithynus a heretic; and together they stir up the younger men of the common multitude
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 32
This Jason Luke also mentions, and sets before us his manliness also, when he says, that “they drew” him “to the rulers of the city, crying,” etc. (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 1
… For tell me, when a thousand things are stirred up that would draw us from love, and we hold out against them all, is it not labor? For what did not these men suffer, that they might not revolt from their love? Did not they that warred against the Preaching go to Paul’s host, and not having found him, drag Jason before the rulers of the city? (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 3
… What then? Did they not slay and stone their own prophets, whose books even they carry about with them? And they did not do this for the sake of truth. There is therefore not only a consolation under the temptations, but they are reminded not to think that (the Jews) did it for the truth’s sake, and be troubled on that account. “And drave out us,”
17:6
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 33
… For indeed they allowed them neither speech nor defense with respect to their doctrines, but set about torturing them to death, as common pests of the world. For “They,” it is said, “that have turned the world upside down, are come hither also;” and again, “They preach things contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying that Jesus Christ is king.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… 5 ): so that the Gentiles were more in number. The Jews thought not themselves enough to raise the disturbance: for because they had no reasonable pretext, they ever effect such purposes by means of uproar, and by taking to themselves base men. “And when they found them not,” it says, “they haled Jason and certain brethren.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 42
… v. 28 .) So said the Jews also with regard to Christ: “Ye see how the world is going after Him” ( John xii. 19 ); and, “The Romans shall come and take away our city.” ( ch. xi. 48 ). And again on another occasion, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” (
17:7
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 82
… which thing most of all they were continually bringing forward in every way? For since they saw Pilate making no account of the matters of the law, they direct their accusation to the state charges. So likewise did they in the case of the apostles, ever bringing forward these things, and saying that they were going about proclaiming king one Jesus,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… for because they had no reasonable pretext, they ever effect such purposes by means of uproar, and by taking to themselves base men. “And when they found them not,” it says, “they haled Jason and certain brethren.” ( v. 6 .) O the tyranny! dragged them without any cause out of their houses. “These all,” say they, “do contrary to the decrees of Cæsar” (
17:8
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… 5–7 .) Oh! what an accusation! again they get up a charge of treason against them, “saying, there is another king (one) Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.” (
17:9
St Peter of Alexandria † AD 311 The Canonical Epistle, with the Commentaries of Theodore Balsamon and John Zonaras 12
… For after that they had been very burdensome to them for his name, and had troubled the people and the rulers of the city, “having taken security,” he says, “of Jason, and of the others, they let them go. And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… 7 ): for since they spoke nothing contrary to what had been decreed, nor made any commotion in the city, they bring them under a different charge: “saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people,” etc. ( v. 8 .) And what are ye afraid of, seeing He is dead? ( β ) “And when they had taken security,” etc. (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 1
… ( Acts xvii. 5, 6 .) Tell me, is this a slight labor, when the seed had not yet taken root, to endure so great a storm, so many trials? And they demanded security of him. And having given security, he says, Jason sent away Paul.
17:10
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… These were more noble,” it says, “than they of Thessalonica: more noble,” i.e. more gentle ( ἐπιεικέστεροι ) (in their behavior): “in that they received the word with all readiness,” and this not inconsiderately, but with a strictness wherein was no passion, “searching the Scriptures whether these things were so.” (
17:11
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 56
And Trypho said, “Prove this; for, as you see, the day advances, and we are not prepared for such perilous replies; since never yet have we heard any man investigating, or searching into, or proving these matters; nor would we have tolerated your conversation, had you not referred everything to the Scriptures:
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews pref
… And these things may be of advantage to you meanwhile, as you read, for forming the first lineaments of your faith. More strength will be given you, and the intelligence of the heart will be effected more and more, as you examine more fully the Scriptures, old and new, and read through the complete volumes of the spiritual books.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 41
See here too His gentleness. For He said not, “my disciples,” nor, “the apostles,” but “your sons;” to the end that if indeed they were minded to return to the same nobleness
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… ( β ) “And when they had taken security,” etc. ( v. 9 .) See how by giving security Jason sent Paul away: so that he gave his life (to the hazard) for him. ( α ) “And brethren,” etc. ( v. 10 .) See how the persecutions in every case extend the preaching. “Now these,” it says, “were more noble than those in Thessalonica” (
17:12
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… also of honorable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people. And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.” (
17:13
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… ( β ) “Daily,” it says, “searching the Scriptures whether these things were so:” not merely upon a sudden impetus or (burst of) zeal. “More noble,” it says: i. e. in point of virtue ( α ) “Therefore many of them,” etc. ( v. 12 .) And here again are Greeks. ( β ) “But when the Jews of Thessalonica,” etc. (
17:14
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… So that this was a mighty sign. See then, how when the preaching is extended, they are not in a hurry to run after signs. For it was right that thenceforth the believers should be mighty signs to the rest. Howbeit, by retreating and advancing they did these things. ( α ) “And immediately,” it says, “the brethren sent away Paul.” (
17:15
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 37
… but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.” ( v. 12–14 .) See how he at one time gives way, at another presses on, and in many things takes his measures upon human considerations. “And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with speed, they departed.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 2
What means, “What manner of entering in we had unto you”? That it was full of dangers, and numberless deaths, but that none of these things troubled you. But as if nothing had happened, so you adhered to us; as if ye had suffered no evil, but had enjoyed infinite good, so you received us after these things. For this was the second entering.
17:16
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
(Recapitulation.) ( b ) “And while Paul waited,” etc. (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 34
… wherefore he also put him forward. For ( ver. 23 ) “know ye,” he says, “that our brother Timothy is set at liberty, with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.” “Set at liberty,” he says; from whence? I suppose he had been cast into prison: or if not this, that he was sent away from Athens. For this also is mentioned in the Acts.
17:17
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… It does not mean there anger or exasperation: just as elsewhere it says, “There was παροξυσμὸς between them.” ( ch. xv. 30 .) ( c ) Then what is παρωξύνετο ? Was roused: for the gift is far removed from anger and exasperation. He could not bear it, but pined away. “He reasoned therefore in the synagogue,” etc. (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Of the Work of Monks 21
… For at Athens, because he had there found most studious inquirers of things, it is thus written of him: “He disputed therefore with the Jews in the synagogue, and with the Gentile inhabitants in the market every day to those who were there.”
17:18
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 4.9
… Empty complaints! Basil is slandered as dishonouring the Son, who honours Him even as he honours the Father , and Eunomius is the champion of the Only-begotten, who severs Him from the good nature of the Father! Such a reproach Paul also once incurred with the Athenians, being charged therewith by them as “a setter forth of strange gods
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose 63.21
… And Scripture too condemns them, not passing over those whom the Apostle refuted, as Luke, who wrote the book as a history, tells us in the Acts of the Apostles, “And certain also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers disputed with him. And some said, What does this babbler mean? And others said, He seemeth to be a setter forth of new gods.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood 4
… Paul’s preaching? How do we find him employed at Thessalonica and Corinth, in Ephesus and in Rome itself? Did he not spend whole nights and days in interpreting the Scriptures in their order? and why should any one recount his disputes with the Epicureans and Stoics.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 3
… 40 .) True! for no one knew what preceded that event, though they did learn it by the Spirit. “Unto that same day that He was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… But again “he disputed with the Jews in the synagogue, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain of the philosophers of the Stoics and Epicureans encountered him.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 39
… ( b ) For the Athenians, although fond of hearing strange things, nevertheless did not attend (to him); for this was not their study, but only to be always having something to say; which was the cause that made them hold off from him. But if this was their custom, how is it that they accuse him, “he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods?” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 88.10
… Do you, perchance, suppose that such conference would be unlawful? Surely you are aware that Christ our Lord spoke even to the devil concerning the law, and that by the Apostle Paul debates were held not only with Jews, but even with heathen philosophers of the sect of the Stoics and of the Epicureans.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 51.1
… Afterwards he says that it was agreed between him and them, that he should go to the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision, he as a sower, they as reapers. So also with good reason, though they knew it not, did the Athenians give him his name. For as they heard the word from him, they said, “Who is this sower of words?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 46.6
6. “The waters thereof roared, and were troubled” ( ver. 3 ): when the Gospel was preached, “What is this? He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 76.6
6. “There have been troubled all the unwise in heart” ( ver. 5 ).…How have they been troubled? When the Gospel is preached. And what is life eternal? And who is He that hath risen from the dead? The Athenians wondered, when the Apostle Paul spake of the resurrection of the dead, and thought that he spake but fables.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 80.5
5. “Thou hast set us for a contradiction to our neighbours” ( ver. 6 ). Evidently this did come to pass: for out of Asaph were chosen they that should go to the Gentiles and preach Christ, and should have it said to them, “Who is this proclaimer of new demons?”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 2.4
… xv. 2 ). For the quality of the speech that is heard is the seed of the thought which follows, since, while speech is conceived through the ear, thought is engendered in the mind. Whence also by the wise of this world the excellent preacher was called a sower of words ( seminiverbius ) (
17:19
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… others, that pleasure is the (true) happiness. “Of strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and the Resurrection:” for in fact they supposed “Anastasis” (the Resurrection) to be some deity, being accustomed to worship female divinities also. “And having taken him, they brought him to the Areopagus” (
17:20
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Eulogy 3
… but that which is now for the first time heard, agitates the mind of the hearers, and gives the teacher a great deal to do. This at least it was which disturbed the audience at Athens, and on this account they turned away from Paul, reproaching him with, “Thou bringest certain strange things to our ears.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… “And having taken him, they brought him to the Areopagus” ( v. 19 )—not to punish, but in order to learn —“to the Areopagus” where the trials for murder were held. Thus observe, in hope of learning (they ask him), saying, “May we know what is this new doctrine spoken of by thee? For thou bringest certain strange matters to our ears” (
17:21
Tertullian † AD 220 A Treatise on the Soul 3
… The apostle, so far back as his own time, foresaw, indeed, that philosophy would do violent injury to the truth. This admonition about false philosophy he was induced to offer after he had been at Athens, had become acquainted with that loquacious city,
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 62
… I thank you for informing me about the brethren that there assembled, and about those who wish, on account of disputed points, to disturb the simple. But about these things let the Apostle charge them not to give heed to those who contend about words, and seek nothing else than to tell and hear some new thing
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 17
… Therefore, again, you will number gold under precious stones, and such precious stones as are smaller and without lustre under those which are larger and brighter in colour. But what will not be said by men who spend their time in nothing else but either ‘to tell or to hear some new thing’?
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 21.12
… But since the Sextuses and Pyrrhos, and the antithetic style, like a dire and malignant disease, have infected our churches, and babbling is reputed culture, and, as the book of the Acts
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 4.9
… These charges are now brought against Paul’s follower by the new Stoics and Epicureans, who “spend their time in nothing else,” as the history says of the Athenians, “but either to tell or to hear some new thing
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… “we would fain know therefore, what these things may mean.” It was a city of talkers, that city of theirs. “For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I look upon you as being in all things” (
17:22
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… 20, 21 .) Here the thing noted is, that though ever occupied only in this telling and hearing, yet they thought those things strange—things which they had never heard. “Then Paul standing in the midst of the Areopagus said, Ye men of Athens, I look upon you as being in all things more religiously disposed” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Colossians 11
See, when Paul also had come to Athens, how he discoursed with them. He said not, “O polluted, and all-polluted”; but what? “Ye men of Athens, in all things I perceive that ye are somewhat superstitious.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 70.2
… And as if this were not enough, that leader of the Christian army, that unvanquished pleader for the cause of Christ, skilfully turns a chance inscription into a proof of the faith.
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret 4.19
… So the martyrs sailed off for Heliopolis, where every man is given over to superstition,
17:23
Tertullian † AD 220 Ad Nationes 2.9
… What absurdity! What need had they of uncertain gods, when they possessed certain ones? Unless, forsooth, they wished to commit themselves to such folly as the Athenians did; for at Athens there was an altar with this inscription: “ To the unknown gods .”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Refutation of All Heresies 7.21
… And (Cerinthus alleges) that, after the baptism (of our Lord), Christ in form of a dove came down upon him, from that absolute sovereignty which is above all things. And then, (according to this heretic,) Jesus proceeded to preach the unknown Father,
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 10.5
… Where, for example, he says something by way of permission and not by commandment, there we may recognize that he is weak; for who, he says, is weak, and I am not weak? When he shaves his head and makes an offering, or when he circumcises Timothy, he is a Jew; but when he says to the Athenians,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 6
In imitation of this, Paul also reasons with the Greeks from an heathen altar, and brings forward testimonies from the poets.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 31
… 17 .) ( c ) See how covertly he puts the accusation “in that He did good,” etc. And yet if God did this, He could not have “let them alone;” on the contrary, they ought to be punished, for that, enjoying so great benefits, they had not acknowledged Him, not even as their feeder.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… 21, 22 )—he puts it by way of encomium: (the word) does not seem to mean anything offensive— δεισιδαιμονεστέρους , that is, εὐλαβεστέρους , “more religiously disposed. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with his inscription, To an Unknown God . What therefore ye ignorantly worship, this declare I unto you.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 42
… “Whom the whole world worshippeth.” Observe how he showed Paul’s power to be the greater, proving all (their gods) to be wretched and miserable creatures, since a mere man, who was driven about, a mere tentmaker, had so much power. Observe the testimonies borne to the Apostles by their enemies, that they overthrew their worship.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 3
… Let us then offer a seasonable solution of these, having premised some other things. For when Paul was discoursing to the Athenians, in the course of his harangue he quoted these words, “To the Unknown God”: and again, “For we also are His offspring, as certain also of your own poets have said.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 2.30
… Surely he did neither of the two; but presently, when, as he judged fitting, he wished to introduce to their knowledge the Lord Himself unknown to them, but known to him, he says among other things, that "He is not far from every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said."
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 17.20
… for we are also His offspring.” And when he had thus approached them with their own authorities, which they could not reject, thus confirming the truth by things false, he added and said: “Since then we are the offspring of God we ought not to think that the Godhead is like to gold or silver or stone sculptured by the art and device of man.”
Socrates Scholasticus † AD 440 The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus 5.17
… but Providence doubtless purposed that in the enquiry concerning this character, there should something take place analogous to what happened heretofore at the preaching of Paul. For he, made wise by the Divine Spirit, employed a similar method in relation to the Athenians,
17:24
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.12.9
… Therefore God, winking at the times of ignorance, does now command all men everywhere to turn to Him with repentance; because He hath appointed a day, on which the world shall be judged in righteousness by the man Jesus; whereof He hath given assurance by raising Him from the dead.”
Tertullian † AD 220 Against Praxeas 16
… What, again, if He was One who was “crowned with glory and honour,” and He Another by whom He was so crowned, —the Son, in fact, by the Father? Moreover, how comes it to pass, that the Almighty Invisible God, “whom no man hath seen nor can see; He who dwelleth in light unapproachable;” “He who dwelleth not in temples made with hands;”
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 4.16.3
3. His words are as follows: “I, too, therefore, expect to be plotted against and put in the stocks
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… and then says, “God that made the world and all things therein, He being Lord of heaven and earth”—for, that they may not imagine Him to be one of many, he presently sets them right on this point; adding, “dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (
17:25
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 10.8
… to stand in need of nothing, and of Himself to supply all things to all; speaks on this wise, “God that made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, Himself needeth not any thing, giving to all life and all things.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… Look, then, whether these things may not be predicated of the Son also. “Being Lord,” he saith, “of heaven and earth”—which they accounted to be God’s. Both the creation he declares to be His work, and mankind also. “Having determined,” he says, “the times assigned to them, and the bounds of their habitation,” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin 1.28
He goes on to remark: “But the apostle, by saying, ‘And He Himself giveth life and spirit to all,’ and then by adding the words, ‘And hath made the whole race of men of one blood,’
17:26
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 1.2
… if every one that cleaveth to the Lord is one spirit, as the Apostle hath said: if a man and his wife are one flesh: if all we mortal men are, so far as regards our general nature, of one substance: if this is what the Scripture saith of created men, that, being many, they are one,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… and all is but trifling to this! “Giveth,” he says, “life and breath.” Lo, he makes Him the Creator of the soul also, not its begetter. See again how he overthrows the doctrine about matter. “And made,” he says, “of one blood every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin 2.20
As for the passage which affirms that “God hath made of one blood all nations of men,”
17:27
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 On the Incarnation of the Word 7
For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God comes to our realm, howbeit he was not far from us
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… 25, 26 ), “that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being: as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 4.1
… nor that of human flesh only, but also that of beasts, and down even to the minutest of worms. For all these things see that light: but that life was the light of men; nor is it far from any one of us, for in it “we live, and move, and have our being.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 8.3
… This good then is not far from every one of us: for in it we live, and move, and have our being.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 14.12
… viz. than the rational and intellectual nature, which is the mind of man, made after the image of Him who made it. And that nature, more excellent than the rest, is God. And indeed “He is not far from every one of us,” as the apostle says, who adds, “For in Him we live, and are moved, and have our being.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 138.1
… For there have we the voice which God heareth, which ear of man knoweth not at all. We have then a mouth within, there do we ask, thence do we ask, and if we have prepared a lodging or an house for God, there do we speak, there are we heard. “For He is not far from every one of us, for in Him we live, and move, and have our being.”
17:28
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 2.1.3
… nor by the earth, for it is His footstool.” To the same effect also are the words of Paul, in his address to the Athenians, when he says, “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 4.5
… saith the Lord .” Nor does he see that, according to the doctrine of Christianity, we all “in Him live, and move, and have our being,”
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 4.8
… that He is incomprehensible, as it is written, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is the footstool of My feet. What house will ye build Me, or what is the place of My rest? For these things hath My hand made, and all these things are mine ; that He contains all things, as Paul bears witness, For in Him we live and move and have our being
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 On the Incarnation of the Word 27-2
… For whatever idea they form of the whole, they must necessarily apply the like idea to the part. For man also, as I said before, is a part of the whole. 4. Thus it is not at all unseemly that the Word should be in man, while all things are deriving from Him their light and movement and light, as also their authors say, “In
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Illud Omnia, &c. (On Luke x. 22.) 5
… For He is His Image, and consequently, because He is His Image, all that belongs to the Father is in Him. He is an exact seal, shewing in Himself the Father; living Word and true, Power, Wisdom, our Sanctification and Redemption ( 1 Cor. i. 30 ). For ‘in Him we both live and move and have our being’ (
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) 5
… As to ‘like,’ they said that it is written of us, ‘Man is the image and glory of God :’ ‘always,’ that it was written, ‘For we which live are alway :’ ‘in Him,’ ‘In Him we live and move and have our being
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 3.23.1
… our Lord’s words, ‘I in the Father and the Father in Me ;’ saying, ‘How can the One be contained in the Other and the Other in the One?’ or ‘How at all can the Father who is the greater be contained in the Son who is the less?’ or ‘What wonder, if the Son is in the Father,’ considering it is written even of us, ‘In Him we live and move and have our being
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 48
… And we may add also the secretions of the belly, such as are a physical necessity of animal life. Moreover if we believe man to be, as the divine Scriptures say, a work of God’s hands, how could any defiled work proceed from a pure Power? and if, according to the divine Acts of the Apostles
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 30
… Moreover he is called Light as being the Brightness of souls cleansed by word and life. For if ignorance and sin be darkness, knowledge and a godly life will be Light.…And He is called Life, because He is Light, and is the constituting and creating Power of every reasonable soul. For in Him we live and move and have our being,
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 42.1
… beautiful again in our eyes, to whom ye have come in season, not to convert a wandering sheep, but to converse with a pilgrim shepherd? What think ye of this our pilgrimage? And of its fruit, or rather of that of the Spirit within us, by Whom we are ever moved,
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 1-2.26
This is the Being in which, to use the words of the Apostle, all things are formed; and we, with our individual share in existence, live and move, and have our being
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 3.1.4
4. Whence, for instance, came that verse, “His offspring truly are we,”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 3.6
… “All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.” Then they proceed: “What has been made,” and to this they join the words “in Him;” that is to say, “But whatsover is has been made in Him.” But what mean the words “in Him”? The Apostle tells us, when he says: “In Him we have our being, and live, and move.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… “Though He be not far from every one of us.” Why look now, He is near to all, to every one all the world over! What can be greater than this? See how he makes clear riddance of the parcel deities ( τοὺς μερικούς )! What say I, “afar off?” He is so near, that without Him we live not: “for in Him we live and move and have our being.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans the-argument
… And let no one say to me, “I am unskilled and unlearned:” nothing were less instructed than Peter, nothing more rude than Paul, and this himself confessed, and was not ashamed to say, “though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge.” ( 2 Cor. xi. 6 .) Yet nevertheless this rude one, and that unlearned man,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 10
… For, if we are not our own, how can they be ours? I say, we: for in two ways we are His, both on account of our creation, and also on account of the faith. Wherefore David saith, “My substance is with Thee:” ( Ps. xxxix. 7. ὑπόστασις Sept. “hope” rec. vers. of. ver. 6; Ps. cxxxix. 14 .) and Paul too, “For in Him we live and move and have our being:” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 3
… vi. 2 .) It is then possible to live the life of sin. Attend diligently, I entreat you, lest my labor be vain. There is the life everlasting and immortal; with eternal life the heavenly; “for our citizenship,” says he, “is in heaven” ( Philip. iii. 20 .) There is the life of the body whereof he speaks, “through him we live and move and have our being.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 1
… If we believe not, how shall we be persuaded of the existence of a God? For how knowest thou that there is a God, when thou callest Him to account? The knowledge of God is best shown by believing in Him without proofs and demonstrations. Even the Greeks know this; for they believed their Gods telling them, saith one, even without proof; and what?—That
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 5
… For the word “Life” here refers not merely to the act of creation, but also to the providence (engaged) about the permanence of the things created; it also lays down beforehand the doctrine of the resurrection, and is the beginning of these marvelous good tidings.
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 70.2
… In another epistle Paul quotes a line of Menander: “Evil communications corrupt good manners.” And when he is arguing with the Athenians upon the Areopagus he calls Aratus as a witness citing from him the words “For we are also his offspring;”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 1.9
… You know the meaning of language, or you would not quote Epimenides, Menander, and
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 7.9
… And I had come unto Thee from among the Gentiles, and I strained after that gold which Thou willedst Thy people to take from Egypt, seeing that wheresoever it was it was Thine. And to the Athenians Thou saidst by Thy apostle, that in Thee “we live, and move, and have our being;” as one of their own poets has said.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 8.10
… For His invisible things from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made, also His eternal power and Godhead.” And, when speaking to the Athenians, after having spoken a mighty thing concerning God, which few are able to understand, “In Him we live, and move, and have our being,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 4.17
23. Therefore, neither concerning the successions of ages, nor concerning the resurrection of the dead, ought we to consult those philosophers, who have understood as much as they could the eternity of the Creator, in whom “we live, and move, and have our being.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 14.15
… And it remembers the Lord its God; for He always is, nor has been and is not, nor is but has not been; but as He never will not be, so He never was not. And He is whole everywhere. And hence it both lives, and is moved, and is in Him;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 22.16
… A Pagan might find fault with passages in the New Testament in the same way as Faustus does with what he calls unworthy representations of God in the Old Testament; and the Pagan might be answered by the quotation of similar passages from his own authors, as in Paul’s speech at Athens.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Baptism, Against the Donatists 6.44
… For when Paul the apostle also was saying something concerning God before the Athenians, he adduced as a proof of what he said, that certain of them had said something to the same effect,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin 1.27
For whence comes it that he is so careless about the Scriptures, which he talks of, as not to notice that when he reads of human beings being from God, it is not merely, as he contends, in respect of their soul and spirit, but also as regards their body? For the apostle’s statement, “We are His offspring,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 18.3
… Behold what things He hath made, He governeth and containeth also. He who hath made them, Himself filleth what He hath made with His own presence. Thus much they were enabled to say. For these Paul also made mention of in the Acts of the Apostles, where, when he had said of God, “For in Him we live and move and have our being”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 35.17
… (who perceiveth this light, knoweth what I say, and he seeth and acknowledgeth what is said, “As a Neighbour, as our Brother, so I pleased Him”): even then our soul pleaseth God, not placed afar off, for, “In Him,” saith one, “we live and move and have our being,”
Socrates Scholasticus † AD 440 The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus 3.16
… Whence did he get the saying, ‘The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow-bellies,’ but from a perusal of The Oracles of Epimenides, the Cretan Initiator? Or how would he have known this, ‘For we are also his offspring,’
17:29
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… 27, 28 .) This is said by Aratus the poet. Observe how he draws his arguments from things done by themselves, and from sayings of their own. “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art.” (
17:30
Mathetes † fl. AD 130 Epistle to Diognetus 9
… now revealed the Saviour who is able to save even those things which it was [formerly] impossible to save, by both these facts He desired to lead us to trust in His kindness, to esteem Him our Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Counsellor, Healer, our Wisdom, Light, Honour, Glory, Power, and Life, so that we should not be anxious concerning clothing and food.
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 De Sententia Dionysii. (Defence of Dionysius.) 7
… xiii. 22 ) in Antioch of Pisidia how God, ‘when He had removed Saul, raised up David to be king; to whom also He bare witness and said, I have found David the Son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who shall do My will. Of this man’s seed hath God according to promise brought unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus;’ and again at Athens (ib.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… “And imagination of man.” How so? * * But some person might say, “We do not think this.” But it was to the many that he was addressing himself, not now to Philosophy. How then did they think so unworthily of Him? Again, putting it upon their ignorance, he says, “Now the times of ignorance God overlooked.” Having
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 8
… but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
Acts xvii. 30 . The times before Christ were times of ignorance.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 18.54
… had not yet been defined to all, but was defined in the resurrection of Christ (for so the Apostle Paul speaks to the Athenians, saying, “But now He announces to men that all everywhere should repent, because He hath appointed a day in which to judge the world in equity, by the Man in whom He hath defined the faith to all men, raising Him from the dead”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
“And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 152
… but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent; because He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised him from the dead.”
17:31
St Polycarp † AD 155 Epistle to the Philippians 2
… To Him all things in heaven and on earth are subject. Him every spirit serves. He comes as the Judge of the living and the dead.
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 4.26
… of Christ, as in the blessed Peter’s words to Cornelius, when he teaches him of ‘Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost,’ and again to the Jews, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God for you ,’ and again the blessed Paul to the Athenians, ‘By that Man, whom He ordained, giving assurance to all men, in that He raised Him from the dead
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 16
40. Moreover by any one who carefully uses his reason it will be found that even at the moment of the expected appearance of the Lord from heaven the Holy Spirit will not, as some suppose, have no functions to discharge: on the contrary, even in the day of His revelation, in which the blessed and only potentate will judge the world in righteousness,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 1
… For, if the fact of His coming from God were not first believed, much more, with the Resurrection and Ascension added thereto, would the Jews have found the entire doctrine incredible. Wherefore gently and by degrees he leads them on to higher truths. Nay, at Athens Paul even calls Him man simply, without saying more (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 38
… and yet he says, “but now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” ( v. 30 .) “Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 34
“And wherefore,” saith one, “doth God suffer such men to be rich?” Because He is long-suffering: because He would bring us to repentance; because He hath prepared hell; because “He hath appointed a day in which He is to judge the world.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 3
[4.] And why dost thou wonder if Peter says this? for Paul, reasoning with the Athenians, calls Him “Man” only, saying, “By that Man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance to all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin 2.28
… and it is in what concerns these two men that the Christian faith properly consists. For “there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” since “there is none other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved;” and “in Him hath God defined unto all men their faith, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 109.5
… word of faith,” he says, “which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus is the Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” And in the Acts of the Apostles we read that in Christ, God hath marked out [the ground of] faith unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
… But I have heard the divine Paul exclaiming “God hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead,”
17:32
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 39
… He declared it then to be of such a character as the Pharisees had admitted it, and such as the Lord had Himself maintained it, and such too as the Sadducees refused to believe it—such refusal leading them indeed to an absolute rejection of the whole verity. Nor had the Athenians previously understood Paul to announce any other resurrection.
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 18.1
… but he who disbelieves the Resurrection, gives himself to fornication, and misuses his own body, as though it were not his own. Faith therefore in the Resurrection of the dead, is a great commandment and doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church; great and most necessary, though gainsaid by many, yet surely warranted by the truth. Greeks contradict it
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 39
(Recapitulation.) “And when they heard,” (
17:33
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 39
(Recapitulation.) “And when they heard,” ( ch. xvii. 32 ) what great and lofty doctrines, they did not even attend, but jeered at the Resurrection! “For the natural man,” it saith, “receiveth not the things of the Spirit.” ( 1 Cor. ii. 14 .) “And so,” it says, “Paul went forth.” (
17:34
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 4.23.3
… He mentions Quadratus also, stating that he was appointed their bishop after the martyrdom of Publius, and testifying that through his zeal they were brought together again and their faith revived. He records, moreover, that Dionysius the Areopagite, who was converted to the faith by the apostle Paul, according to the statement in the Acts of the Apostles,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood 4
… For at this time he conquered by dint of argument only. How was it, moreover, that he contended and disputed successfully with those who tried to Judaize in Antioch? and how was it that that Areopagite,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 39
What can be the reason that, having persuaded (some so far as to say) that they would hear him again, and there being no dangers, Paul is so in haste to leave Athens? Probably he knew that he should do them no great good; moreover he was led by the Spirit to Corinth.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 5
[2.] But what means, “according to the flesh?” According to what is in sight; according to the life that now is; according to the discipline of the Gentiles. Then, lest he should seem to be at variance with himself, (for he had convinced both the Proconsul, ( Acts xiii. 12 .) and the Areopagite, (
17:1
1. WHEN THEY HAD PASSED THROUGH AMPHIPOLIS. — It is a city of Macedonia or Thrace, near Philippi: so called because it is surrounded by waters on all sides, being joined by an isthmus of land only; thus Pollux, book IX. This city gave cause of war to Philip of Macedon and the Athenians. Brasidas, a leader of the Lacedaemonians, occupied it in the Peloponnesian war: thus Thucydides, book IV. APOLLONIA. — This is near Thessalonica. For there were many other cities elsewhere with the same name. THESSALONICA. — This was the first, or among the first cities of Macedonia, so called from νίκη, that is victory, which Philip, king of the Macedonians, obtained there over the Thessalians. Now by aphaeresis it is called Salonica, in which the Jews have a synagogue, a printing house, indeed dominion: thus Strabo, book VII, and Stephanus, book On Cities.
17:2
2. ACCORDING TO CUSTOM. — For Paul was accustomed, says Chrysostom, to go everywhere first to the synagogues of the Jews, and there to preach, even though he was often offended by them, expelled and stoned, so that he might show constant love toward his own nation and render good for evil; and thus he converted many of them, and made the rest, unwilling to be converted, inexcusable, lest, if he preached first to the Gentiles, the Jews might claim or object that he did not announce the true Messiah, because He was promised to the Jews, not to the Gentiles. HE DISCOURSED WITH THEM FROM THE SCRIPTURES. — ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν, that is from the Scriptures: thus the Zurich and Pagninus versions. For from the Scriptures he proves that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and Saviour of the world, by faith in whom all ought to be justified and saved. Our translator renders it better and more forcefully, "from the Scriptures." For the Jews were accustomed in the Synagogues to treat nothing other than the Scriptures: hence if Paul had treated something else, and especially if he had dealt directly and expressly concerning Christ crucified, the Jews would have rejected him. Therefore Paul's theme was Scripture, but in such a way that from it at opportune passages he always introduced and insinuated Christ, as follows. Note here the shrewdness and dexterity of Paul, by which he craftily, as if doing something else, insinuates and preaches Christ to the Jews unwilling and averse to Christ. The same ought to be done by those who hunt souls immersed in vices, and abhorring all discourse about virtue, so that first they speak of other things which they know are pleasing to them, then they descend secretly to vices and virtues. Our founder St. Ignatius gave this axiom to his men: "Enter with what is theirs, but exit with yours"; meaning that at the beginning we ought to accommodate ourselves to secular men and become all things to all, so that we may gain all, and finally persuade them of the virtue which we intend. Thus bird and beast hunters, and fishermen of fish, place food before them, but beneath the food they hide nets and hooks, by which they ensnare and capture them: let the hunter and fisherman of rational animals, which living like beasts and fish, pant after earthly things, do the same. Thus St. Barlaam the Hermit, feigning himself to be a jeweler and bringing a gem of exceptional splendor and value (namely evangelical faith), opened a way for himself, and converted Josaphat, son of the king of India, as Damascus relates in their History. Thus St. Abraham, his niece Mary having fallen into fornication, feigning himself to be a merchant, brought her back to the way of salvation, as St. Ephrem relates in her Life. Thus in the Life of Astius the Martyr we read that Vigilantius, whose parents were still Gentiles, inquiring about the death of their son Astius, concealed it and said he was living in the region of the strong, namely in heaven, and thus consoled them, and then nobly narrated his martyrdom to them and converted them to Christ. Thus St. Xavier would draw concubines away from their concubinaries, insinuating himself into their friendship, and now removing one, now another on some other pretext, until he had removed all for one. Read Tursellinus in his Life, book VI, chapter X near the end.
17:3
3. OPENING UP, — that is to say, gradually and opportunely opening up to them Christ hidden in the Scriptures, and showing from them that Christ ought to have suffered and been crucified. AND SETTING FORTH — παρατιθέμενος, that is proposing, explaining, showing; Pagninus and the Zurich Bible, alleging; others, arranging and comparing the deeds and sufferings of Christ with the words of the Prophets, who foretold these same things, but more obscurely and darkly. Our translator renders it more skillfully and profoundly as "setting forth," for the reason already stated: perhaps also he read παρεντιθέμενος, that is inserting, interjecting, insinuating by the way and as it were in parenthesis. Thus St. Peter, Epistle I, chapter V, verse 5, says: "And be ye subject to one another in humility," that is put it into the bosom as it were secretly and while doing something else, inasmuch as they are unwilling and resisting. Thus Rhetoricians use insinuation, especially in an odious matter, so that they may win over the minds of judges or hearers turned away from them, and as it were open them, concerning which Cicero, book I On Invention: "Insinuation," he says, "is a kind of speech which by dissimulation and circumlocution obscurely enters the hearer's mind." And as Servius, in the XI Aeneid: "It is a cunning and subtle approach to persuasion." Thus to insinuate oneself into another's friendship is said of him who enters not directly, but through certain windings and byways secretly into friendship, and as it were creeps in. AND BECAUSE THIS IS JESUS CHRIST WHOM, etc., — that is to say, Because this Christ, thus celebrated in the Scriptures and awaited by the Fathers, is none other than Jesus Christ, whom I announce to you. Or, as the Greek has it: "Because this is Christ," namely "this Jesus whom I announce to you." For the Jews deny that Jesus is the Christ, or Messiah, whom they say will come at the end of the world. Some of them feign two Christs: one poor, suffering and afflicted, and this one is ours: whence R. Jacob, in Collections from the Talmud, says that this Christ sat in Rome among the poor, wretched and sorrowful (as Lyra reports, in the book Against the Jews); another noble and splendid like Solomon; this one will be the Messiah of the Jews, and will come at the end of the world. Thus these jesters trifle, or dream, when on the contrary from Scripture, the ancient Rabbis, and all the Fathers, mention only one Messiah, or Christ, namely Jesus crucified by the Jews.
17:4
4. AND SOME OF THEM (the Jews, and of whom the preceding discourse spoke) BELIEVED, etc., AND OF THE DEVOUT, AND A GREAT MULTITUDE OF THE GENTILES. — "Devout" here are called proselytes, namely Gentiles converted to Judaism: for they are opposed both in nation and in kind to the Jews, and to the Gentiles living in paganism. He says therefore that some of the Jews were converted, but from the proselytes and Gentiles many: thus Bede, Hugh, the Gloss, Lyra and the Carthusian. The Greek codices and the Syriac make this verse two-membered, not three-membered: for they make the Gentiles and the devout the same. Thus they have it: "And of the devout Gentiles a great multitude," so that the devout are called pious and religious Gentiles worshipping one God. Whence the Syriac translates, and many of the Greeks those who feared God. Wherefore the Apostle afterwards writing to the Thessalonians, praises their readiness, eagerness and constancy in believing. For thus he writes, I Thessalonians I and II: "For our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much fulness, as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes. And you became followers of us, and of the Lord, receiving the word in much tribulation, with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that you became a pattern to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia," etc. See the remarks there.
17:5
5. BUT THE JEWS WHO WERE ZEALOUS, — "unbelieving," as the Greek texts add; and, as the Syriac version has it, wicked. See Paul describing the zeal, envy and wickedness of these Jews, I Thessalonians II, 14 and following. AND TAKING CERTAIN WICKED MEN OF THE COMMON SORT. — For "of the common sort," the Greek has τῶν ἀγοραίων, that is, from those who haunt the marketplace: thus the Zurich Bible and Erasmus. Moreover, he calls those who are accustomed to spend time in the forum "marketplace-dwellers," says Vatablus, whom therefore Pagninus calls "forum-men," such as those who sell and buy, and besides porters, idle and lazy men, likewise the poor who seek masters and offer their labor for anything whether lawful or unlawful, such as many are from the common people in large cities, as Thessalonica was. For, as Sallust says in the Jugurtha: "To the most needy, all things seem honorable at a price." And Silius Italicus, book XIII: "Poverty is inclined to crime." But Solomon speaks more divinely, Proverbs XXX, 9: "Give me not beggary," he says, "lest being compelled by want I steal, and forswear the name of my God." Moreover, many in Thessalonica were idle and lazy, hence poor, hence restless, turbulent, rapacious and thieves. Wherefore the Apostle sharply rebukes this idleness and laziness of theirs, II Thessalonians III, 7 and following. Excellently did Diogenes the Cynic, in Laertius, book VI, say that "the business of the idle is love and desire;" which affection chiefly occupies those devoted to idleness. For thus it happens that, while they indulge in idleness, they fall into a most active matter, such as desire and longing for another's property. And Appius Claudius, as Valerius Maximus testifies, used to say "it is far better for the Roman people to be entrusted with business than with leisure;" because the crowd is stirred up by wars to virtue, but in peace and leisure flows down to pleasures and luxury, from which are born sedition, slaughter, robbery and the ruin of the state. WICKED. — In Greek πονηρούς, that is, wicked, scoundrels, flagitious; likewise, needy, poor, wretched, miserable. Wickedness, says Chrysostom, homily 7 on Acts, is called πονηρία, because πόνος, that is, labor and troubles, brings a thousand to its author. Add that it often arises from πενίᾳ, that is, from poverty and want, as I have already said. This very thing was taught by word and example by Bulas, a most famous robber, who under the Emperor Severus, having gathered a band of six hundred robbers throughout all Italy, made the greatest plunders for two years. But when he had captured a centurion who was plotting against his life, he sent him back to the Emperor Severus with his head shaved, saying: "Tell your masters to feed their slaves, lest they turn to robbery." For Bulas had many Caesareans with him, some hired for a small wage, some for no stipend at all; thus Xiphilinus in the Life of Severus. ASSAILING THE HOUSE, — so that they might break in with force and drag out from it into the crowd them, namely Paul and Silas. Whence in Greek it is ἐπιστάντες, that is, having attacked the house, or pressing, pressing hard and threatening the house; thus the Zurich Bible, Pagninus, Vatablus and others. JASON — with whom Silas and Paul lodged. Whence Bede reckons this Jason to have been a Christian, namely converted by Paul, who for three sabbaths disputed in the synagogue of the Thessalonians concerning Christ from the Scriptures, verse 2. This Jason appears to be the same of whom the Apostle says, Rom. XVI: "Timothy my helper saluteth you, and Lucius and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen." For it appears that Jason went with Paul from Thessalonica to Corinth, whence Paul wrote to the Romans in the year of Christ 58: thus Baronius, Genebrardus, in the Calendar of the Greeks, which he prefixed to the Psalms; Sixtus Senensis, lib. II Biblioth., and others. Which if true, it is plain that this Jason was a Christian, Paul's kinsman, disciple and familiar. Again, this Jason appears to be he who is inscribed in the catalogue of Saints read in the Roman Martyrology, on the 12th of July, in these words: "In Cyprus St. Jason, an ancient disciple of Christ," for we never read of another Christian and holy Jason in that age, except this one. From which words the authors already cited probably conjecture that this Jason is the same as Mnason, of whom it is said, Acts XXI, 16: "Bringing us to one Mnason a Cyprian, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge." For these words plainly agree with the words of the Martyrology, except that for Jason they call him Mnason; but some copies read Jason for Mnason. Whence it is clear that Jason was born from Cyprus, yet had a home both at Thessalonica and at Jerusalem. The Menologium of the Greeks on the 29th of April, and Dorotheus, in the Synopsis, assert that Jason was Bishop of Tarsus; Hippolytus, however, in the book On the 72 Disciples, numbers Jason among them and makes him Bishop in Syria. Baronius, however, in the Martyrology, on the 12th of July, reckons that Jason inscribed in the Martyrology is the same as Mnason, Acts XXI, 16, and was Bishop of Tarsus, but different from this Jason of Thessalonica, who was Paul's host and disciple. Both are probable: for nothing here is certain and evident.
17:6
6. THEY DRAGGED JASON — tumultuously; that by the tumult of the raging people they might oppress him before the rulers of the city. Wherefore the Syrian translator rendered it not quite rightly, they brought a suit against Jason: for the matter was conducted by the Jews with tumult, not by judicial suit, although they pretended that; for this reason they dragged him to the rulers of the city, as if to judges. AND CERTAIN BRETHREN, — namely Christians. BECAUSE, — that: for this is ὅτι. THESE (namely are) THEY WHO DISTURB THE CITY. — The Greek texts read for "the city" οἰκουμένην, that is the world, or the whole earth. Thus also the Syrian, the Complutensian, Clarius, Vatablus and others. But the matter comes to the same thing: for by the world they understand the city hyperbolically, vast and wide, as if to say, These are they who stir up tumults throughout the whole city and incite all the people to sedition. Thus the Pharisees say of Christ preaching in Judaea alone, John XII, 19: "The whole world is gone after him." And Athenaeus, lib. I, calls Rome "the people of the world." For the people of the city of Rome appears to be that of the whole world, because from the whole world they flowed together to Rome. Yet the Greek reading can have another more suitable sense, as if to say, These are they who everywhere in the world stir up tumults, and have come hither also to raise the same. Otherwise if you read with our "the city," then that which is added, "and are come hither," take it thus, as if to say, They are foreigners and strangers, not citizens and natives: whence from them, as if unknown, innovators and disturbers, we must beware in every way. For they render them suspect, saying that they have come from elsewhere and are foreigners, unknown, erring and wandering.
17:7
7. WHOM HE RECEIVED — ὑποδέδεκται, that is received secretly and furtively, as if they were criminals, innovators and disturbers; thus the Zurich, Pagninus, Gagneius and others. SAYING THERE IS ANOTHER KING, JESUS. — This is a gross calumny; for although the Pharisees could have brought this charge against Christ while living, John X, 1, yet not against Christ now dead and reigning in the heavens, who, lifted up from the earth and from human affairs, despises and tramples all these things under his feet as exiles, and whom the edicts of Caesar cannot bind and touch.
17:8
8. AND THEY STIRRED UP THE PEOPLE. — For the people are moved by the mere name of a new king, or tyrant, such as they here charged Christ to be, nor do they apprehend, or inquire whether he be alive or dead, on earth or in heaven; perhaps they even thought he could return from heaven to earth, that he might occupy it wholly and rule over it, especially since at this time the Emperor Claudius reigned, who was most timid and was entirely terrified by mere shadows and rumors of a new kingdom and tyranny, as Suetonius relates at length in his Life, cap. XXXV and XXXVI.
17:9
9. AND HAVING RECEIVED SATISFACTION. — Scripture does not narrate what kind it was. The Syriac version explains it, and says there were sureties: "But they received," it says, "sureties from Jason," who namely would pledge themselves that they would be faithful to Caesar and the Roman Empire, and would do nothing new against it, says Cajetan. But Budaeus, and from him Gagneius and Sanchez, understand by satisfaction a pledging, that is a suretyship, by which Jason gave himself as a sponsor for Paul, either for producing him before the tribunal, or for satisfying on his behalf, if he should be convicted of having offended in anything. Thirdly, Dionysius and Lorinus understand by satisfaction an excuse and vindication, by which Jason showed that Paul was not seditious, nor inducing a new earthly king, namely Christ, inasmuch as he had long since died, and his kingdom is spiritual, not corporeal, as if to say: When Jason had sufficiently and adequately shown that Paul had not stirred up the crowds, he was dismissed. Fourthly, Peter of Alexandria, in his sermon On Penance, understands by satisfaction a fine, namely money, which Jason gave for redeeming himself. But this seems scarcely probable; nor is it sufficiently worthy of the generosity and integrity of Paul and the Gospel. Therefore the former opinions are more probable. Chrysostom marvels at the virtue of Jason, who exposed himself and his own head to danger for Paul.
17:10
10. BEROEA. — It is a city of Macedonia, not far from Pella, the native country of Alexander the Great. THEY ENTERED INTO THE SYNAGOGUE OF THE JEWS. — Marvel here at the spirit and zeal of Paul: for having been ill-treated by the Jews again and a third time, he enters to them again; he does not yield to persecutions, but rises stronger than them, "and is borne more vehemently against his adversaries, and the increase of greater persecution becomes for him a cause of constancy, like a flame, which when agitated by wind burns more fiercely," says St. Chrysostom, homily 7 On the Praises of St. Paul. Thus virtue contends with vice, love with hatred, beneficence with maleficence: it contends and conquers. This is the manner of one who loves, this is the spirit of the strong and generous, that he should say to himself: "Yield not to evils, but go against them more boldly." Excellently St. Bernard, epistle 456 to Pope Eugenius: "I have read," he says, "in a certain wise man: There is no strong man whose spirit does not grow in the very difficulty of things. But I say: it is more fitting for a faithful man to trust amid scourges."
17:11
11. THESE WERE, — as if to say: Beroea was more noble than Thessalonica, and the citizens of Beroea were more noble than the Thessalonians: thus St. Chrysostom, Gagneius and Vatable. But more aptly the Syriac version, Lyran, Hugo and Cajetan restrict this to the Jews, concerning whom it had just been said before, as if to say: The Jews dwelling in Beroea were more noble than the Jews dwelling in Thessalonica: for to these alone belongs what follows, "Daily searching the Scriptures;" for these were proper to the Jews, not to the Gentiles. The same is confirmed by verse 12, as will be evident there. MORE NOBLE, — that is most noble, both in birth and lineage, and in generosity and character. For often nobility of birth brings with it nobility of soul, namely magnanimity, sincerity, civility, probity, humanity, liberality: thus Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Lyran and others. Luke says this, to show that the Beroeeans, endowed with noble character, were more docile, and more capable and ready to embrace the doctrine of the Gospel. Whence concerning them he adds. WHO (namely the Beroeeans, not the Thessalonians) RECEIVED THE WORD (of the Gospel preached by Paul) WITH ALL EAGERNESS. — In Greek προθυμίας, that is with readiness of mind, or willingly and with willing hearts. SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES. — For they were not bound to believe, indeed they could not prudently believe at the beginning of the Gospel, and in Paul a new preacher announcing a new God, unless having examined the matter they had ascertained that this preaching was consonant with the word of God and the oracles of the Prophets. Wherefore Christ himself said the same thing to the Jews, John V, 39: "Search," he says, "the Scriptures, because you think in them to have life everlasting: and the same are they that give testimony of me." It is otherwise now when the Gospel and faith have been sufficiently and more than sufficiently examined at the beginning, proved and received for so many centuries; and yet we can still search the Scriptures, not that we may examine the faith, but that we may confirm ourselves in it and penetrate its mysteries more deeply and profoundly, and impress them upon ourselves and others; indeed it is likely that the Beroeeans did only this. For they had already received the word of God with all eagerness: therefore they were not searching the Scriptures in order to believe at first, but in order to confirm themselves in the faith received, examining each testimony of the Scriptures concerning Christ cited by Paul, and comparing it with the words of Paul. Wherefore heretics wrongly contend from this place that their heresies are to be examined by the Scriptures. For since it is established that they are heresies, that is errors, repugnant to the faith and the tradition of the Fathers, they are not to be examined, but immediately condemned and rejected.
17:12
12. AND MANY INDEED BELIEVED OF THEM, — namely of the Jews of Beroea: for he opposes these to the Gentile women and men, of whom likewise not a few believed in Christ. See the remarks at the beginning of verse 11.
17:14
14. THAT HE MIGHT GO EVEN TO THE SEA. — In Greek, ὡς ἐπὶ θάλασσαν, that is, as if to the sea: for the brethren did not wish, says Cajetan, that Paul should openly flee, but should withdraw, as if going to the sea. But Our [text] for ὡς, that is, as if, reads ἕως, that is, even to. For by this journey Paul went continuously, and arrived at Athens. BUT SILAS AND TIMOTHY REMAINED THERE, — that they might announce the faith to the Berœans, eager for faith, and might confirm in it those who had already believed. For the Jews sought only the head of Paul, as it were of a choragus.
17:15
15. AND THEY THAT CONDUCTED PAUL, — both for the sake of honor and of security, lest he should suffer any snares or danger from the Jews. For this is the Greek καθιστῶντες, that is, "confirming him by their company and providing security." This fervent Catholics still do for their preachers in England, Holland, Japan, and India. ATHENS, — where there was a school of eloquence and wisdom, and consequently a multitude of Poets, Orators and Philosophers, moreover an abundance of idols, and this is evident from the praises and eulogies of the Poets concerning their gods. Whence Theodoret, in his work On the Cure of Greek Affections, assigns the primacy of idolatry among all the cities of the world to Athens, and Paul himself hints at the same thing, verses 16 and 22. Now Athens lies buried, and has been reduced to a village. Therefore there was for the Apostle a great harvest in Athens, especially because from Athens, as from the head of wisdom, it was to be derived to the rest of Greece. Whence he quickly called to himself his helpers, Silas and Timothy. Hence Tertullian, in his book On the Soul, chapter III, calls Athens a talkative city, and says there were merchants of wisdom and eloquence there. But the Greeks call it Ἑλλάδος Ἑλλάδα, that is, Greece of Greece; just as Athenaeus, in book I of the Deipnosophists, calls Rome ἐπιτομήν τῆς οἰκουμένης, that is, a compendium, or the city of the world.
17:16
16. HIS SPIRIT WAS STIRRED IN HIM, — παρωξύνετο, that is, was irritated, was inflamed: thus Pagninus, the Zurich Bible and Vatablus; the Syriac [version], was affected with sorrow; St. Augustine, book I Against Cresconius, chapter XII, reads, "was irritated by the Holy Spirit within himself," as if to say, Paul's soul was burning, hence with grief and compassion for so learned and so blind and wretched a city; thence with desire and zeal to help it, to instruct it and to save it; on the other hand with anger and indignation against idolatry and its author the devil. Thus Jeremiah, chapter XX, 9, concerning the word of God says: "And it became in my heart as a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I was weary, not being able to bear it." Where St. Jerome [says]: "The divine word conceived in the mind, he says, and not uttered by the mouth, burns in the breast." Whence Paul, seeing at Athens a city devoted to idolatry, was burning with his whole mind.
17:17
17. WORSHIPPING, — proselytes, says Chrysostom, that is, Gentiles converted to Judaism, or those zealous for their own salvation and true religion. IN THE FORUM. — The Syriac [version], in the street. Thus the first Fathers and founders of our Society, in imitation of Paul, preached in streets and forums, as our men still do in Rome, followers and rivals of the spirit of their fathers, with great concourse and fruit.
17:18
18. NOW CERTAIN EPICUREANS. — Epicurus, a disciple of Xenocrates, began to philosophize at fourteen years of age in gardens, and placed all good and human happiness in pleasure. Hence he denied the divinity and providence of God: wherefore he had very many followers; although he is said by some to have been frugal and temperate, yet by the majority he is called a voluptuary and a pig, as St. Augustine says, On the Utility of Believing, chapter IV. Whence that saying of Horace: "A pig from the herd of Epicurus." For he denied the immortality of the soul, and consequently the resurrection, and used to say: "Eat, drink, play; after death there is no pleasure." Whence Sidonius, in the Epithalamium of Polemy: "But virtue eliminates the Epicureans everywhere." Timocrates in Laertius, book X in the Life of Epicurus, asserts that Epicurus was accustomed to vomit twice daily from gluttony, and was therefore miserably afflicted in body, so that for many years he could not rise from bed: he spent a mina daily on his table; finally he died of the stone. Nausiphanes called Epicurus a lung on account of his gluttony, and ignorant, and a deceiver, and a harlot. Moreover, Epicurus was born in the year 109 of the Olympiad, seven years after Plato died: he lived 72 years. Laertius recounts these axioms of his: "That which is blessed and immortal has no business itself, nor does it exhibit any to another, so that it is moved neither by anger nor by gratitude: in which such things are present, all of this is weak." Whence you may infer that God does not care for human affairs, nor punish the wicked. "Death is nothing to us. For that which is dissolved is devoid of sensation; but that which is devoid of sensation is nothing to us." Whence you may gather that the soul after death feels nothing, and perishes together with the body. "That happiness is situated in pleasure: for this is the beginning and end of living well and of a blessed life. That there are innumerable worlds, and that they have coalesced from atoms coming together with one another: therefore atoms are the principle of all things, and are infinite;" which he drew from his teacher Democritus. Whence St. Augustine, book III Against the Academics, chapter X: "How," he says, "between Democritus and the earlier natural philosophers, shall we settle the dispute about one world and innumerable ones, when between him himself and his heir Epicurus, harmony could not be maintained? For this luxurious man, since he does not hold his atoms as it were his handmaidens, that is, the corpuscles which he happily embraces in darkness, to their own way, but permits them to decline everywhere and of their own accord into the boundaries of others, has also dissipated the whole inheritance even through quarrels." And so for Paul and the Christians there was always a sharp struggle against the Epicureans and wars without truces. AND THE STOICS. — They were philosophers so called from στοά, that is, a portico, in which Zeno their founder was accustomed to teach and discourse, severe and rigid, and therefore opposed to the Epicureans. Whence Cicero in the Pro Murena: "But indeed," he says, "Cato acts with me austerely and stoically." The paradoxes and errors of the Stoics, which were to be refuted by Paul, were these. First, that fate exists, and all things are ruled by fate: therefore fate is God. Thus they removed God and his providence, and substituted fate and nature for God; for they believed that all things flow from the course of nature and necessity. "Nature," says Lactantius, book III, chapter xxviii, "they called the mother of all things, as if all things were born of their own accord." Most excellently St. Eucherius, in the letter to Valerianus, near the end: "That fate does not exist — let them inquire of the Gentiles, or at least of their own laws, which certainly do not punish except for the intention of deeds." Therefore each one's deed removes fate, namely liberty removes necessity. Second: that virtue, in which they placed the highest good, is in the power and industry of each one; hence it is not to be sought from God, inasmuch as it is situated in the will of man: wherefore each one is to glory in his own virtue: thus St. Augustine, volume VI, tract. On Epicureans and Stoics, chapter iv and following. They said therefore that the wise man is sufficient to himself, and is content with himself alone: that he alone is rich, free, a king, blessed, impeccable, apathetic, unperturbed and equal to God. See Justus Lipsius, Introduction to Stoic Philosophy, book III, chapter xiv. Third: that all virtues are equal and all vices are equal; and whoever has one, either vice or virtue, has all and all the others. Again, that vices exist by God's providence, for the variety and ornament of the universe; thus Cicero in the Paradoxes, and Plutarch against the Stoics. Fourth: that pardon should not be granted to a guilty party who has offended, that he should not be pitied, because mercy is a passion and affliction of the mind, which does not befall the wise man, and because justice must be given its place, so that the guilty are punished. Whence Cicero in his speech for Murena, from the Stoics, says, "no one is merciful except the foolish and the fickle." And Seneca, book II On Clemency, chapter IV, condemns mercy as a vice. And chapter VI: "Mercy," he says, "is akin to misery, for it has something of it and draws from it. Mercy is a vice of souls too much favoring misery." See Lipsius in the place cited, chapter XIX. Fifth: that the wise man can sometimes take his own death, indeed that it is fitting and incumbent upon him, namely lest he live miserably. Whence Seneca, in the Ajax: "Either to live honorably, or to die at once is the mark of the noble." Thus Cleanthes the Stoic, when an ulcer had formed in his mouth, abstained from food at the urging of physicians for two days, and had already improved, but when they recalled him to eating, he refused, asserting that "with not the greater part of the journey completed, he would return." Thus he died by starvation. Zeno himself, at ninety-eight years of age, when leaving school sound and whole, having stumbled and fallen, striking the ground with his hand, sang that verse of Euripides: "I come, why do you call me?" See Seneca the Philosopher, On Anger book III, chapter XV, and epistle 70. The same, in his Sayings: "A good death," he says, "is for man, which extinguishes the evils of life." Whence he himself, when dying, permitted his wife, who wished to die, to be cut with iron along with him, and encouraged her to it. Sixth: that all gods are mortal, except Jupiter, and will pass into Jupiter: thus in the conflagration of the world, the sun, they said, will transform the moon and the other stars into itself: thus Plutarch, in the book Against the Stoics. Where he also adds: The Stoics say that God is a body endowed with mind, and mind working in matter; that he is not simple, nor pure, but that he exists from another and through another. See the same, in the book On the Contradictions of the Stoics. Seventh: that God is the spirit and soul of the world. Therefore the spirit which animates the sea is and is called Neptune; which the earth, Ceres; which the air, Juno; which the vines, Bacchus; which the olives, Minerva; which the sun and stars, Apollo; which herbs and medicines, Aesculapius; which tongues, Mercury; which the aether, Jupiter: thus Plutarch, in the book On Isis and Osiris. Because indeed they saw all things born, nourished and growing by spirit and heat; hence they judged this spirit and heat, which they called fire, to be the eternal and uncreated principle and cause of all things, and therefore to be God. The same opinion before the Stoics was held by Hippocrates, On Principles: "It seems to me," he says, "that what is hot, or if we call it fire, is immortal, and understands all things, and sees, and hears, and knows all things present and future." What more absurd can be said? for he attributed eternity, sensation, intellect, knowledge and foreknowledge to fire. Hence Posidonius in Stobaeus defines God as a fiery spirit: "God," he says, "is an intelligent and fiery spirit, having no form itself, but turning itself into all things, and assimilating itself to all things." And Democritus: "God," he says, "is mind in a spherical fire." And Athenagoras: "God is," he says, "a burning substance according to the Stoics." And Pythagoras, sprung from the Stoics, believed, says Cicero, book I On the Nature of the Gods, "that God is a mind, extended through the nature of all things and pervading all." Eighth: that the world is an animal, animated, living and rational: for it is governed by reason, nourished and watered by spirit. Finally, that the world is God. Hear Manilius, book I: The world lives, And is moved by the motion of reason, when one spirit Dwells through all parts, and waters the orb, Flying through all things, and shapes an animate body. And again: In that the world is turned by divine gift, And is itself God. And Seneca, the keenest of the Stoics, epistle 37: "All this," he says, "in which we are contained, is both one and God; and we are his associates and members;" whom Lactantius refutes, book VII, chapter III: "If all these things," he says, "which we see, are the members of God, then God is already constituted insensible by them." Indeed even Varro, the most learned of the Romans, held the same opinion. Hear St. Augustine, book VII of the City of God, chapter VI: "Varro," he says, "speaking of natural theology, says that he believes God to be the soul of the world, and that this very world is God." From what has been said, it is clear that both the Stoics and the Epicureans had their atheists; and in reality they were atheists, indeed polytheists, and therefore even more atheists. For whoever posits many gods thereby removes from the midst the one true God, who alone is. These and other errors of the Stoics and Epicureans had to be refuted by Paul, by teaching that all our virtue, good, and salvation consist in Christ crucified, by whose grace and power we are raised to immortal and blessed life; and therefore He alone is the mediator of God and men, and their savior: whose doctrine and sober, chaste, just, pious and holy life ought therefore to be embraced by us. Morally: thus today none are more opposed to Christian discipline and virtue than the Epicureans, that is, the pleasure-seekers and those immersed in the delights of the flesh; and the Stoics, that is, the arrogant, those who trust too much in their own wisdom and judgment, such as heretics are. Whence experience shows that all heresiarchs have been either Epicureans or Stoics, that is, gluttonous and lustful, or proud; and therefore have fallen into heresy. For heresy is never the first sin, but other sins precede it, which gradually lead a man to this abyss of evils. Appropriately Barlaam, in Damascenus, in the History, chapter XII, gives to King Josaphat a parable of the unicorn, that is, of death, which pursues a man: fleeing, he seizes a tree, in which there is a little honey, that is, of pleasure; feeding on which, he falls into the abyss below, namely into hell: Alas! how sweet an evil added to mortals, The love of sweet honey! And Boethius, book III, meter 7: Every pleasure has this. Where it has poured forth welcome honey, It flees and with too tenacious Bite strikes wounded hearts. Wherefore God forbade the Jews honey in sacrifice, as I said at Leviticus II, 11. Truly St. Bernard, sermon 30 in the Canticles: "Epicurus," he says, "prefers pleasure, Hippocrates indeed good health; but Christ preaches the contempt of both, saying: He that loveth his life, shall lose it. He shall lose it, either by laying it down as a martyr, or by afflicting it as a penitent. Although a kind of martyrdom is to mortify the deeds of the flesh by the spirit, namely that by which the members are struck with iron, milder indeed in horror, but more troublesome in duration." Indeed even Seneca, book II On the Happy Life, vii: "Virtue," he says, "is lofty, exalted and royal, unconquered, untiring; pleasure is base, servile, weak, perishable, whose station and dwelling are brothels and taverns. You will find virtue in the temple, in the forum, in the senate house, standing before the walls, dusty, sunburned, having calloused hands: pleasure, hiding often, and seeking darkness." DISPUTED WITH HIM. — In Greek συνέβαλλον, that is, they came together and clashed with him. Thus Pagninus, Vatablus and the Zurich Bible. WHAT DOES THIS BABBLER WANT. — In Greek it is elegantly said σπερμολόγος, that is, spermologus, a babbler, namely a sower of words, as St. Augustine reads it, tract. Against Epicureans and Stoics; Œcumenius thinks there is an allusion to σπερμολόγον, a certain vile bird of the kind of jackdaws, which collects seeds, which you could therefore translate and call a seed-picker, of which Aristotle, book VIII History of Animals, chapter iii. Whence Eustathius, in the Odyssey, book V, thinks that from this bird spermologus is used to denote poor and abject men, who in the forum collect grains falling from sacks and neglected, and from these make their living. Properly the Epicureans here call Paul a spermologus, that is, a windbag, a chatterer, who utters nothing but words, and chatters about anything for gain, as do forum-haunting quacks and beggars, or vagrants, who dress up their nonsense in words and peddle it. Truly St. Augustine, in the place cited a little before: "It was indeed said," he says, "by those mocking, but it is not to be rejected by believers: for he was truly a sower of words, but a reaper of morals." For his words were not words striking the air, but darts wounding the mind. Spermologi are the preachers of heretics, who truly call themselves ministers of the word, because in reality they give nothing but words, not of God, but of the devil. OF NEW (ξένων, that is, foreign, new, unheard of, absurd) DEMONS. — The Syrian proclaims strange gods. For the Gentiles reckoned demons to be lesser gods. Moreover, since there are good demons and evil demons (for "daemon" in Greek means the same as knowing, as Plato says in the Cratylus; whence the daemon of Socrates is called: although Eusebius, lib. IV Praepar., cap. iii, derives the name daemon from δειμαίνειν, that is, to strike down, to inspire fear; others from δάεσθαι, that is, to rule, because they rule men), hence this opinion can be understood both of good and of evil: thus the Syrian, Vatablus and others. Apuleius, in St. Augustine, lib. VIII De Civit., cap. xvi: "He defines demons to be animals in genus, passive in soul, rational in mind, aerial in body, eternal in time. Of these five, the first three are common to them with us, the fourth is proper to them, the fifth they have in common with the gods." But the last two are false, as is the first, unless by "eternal" you understand everlasting into the future, not into the past. BECAUSE HE ANNOUNCED JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. — Jesus, as it were God: ἀνάστασιν, that is, the resurrection, as it were a goddess, the patroness of resurrection, who would make her devoted followers rise from the dead: thus St. Chrysostom, Oecumenius and Sanchez. For thus the Romans worshipped fortune, happiness, salvation, honor, etc., as goddesses, which would inspire these things in their worshippers. See St. Augustine, lib. IV De Civit., cap. xi and seq. But more simply, the announcer of new demons can be referred to Jesus, whom Paul announced; and the latter part, to the resurrection. For the Gentiles, since with the light of nature they could not grasp the resurrection, because it is above nature and a miracle, and therefore will come about through the omnipotence of God, not through the force of nature; said that Paul, preaching it, was sowing words, that is, preaching trifles, fables, impossible things, and was an impostor, who sought present gain, promising mountains of gold in the future resurrection, as the Bonzes do among the Japanese.
17:19
19. TO THE AREOPAGUS THEY LED HIM. — The Areopagus in Greek is the same as the Hill of Mars, the Court of Mars; for Ares is called Mars. In Greek it is εἰς τὸν Ἄρειον πάγον, that is, to the Martian hill; just as at Rome there was the Field of Mars. For Athens was divided into five hills or districts, of which one was the Areopagus, so called from the temple of Mars, in which Pliny writes that the first capital judgment was held, lib. VII, cap. LV. For in this judgment of the Areopagus nothing was more constant, nothing more severe, nothing more powerful, says Cicero, lib. I ad Attic., epist. 9, so that there seemed to be as many Marses as there were judges. Hence they were called Areopagites, most severe judges, who judged in the temple, or near the temple of Mars. For when Mars was accused of homicide, being judged by twelve gods in that place, he was acquitted by six votes, as the Greeks relate; for when the votes were equal, the accused was acquitted, as one to whom in doubt and in equal votes favor should be shown rather than to the accuser: for no one is to be condemned unless he is proved to be guilty and harmful. Varro refutes this opinion in St. Augustine, lib. XVIII De Civit., 1. Whence Oecumenius and Isidore of Pelusium, lib. X, epist. 91, from Pausanias relate that Mars was accused in that place by Neptune of rape, condemned to death, and from this the Areopagus was named. But Demosthenes, in his oration Against Aristoc., thinks the Areopagus was so named because in it Martial cases, concerning fights and voluntary homicides, were handled; for accidental cases were tried in the Palladian tribunal. The tribunal of the Areopagus was instituted by Cecrops, says Aristotle, lib. II Polit., and Eusebius, in his Chronicle, year of the world 3694, and it endured even under tyrants. But Solon decreed that the Areopagites should be overseers and guardians of all things: whence he wished them to be chosen only from those who had been Archons, that is, princes and prefects of the republic; thus Plutarch, in his Life of Solon. The Areopagites were therefore of the greatest integrity in reputation, most distinguished in virtue, and most keen in experience of affairs. Whence they judged at night in darkness, lest they be moved by the tears and appearance of the accused: who were therefore ordered to state their case in simple words, and to abstain from all ornament of words and gestures. Moreover, they gave their verdict not by speaking, but by giving a ballot, either of acquittal or of condemnation. Whence the proverb: "An Areopagite more silent." Wherefore the most serious cases throughout the whole world, even by the Romans, as Gellius testifies, lib. XII, cap. vii, were referred to the Areopagites for judgment, and their gravity and majesty were so great that Aristides in his Panathenaicus asserts that their verdicts were equal to oracles, and all thought it impious, out of reverence for the Areopagus, to laugh in its sight. Whence also only three times in a month did they ascend the Areopagus to judge, namely on the fourth before the Calends, the third, and the day before. These and many more things Budaeus, in his Pandects, last law, De Sent. Paul was therefore led to the Areopagus, that there as an asserter of a new religion he might be judged, and if he were guilty, punished. For thus Socrates was condemned to death at Athens by 281 votes, because he had introduced new gods or demons. Whence St. Chrysostom: "To the Areopagus," he says, "they led Paul, not that they might learn anything, but that they might punish and inflict torments: for there capital judgments were exercised." But the providence of God turned this to the contrary, and caused great dignity to accrue to the Gospel and religion in the Areopagus, because Paul proved it there, and even converted the judge himself, namely Dionysius the Areopagite, to the same faith. Symbolically, the Areopagus signifies that those who wish to judge sincerely and rightly concerning any matter ought to put on a manly and martial spirit, so that they do not allow themselves to be effeminated and corrupted by any cupidity or passion. For this reason women often judge badly concerning matters; because they are women, and are driven by passions, which obscure right judgment. For, as that one says: "A woman either loves or hates;" and love and mercy, to which women are prone, disturb judgment no less than hatred and cruelty. CAN WE. — They ask astutely, civilly and humanely as if requesting, and say: "Can we?" that is, Does it please you to expound these new things to us? soon afterwards they reveal their mind, while they press him, and almost by force extort an answer, saying: "We wish therefore to know what these things mean."
17:20
20. NEW. — Ξενίζοντα, that is, foreign, namely a foreign faith, a foreign God, foreign doctrines; which being unheard of at Athens, you bring from elsewhere and preach.
17:21
21. AND STRANGERS AND SOJOURNERS. — The Tigurine [version], and those who dwelt there, strangers or foreigners. WERE OCCUPIED WITH NOTHING ELSE, EXCEPT EITHER TO SPEAK OR TO HEAR SOME NEW THING. — Thus also Plutarch, in the tract On Talkativeness, relates that the Athenians were wonderfully eager for novelties, and gives the example of a certain barber, who, when he learned of a great defeat of the Athenians in Sicily, which he had discovered from a slave who had fled thence, abandoned his shop and was the first to announce it in the city; and since he could not produce the sad author of this rumor, he himself, as if he had invented it, was bound to a wheel and exposed to public ridicule. Soon messengers arrived who had fled from the very battle itself: and so all dispersed to their own mourning, leaving the wretched barber bound to the wheel. And when he was released late, he asked the lictor: "Had you not also heard about Nicias the general of the army: in what manner did he perish?" So incurable and unconquerable an evil does the eagerness for novelties become through habit. The same [author], in the tract On the Glory of the Athenians, says that they were accustomed to spend more on comedies, the factories of novelty, than on wars: "That Lacedaemonian, he says, spoke not ineptly, [saying that] the Athenians gravely err in turning serious matters into jest, that is, in squandering the provisions and expenses of great fleets and armies in the theater." Thus Plutarch, who lived in the time of St. Paul and Luke, namely under the Emperor Domitian. Morally against novelty: Such persons exist even today. For curiosity about seeing or hearing something new is innate in men; for new things please, new things delight. And because true novelties do not always suffice, hence many invent new things, and tell trifles and fables, which are often infamous, by which they lacerate the reputation of their neighbor and expose him to the ridicule of others. Wherefore curiosity is pernicious, as much as talkativeness. For which reason Euclides, when asked what the Gods were like, and why they delighted [in things]? "Other things indeed I know not, he said, but that the curious are hateful to them I know for certain;" thus Maximus, sermon 21. Socrates always discoursed about morals, not about the stars, or about meteorological matters: asked why? He replied: "Those things which are above us, are nothing to us." The same frequently used that saying of Homer: In our houses what evil or right is done. Thus Laertius in his Life. Zeno, [when] a certain youth was asking something too curiously, led him to a mirror, and admonished him to contemplate himself. Soon he asked, whether such questions seemed fitting to be proposed to one of such a countenance? Thus Laertius, book VII, chapter i. Daemonax, to someone asking whether the world was round and animate? "You, he said, are concerned about the world, and do not care for your own filthiness;" thus Maximus, sermon 21. It is related of an Egyptian porter, who, carrying something covered with veils, when asked by someone what he was carrying, wisely replied: "It is covered so that you would not know: but why do you curiously investigate what has been hidden?" Gorgias, hearing someone asking ineptly, and another responding ineptly, said: "Which is more foolish, he who milks a goat, or he who holds a sieve beneath?" Someone wittily said that the Athenians have virtue in their lips, not in their deeds, says Plutarch in the Laconian [work], because they are talkative rather than industrious. Whence those who chatter much will do little: for their mind is wholly in the tongue, not in the hand. See the sayings on that [passage] of Sophonias chapter iii, 18: "I will gather those who have withdrawn from the law into trifles." Indeed such are time-wasters, word-wasters, profit-wasters, money-wasters and often soul-wasters; against whom Christ thunders: "I say to you: That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment," Matthew chapter xii, verse 36. Why do you seek new things, when there is nothing new under the sun? Ecclesiastes I, 10. "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing," ibid., verse 8. The example of Machetes is famous among Cassian, book V On the Institutes of the Renunciants, chapter xxix, who in a very long spiritual conference never [fell asleep], but in idle and curious narration immediately fell into sleep. And chapter xxxi teaches that the demon causes it so that, hearing spiritual things we fall asleep, hearing fables we wake up and attend.
17:22
22. AS THOUGH MORE SUPERSTITIOUS. — The word "as though" mitigates the rebuke, and the comparative "more superstitious"; for it would have stung more sharply to call them superstitious in the positive degree. The Syriac translator renders it, I see you are excessive in the worship of demons: for in Greek δεισιδαίμων means one who δέδιε τὰ δαιμόνια, that is, fears demons, as Oecumenius says. Add that δεισιδαιμονία, equally with superstition, is often taken in a good sense for religion, as Plutarch takes it in his work Περὶ δεισιδαιμονίας; Cicero in his fourth oration against Verres (when he says of the Sicilians that religion has seized the whole province, and superstition has pervaded the minds of all the Sicilians), and others: otherwise superstition differs from religion by excess, in that it is vain and minimal religion: "For those who prayed all day long and made sacrifices, that their children might survive them, were called superstitious," says Cicero in his book On the Nature of the Gods. Thus also Servius: "From 'survivor,' superstition is said to be named, which is the peculiar vice of old women, who by reason of age have many survivors, and who, being addicted to vain things, while they wish to be excessively religious, become superstitious and thus rave." Hence superstitious is sometimes called religious, as in Terence's Self-Tormentor: "That we are all foolish and wretched in being religious." Better is Lactantius, book II, chapter 28, who asserts that superstition is said of those who worship the surviving memory of the dead as gods; or of those who worshipped their surviving parents. Isidore, however, in book VIII of the Etymologies, chapter 3, says: Superstition is named as it were over-ordained and superfluous observance. And Lucretius, cited by Servius in the eighth book of the Aeneid, says: Superstition is vain fear of things standing over us, namely heavenly and divine things which stand above us. Finally, Nonius Marcellus thinks that superstitious men are so called because they neglect other things for the worship of gods, that is, they disregard them; just as religious men are so called, as it were from "leaving behind," because, leaving all else behind, they devote themselves to sacrifices alone. More truly St. Augustine, in his book On True Religion, at the end, thinks religion is named from binding: because by it, "with the help of the angels themselves, tending toward one God and binding our souls to Him alone, whence religion is believed to be named, we are free from all superstition. Behold, I worship one God, one principle of all things and one wisdom, by which whatever soul is wise is wise: and that same gift by which whatever is blessed is blessed. Whoever of the angels loves this God, I am certain that he also loves me." Paul therefore says: I see you, O Athenians, everywhere excessively religious and superstitious: because everywhere I see your gods, vows, sacrifices, lights: but those gods, first, are false; second, are too many; third, are unknown. For no one prudently worships what he does not know and what he is ignorant of. I have therefore come here to change your superstition into true religion, that instead of false gods you may acknowledge and worship the true God, instead of many one, instead of unknown a certain and known one. Most excellently St. Augustine, book IV of the City of God, chapter 30: "Let us give thanks," he says, "to the Lord our God, who through the most profound humility of Christ, through the preaching of the Apostles, through the faith of the Martyrs dying for the truth and living with the truth, has overthrown these superstitions not only from religious hearts but also from superstitious temples, freeing His servants from their bondage." The same, book VIII, chapter 17: "What then is the cause, except foolishness and miserable error, that you make yourself humble by venerating him (Jupiter, Venus, etc.), whom you wish to be unlike in living; and you worship with religion one whom you are unwilling to imitate, when the sum of religion is to imitate whom you worship." And chapter 23, citing Hermes Trismegistus teaching that lifeless and insensible statues are not gods, and therefore their worship will fall away, saying: "Do you not know, O Asclepius, that Egypt is the image of heaven, and more truly our land is the temple of the whole world? etc. All their (the Egyptians') sacred veneration will be frustrated and come to nothing." Augustine adds: "In which he seems to predict this time, when Christian religion, the more true and holy it is, the more vehemently and freely overthrows all false fictions, so that the grace of the Savior may free man from those gods which man has made; and may subject him to that God by whom man was made." Indeed, even Plato in the Timaeus teaches that human souls are tempered by the maker God in the same mixing-bowl and from the same elements as the heavenly souls, namely with angels and demons: whence we must beware lest we wish to be the servants of those to whom God and nature have made us brothers.
17:23
23. SEEING. — ἀναθεωρῶν, that is, observing more attentively and considering. YOUR IDOLS. — An idol, in ecclesiastical usage, is taken in a bad sense, for the image of a false deity, or an idol. Thus it is called from simulating, because from the desire for the dead, it was fashioned in their likeness, so that those who had already departed might seem to live. Whence Plautus in the Pot-Ghost: "When he was born, I would have thought him similar and to have an idol." Thus an idol is a simulacrum, because it simulates and falsely claims to be a deity. Lactantius, however, in book II of the Institutes, chapter ii, derives simulacrum from simulating, in that it is similar to the thing of which it is an image: but thus it would rather be called similacrum with an i. I FOUND AN ALTAR ALSO ON WHICH WAS WRITTEN: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. — Thus Lucian, in the Philopater, says that the Gentiles swore by an unknown god at Athens. You may ask, who is this unknown god? First, St. Chrysostom and more fully Oecumenius respond, whose words worthy of note I shall here set down: "Two causes," he says, "do they give why an altar was inscribed among the Athenians: To the Unknown God. For some say that the Athenians sent Philippides to the Lacedaemonians concerning bringing aid, when the Persians were leading an army into Greece. To their messengers, near Mount Parthenius, the phantom of Pan appeared, accusing the Athenians that, neglecting him, they worshipped other gods, and promised aid. When therefore they had obtained victory, they erected a temple to him and built an altar, and as if being cautious, lest the same or something similar should happen to them, if they should pass by any god unknown to them, they erected that altar inscribing it: To the Unknown God; saying: If any other god still unknown to us exists, let this altar be erected by us in his honor, so that he may be propitious to us, even though, being unknown, he is not worshipped. Others, however, say that a plague once raged at Athens and so consumed them that they could not even bear the finest linen. When therefore they worshipped those who were held to be gods among them, they felt no help. Understanding therefore that there was perhaps some God whom they had left without honor, who had sent the plague, they built a new altar and inscribed it: To the Unknown God. And when they themselves had sacrificed, they were immediately healed. Paul therefore says that this is Christ Jesus, the God of all, whom he said he was announcing to them. But the whole inscription of the altar is this: Θεοῖς Ἀσίας, καὶ Εὐρώπης, καὶ Λιβύης, Θεῷ ἀγνώστῳ καὶ ξένῳ, that is: To the Gods of Asia and Europe and Libya, to the Unknown and Foreign God." However, as Baronius well observes, there were many altars at Athens inscribed to unknown gods in the plural; but one was inscribed in the singular: "To the Unknown God." For this is what Paul asserts. Second, Hugh, Lyra, and Sanchez here, and Michael Syncellus, in the Praise of St. Dionysius, hold that the unknown god at Athens was Christ crucified. For when Dionysius saw an eclipse made at the death and on account of the death of Christ, he exclaimed: "The unknown God suffers in the flesh, and therefore the world is darkened by these shadows," says Syncellus. Therefore the unknown god is the suffering God, namely Christ crucified. To him indeed the Athenians erected an altar before others, who thought him a great God to whom nature by an admirable change and heavenly mourning had paid funeral rites. Third, more probably Baronius, Lorinus and others hold that the Athenians learned from Philosophers and Sibyls, perhaps also from Jews, that the true God is invisible, hidden, sublime, inaccessible and incomprehensible, and therefore erected an altar to him with this title: "To the Unknown God." For this reason the Hebrews said the name of God Jehova to be ἀπόρρητον καὶ ἀνεκφώνητον, that is ineffable, as I said at Exodus vi, 3. Wherefore Clement of Alexandria, book I of the Stromata IX, and St. Augustine, book I Against Cresconius, chapter xxix, teach that the Athenians worshipped one true God, although unknown to them. And St. Jerome, in chapter xvi of Ezekiel, says that the majesty of God was not obscurely unknown even to these Gentiles, as it was not to the Jews using the ineffable name of the tetragram. Whence Lucan, book II: "Uncertain of the nature of God:" uncertain, that is, unknown. That this unknown God was true, not some false one from the gods of the Gentiles, Paul hints at when he adds: "What therefore you worship without knowing it, this I announce to you." You will say: Why then does he call them superstitious? I answer: First, because they worshipped the idols of the Gentiles with an unknown God and equated them to him, according to that passage of Isaiah XL, 25: "To whom have you likened me, and made me equal? saith the Holy One." Second, because they called him unknown: for no one worships or loves that which he does not know. For "there is no desire for the unknown." Third, because they did not truly know him as they could and ought to have known him. For they did not acknowledge him to be the creator of heaven and earth, the giver of rain, harvest, fruits and all things; to be present everywhere; that our life and breath are in his hand: whence Paul instructs them concerning these things. Finally, the devil could lurk and hide himself under the name of the unknown God; as Nicephorus, book VII, chapter L, indicates that the Argonauts set up a statue to the deity directing them, and afterwards St. Michael the Archangel made himself known to Constantine the Great, signifying that he had directed them. Thus Christ, John IV, 22, reproves the Samaritans, saying: "You adore that which you know not; we adore that which we know." A most excellent passage concerning the unknown God is found in Arnobius, book I Against the Gentiles, before the middle, in these words: "First, you are the cause, the place and space of things, the foundation of all that exists, infinite, ungenerated, immortal, perpetual, alone whom no bodily form delineates, no circumscription of quality determines, free from quantity, without position, motion and condition, concerning whom nothing can be said and expressed by the signification of mortal words; that you may be understood, silence is necessary; and that through shadow erring suspicion may investigate you, nothing is to be changed at all. Grant pardon, O supreme King, to your servants who persecute you, and what is proper to your kindness, forgive those fleeing the worship of your name and religion. It is no wonder if you are unknown; it would be a matter of greater admiration if you were known." Most excellently also Tertullian, in the Apology against the Gentiles, chapter xvii: "That which we worship, he says, is one God, who expressed this whole mass with all its equipment of elements, bodies, and spirits, by the word by which he commanded; by the reason by which he disposed; by the power by which he was able, from nothing into an ornament of his majesty. Whence also the Greeks accommodated the name κόσμον to the world. He is invisible, although he may be seen; incomprehensible, although through grace he may be represented; inestimable, although he may be estimated by human senses. So true and so great is he. But what can be commonly seen, what can be comprehended, what can be estimated, is less than the eyes by which it is occupied, and the hands by which it is defiled, and the senses by which it is found. But what is immense is known to itself alone, that which it is: God makes himself to be estimated, while he does not admit of estimation. Thus the force of magnitude has presented to men both the known and the unknown. And this is the sum of the crime of those unwilling to acknowledge him whom they cannot fail to know." St. Cyril, book III Against Julian: "Hermes Trismegistus, he says, says that God is difficult to understand indeed, but impossible to speak of. For it is impossible to signify the incorporeal by the corporeal, and it is not possible to comprehend the perfect by the imperfect, and it is difficult to compare the eternal with the momentary. Therefore if anyone, an incorporeal eye, should go forth from the body to the contemplation of beauty, and fly beneath and contemplate, not seeking to behold a figure, not a body, not a form, but rather that which is able to make all things, which is quiet, which is tranquil, which is solid, which is unchangeable, which itself is all things and alone, which is one, which itself from itself, which itself in itself, which is like to itself, and like to no other. For he himself is all virtue, nor think him to be in anything, nor again as if outside something. For he himself is he who without limit is the limit of all things: and he who is comprehended by no one, comprehends all things in himself." And shortly after: "Moreover also the most wise Xenophon: Therefore it is manifest that he is great and powerful, and shakes and confirms all things; but what his form is, is unknown, for he does not seem to be the most brilliant sun, nor does he permit himself to be seen: but if anyone impudently looks upon him, he is deprived of his eyes." Thus Cyril. Simonides, when asked by Hiero the tyrant what God was, requested a day to think about it, soon two days, then four days, afterwards eight days, and so on. When Hiero wondered and asked the reason: "Because, he said, the longer I consider, the more obscure the matter appears to me"; thus Cicero, book I On the Nature of the Gods. Fourth, by the unknown God some understand God about to appear in flesh, namely Christ about to be incarnate: for the Athenians could have learned from the Sibyls and from the Hebrews of the future incarnation of Christ, and erected an altar to him with this inscription: "To the Unknown God." For Christ before that time was unknown and unrecognized to men. This is true, if what Hilduin, Archbishop of Rheims, writes in the Life of St. Dionysius is true. For thus he says: When Paul had examined all the altars and images of false gods one by one, among the other altars he found one altar which had this inscription written above it: To the Unknown God; and Paul turned to it and asked him, saying: Who is that unknown God? To whom Dionysius answered: As yet, he said, that God has not been made known among the gods, but is unknown to us, and will be in the age to come. For he is the God who will reign in heaven and on earth, and his kingdom will have no end. Paul therefore added, saying: Will he be a man or a spirit? Dionysius answering, said: True God and true man, and he himself will renew the world; but as yet he is unknown to men: because his conversation is with God in heaven. And Paul said: That God I preach to you, whom you call unknown. For born of the Virgin Mary, having suffered under Pontius Pilate, he died for the salvation of mankind and rose again, and ascending into heaven sits at the right hand of God the Father: true God and true man through whom all things were made; and he will come at the end of the age as judge of all things that are done: he who is now known in Judaea as God, and great in Israel and his name is holy. Wherefore him whom you have held as unknown until now, now know; because he is God alone, and besides him there is no other: who has redeemed us from death by the price of his blood to life; who has joined heaven and earth, namely man and angels, in the unity of his kingdom; who mortifies the just and vivifies the pious, who shuts and no one opens, opens and no one shuts." Hilduin adds that by these and other words of Paul Dionysius was converted, and inflamed with the love of Christ, especially when he saw a blind man illuminated by Paul. But let the credibility of this narrative rest with Hilduin: for to some it seems apocryphal. Morally: Learn here the sublimity of God, by which he surpasses and transcends the vision of all angels and men. "For he dwells in light inaccessible: whom no man hath seen, nor can see (by the eyes and the vision of mind and nature)," I Timothy VI, 16, especially if we regard the Most Holy Trinity in the one indivisible unity of essence, if we consider the mystery of the incarnation, of the passion, of the Eucharist. Whence Isaiah, XLV, 15: "Verily thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Saviour:" And the Psalmist, Psalm XVII, 12: "Who made darkness his covert." Wherefore the Seraphim with veiled eyes cry out to him: "Holy, holy, holy," Isaiah VI, 3. Seneca gives two causes, lib. VII Natur. Quaest., cap. XXX. The first is: "Because, he says, he has such subtlety and brightness as human vision cannot attain." The other, "Because in a more sacred retreat such majesty is hidden." Add a third from Damascene: "Knowledge, he says, is of those things that are: but God is above being itself. Therefore he is also above and outside knowledge, because above essence." And a fourth, because he is infinite and immense in every direction, whether you regard substance, or power, or wisdom, or other attributes. Hear Seneca, lib. II Quaest., cap. XLV: "Do you wish to call him fate? you will not err. This is he on whom all things hang, the cause of causes. Do you wish to call him providence? you will speak rightly: for he is he by whose counsel this world is provided for, that it may go unshaken and unfold its actions. Do you wish to call him nature? you will not sin: for he is he from whom all things are born, by whose spirit we live. Do you wish to call him the world? for he himself is all that you see, wholly contained in his parts and sustaining himself by his own power." The divine Dionysius, cap. XV of the Celestial Hierarchy, asserts that God is compared to the wind, indeed walks upon the wings of the winds, on account of the power of moving and animating, and the swift and insuperable departure, and the unknown and invisible hiding places of noble principles and ends. And St. Augustine, lib. X of the Confessions, cap. VI: "Lord," he says, "I love thee. Thou hast struck my heart with thy word, and I have loved thee. But heaven and earth and all things that are in them, behold on all sides they tell me to love thee, nor do they cease to tell all, that they may be without excuse. But thou wilt have mercy more deeply on him to whom thou hast had mercy, and thou wilt show mercy to him on whom thou hast been merciful. Otherwise heaven and earth speak thy praises to the deaf. But what do I love when I love thee? not the beauty of a body, nor the grace of time, nor the brightness of light—behold these are loved by a friendly eye, nor the sweet melodies of songs of every kind, nor the fragrance of flowers and ointments and spices, nor manna and honey, nor limbs acceptable to the embraces of the flesh. I do not love these things when I love my God: and yet I love a certain light, and a certain voice, and a certain odor, and a certain food, and a certain embrace, when I love my God; light, voice, odor, food, embrace of my inner man: where there shines for my soul what no place contains; and where there sounds what no time snatches away; and where there smells what no breeze scatters; and where there tastes what no eating diminishes; and where there clings what no satiety tears away. This is what I love when I love my God. And what is this? I asked the earth, and it said: I am not: and all things that are in it confessed the same. I asked the sea and the abysses and the creeping things of living creatures, and they answered: We are not thy God, seek above us." Valerian Maximus saw this through a shadow, lib. I, cap. I: "Whatever," he says, "is placed on the highest pinnacle, ought to be empty of humble and worn custom, that it may be more venerable." And Iamblichus, Protrep., cap. III: "Knowledge of God," he says, "is perfect happiness," which we cannot attain in this life. Clement of Alexandria, lib. V of the Stromata, cites and praises these verses of Orpheus concerning God: One perfect in himself, from one all things are made. No mortal sees him, but he sees all. I do not see him, for a solid cloud is placed around the orb, And Cleanthes the Stoic, who thus depicts God: What is ordered and religious and pious, Just, master of itself, becoming and useful, What is severe, grave, always conducive, Free from fear, pain and trouble, Helping, pleasing, beautifully in harmony with itself, Clear, yet not insolent; modest and vehement, What endures, can be, nor can anyone imitate. This is the divine darkness, which St. Dionysius graphically depicts, lib. On Mystical Theology, cap. I and following. Where he also calls the highest ascent of the soul to God "darkness and light," darkness to the soul, light to God. From which Tauler, Suso, Ruysbroeck and other contemplatives drew their contemplative doctrines concerning entering into the darkness of God. Clement of Alexandria, lib. V of the Stromata, citing this saying of Paul, confirms it by a saying of Euripides: What house built by architects could contain The body of God in the enclosure of its walls? And of Zeno, saying "that temples ought not to be made, nor images; for nothing that is composite is worthy of the gods." And of Plato, saying "that God dwells afar off in the region of ideas, and the world is the temple of God: wherefore he forbade that anyone should privately have images of the gods. For gold and silver," he says, "privately, and in sacred things is an envious thing: but ivory, which has lost its soul, is a wicked thing: and iron and bronze are instruments of wars. But from wood, whatever is made from one piece of wood, let him offer whatever he wishes: similarly also from stone for common sacred things." This is Plato.
17:24
24. GOD WHO MADE THE WORLD. — He censures the Epicureans, who deny God and His providence; and the Stoics, who held that the world exists by fate or nature. For both denied that God freely created the world by His free will. Thus Chrysostom. From the creation therefore and the workmanship of the world, the Creator, God, can be known and ought to be worshipped. "For the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth forth the work of his hands," Psalm XVIII, 1. Indeed, even Euripides: "The stars, he says, in heaven are the variety of a wise craftsman," namely God. See St. Augustine, book VII On the City of God, chapter XXIX, where he enumerates and celebrates the principal works of God the maker. NOT IN TEMPLES MADE WITH HANDS, — as if He were corporeal and delighted in corporeal temples, and were bound by them, enclosed and circumscribed, as a king dwells in a royal palace and is circumscribed by its bounds. For God is not bound by place, much less is He terminated by it; but He extends Himself above all the heavens through the immense spaces of the void. Thus St. Justin the Philosopher and Martyr, a hundred years after St. Paul (for he suffered martyrdom in the year of the Lord 165, according to Baronius), when asked by the Prefect of the city in what place Christians were accustomed to gather, replied that each one gathers where he wishes and is able: "For the God of Christians, he said, is circumscribed by no place: but since He is invisible, He fills heaven and earth, and is worshipped everywhere by the faithful, and His glory is celebrated." He added, however, that he lodged in the baths of Timothy, or the Novatian baths (which was the house of Pudens the senator, and a common inn for Christian strangers, now it is the Church of St. Pudentiana: for Pudens was the father of St. Timothy, Novatus, Praxedes and Pudentiana). "But if anyone, he said, wished to come to me, I shared with him the doctrine of truth." Thus his Life and martyrdom has it, which Baronius recounts from public records in the year of Christ 163, although the Alexandrian Chronicle, which our Raderus published after the death of Baronius, asserts that Justin suffered martyrdom in the year 435 from the Ascension of Christ, which was 468 from his nativity.
17:25
25. NOR IS HE WORSHIPPED BY HUMAN HANDS, — so that statues, idols, altars and temples might be fabricated, erected and dedicated to him by the hands of men, in which fleshly sacrifices might be offered to him: as if idols were the members and body of God, altars and temples were his house and palaces, sacrifices were his food and delights, as the Gentiles believed. Yet this does not prevent God from being rightly worshipped by Christians in an image and statue: because Christians know that God does not depend on the image; but the image is merely an image, which represents God to men who are led by sense. See what is said in Deuteronomy V, 8. Yet formerly, when Gentiles passed over to Christianity, the Fathers carefully guarded against images and especially statues of God, lest the newly converted Gentiles, from their former custom, would worship them as gods. Whence Lactantius forbids an image of God to be made, lib. II, cap. II, and Justin, Apolog. II. The Syrian version renders it, nor is he ministered to by human hands. For the Gentiles were accustomed to exhibit such ministries to their gods as servants exhibit to their masters, especially to kings, by rousing them, clothing them, feeding them, washing them, offering them food and drink, just as if their gods were men; which indeed Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Mercury and the others were—powerful men, but tyrants and wicked. See St. Augustine, lib. VI De Civit., cap. X. God therefore does not need this ministry of hands, nor is he worshipped by human offices, but by angelic ministries. Constantine the Great, the Emperor, converted a temple erected by the Argonauts to the Saving Deity, and from this called Sosthenic, into a Michaelic temple, that is, the temple of St. Michael, as Nicephorus testifies, lib. VII, cap. L, because St. Michael had aided the Argonauts, not Jupiter or any other Deity, as the Argonauts thought. For St. Michael, appearing to Constantine, affirmed this. ...he grants to circumstances, nor is there any day, nor any rest, and not even the slightest moment passes idle of his benefits. Again the Egyptians, says Horus Apollo, lib. I Hieroglyph., cap. VI, wishing to signify God, painted a hawk, both because this animal is fertile and of long life, and because it is the image of the sun, inasmuch as it looks with most intent eyes upon its rays, and the Sun is the visible hieroglyph of God. Beautifully Horace, lib. I Carm.: Who rules the affairs of men and gods, Who the sea and lands, and the world in its various hours. More sublimely our Boethius, lib. III De Consolat., meter 9: O thou who governest the world by eternal reason; Creator of earth and sky, who commandest time to flow from eternity, and remaining stable givest all things to move. And St. Dionysius De Divinis Nomin., cap. IX: "God is called Great," he says, "both from his greatness, by which he communicates himself and with all things that are great, and diffuses and extends himself through all greatness, contains every place, surpasses every number, transcends every infinity; and from the supreme force of action and greatness, and the gifts which flow from him as from a fountain, inasmuch as when communicated to all with infinite profusion, they yet remain whole, and have the same exuberance of multitude, nor are they diminished by communications, but rather overflow and abound." AND ALL THINGS. — In Greek, κατὰ πάντα, that is, according to all things, namely the principles and organs required for life and respiration, as Cajetan says. But for κατά, κατὰ πάντα should be read καὶ τά. For thus St. Chrysostom reads it, translating as Our version does, and all things. Wherefore Clement of Alexandria, lib. III Paedagog.: "Let us praise," he says, "one Father and Son together with the Holy Spirit, who is one all things, in whom all things, through whom all things, who is good on every side, beautiful on every side, wise on every side, just on every side, to whom be glory now and for ever." And St. Augustine, serm. 19 in Joannem: "God is everything to you: if you hunger, he is bread to you; if you thirst, he is water to you; if you are in darkness, he is light to you; if you are naked, he is the garment of immortality to you." The same in Psal. XXVI: "Whatever is besides God is not sweet. Whatever my Lord wishes to give me, let him take all away, and give himself to me." Wisely the Psalmist, Psal. XLIV: Great is the Lord and exceedingly to be praised; and of his greatness there is no end. Generation and generation shall praise thy works, and shall declare thy power. They shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of thy holiness, and shall tell thy greatness. They shall publish the memory of the abundance of thy sweetness, and shall rejoice in thy justice. The Lord is sweet to all, and his mercies are over all his works. Let all thy works, O Lord, praise thee, and let thy saints bless thee. LACKING NOTHING, SINCE HE HIMSELF GIVES TO ALL LIFE AND INSPIRATION (spirit, or vital breath) AND ALL THINGS. — All things, understand this appropriately, namely those things which have life: for God does not give life to stones. Again, take life broadly for any kind of life, even vegetative and sensitive. Therefore Lyra does not rightly limit life to the angelic and spiritual. By inspiration, in Greek πνοήν, understand breath, spirit; or, as the Syriac has it, the sensitive soul: for those things which have this, breathe. Thus Cajetan. Moreover Chrysostom rightly limits it to the rational soul, which God inspired into Adam, Genesis II, 7. For Paul alludes to this: for he is speaking of men, as I have already said. In a similar way Plato, Speusippus and Apuleius, according to Rhodiginus, lib. XII, cap. II, define God thus: God is a living immortal being, through himself sufficient unto blessedness, eternal essence, the cause of goodness itself, an incorporeal being, without limits, blessed, beatific, father of all things, the best, lacking nothing, conferring all things. Moreover God is the cause of all beings: first, as efficient cause; second, as final cause; third, as exemplary cause. Hence Timaeus the Pythagorean calls God the exemplary world: because he himself is the greatest world of wisdom, holiness, intelligence, life, reasons, forms, species and things, all of which he embraces in himself and preserves and contains, just as the world embraces us and all kinds of things within its circumference: of which matter Eusebius brings forth a beautiful hieroglyphic of the Egyptians, lib. III De Praeparat. Evangel., cap. III. Wherefore the world is the book of God, as St. Antony used to say, the tablet of God, the song and canticle of God, as St. Paulinus says, on the Nativity of St. Felix the 9th, constantly praising God and proclaiming his majesty and beneficence to all nations: whence it comes to pass that no one is so rude and barbarous that if he should look up to heaven, he would not see God the ruler, would not feel him and would not detect him, as it were from the claw the lion, from the line Apelles. For God is as it were an immense and most beneficent sun, because he illuminates all things with his light, nourishes all things with his heat, creates and produces all things with his omnipotence. For this reason he is called in Hebrew Saddai, that is, breasted, cornucopia, most sufficient, most liberal. See the sayings at Genesis XVII, 1. The Gentiles saw the same thing, who painted Isis the goddess with breasts, that is, entirely made up of udders, in order to represent the fruitfulness of the earth, mother and nourisher of all things. They erred: for Isis is not a goddess, nor is the earth breasted of itself; but all that it has, it receives from God. God therefore is entirely breast, entirely udder, constantly nourishing the earth, plants, animals and men with the milk of his beneficence. Hence Apuleius, Metam., lib. XI: "God," he says, "sweet maternal affection for the wretched... to you. For all things of their own accord return to their author. For nature as guide will be referred to God from whom they are born, so that from where they drew life, they may also receive the nourishment of life and glory, always clinging to their origin." Wherefore Cassiodorus, defining God appropriately, in Psal. XLVII: "God," he says, "is inexplicable power, incomprehensible mercy, ineffable wisdom, whose definition is to have no end in the praises of the Saints." This therefore is the philosophy and true and pious theology of Christ and Paul, which teaches us that we have nothing from ourselves, but all things from God: which St. Francis understood well, who frequently in prayer repeated: "Lord, who are you? Who am I? You are all things, I am nothing: you are the abyss of being and goodness, I am the abyss of nothingness and evil. To you therefore I prostrate myself with abyssal humility and reverence, my God and all things."
17:26
26. AND HE MADE OF ONE. — The Greek texts add blood: because from one blood and flesh of Adam the first man, all men have been propagated and descended: blood therefore, that is man, by synecdoche. Blood denotes the mode of propagation, namely through generation, which is accomplished through seed, which is nothing other than blood more thoroughly concocted, and therefore purer and more noble. Why God willed all to be born from one, St. Augustine gives the reason, book XII of the City of God, chapter XXI: "That in this way the unity of society and the bond of concord might be more vehemently commended to man, if men were bound together not only by the similarity of nature among themselves, but also by the affection of kinship;" and therefore He brought forth Eve from Adam. TO DWELL UPON THE WHOLE FACE (that is, surface) OF THE EARTH. — For the whole earth is habitable and inhabited: hence the Antipodes dwell in the land opposite to us. See what is said on Genesis X. As if to say, God not only created men, but also governs them continually, and defines for each the place and time of life. Having defined the appointed times, — as if to say, God predetermined for each man, nation and kingdom his measure of time and age, so that namely man lives seventy or eighty years, Psalm LXXXIX, 10; so that these men first are born and rule, then those and those; so that the Assyrians obtain the first monarchy, the Persians the second, the Greeks the third, the Romans the fourth. Paul notes the Athenians, who boasted themselves to be the most ancient of all men and the first, and called themselves αὐτόχθονας, that is, earth-born sprung from their own earth: thus Cicero, in the oration for Flaccus. And the bounds of their habitation, — as if to say, God prescribed for each nation a bound both of time and of place in which it should dwell, lest neighbors occupy or invade the place. This is what Moses sings, Deuteronomy chapter XXXII, 8, saying: He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.
17:27
27. TO SEEK GOD,—that is to say, God thus distributes mankind and governs them through times and places, so that they might investigate and seek Him, know Him, love Him and worship Him. For the world is as it were an animal, whose spirit and as it were soul is God; the eyes are the moon and sun; the liver, veins, blood and phlegm are the fountains, veins and rivers; the offspring are trees, herbs, flowers, animals, men: all of which God vivifies, nourishes, cherishes and sustains. Whence from these things He can easily be found and known. See Theodoret in ten discourses, which he wrote learnedly on Divine Providence, or on the Godhead; and our Lessius on the same subject; and Cicero, book II of On the Nature of the Gods; and St. Anselm, in the Monologion and Proslogion. Plato, in the Cratylus, says that ἥλιον, that is the sun, is called so from its revolution, because by its rays, light, heat, and efficacy, it turns all things and the eyes of all to itself: much more does God do this, who is an immense sun both in light, in heat, in beneficence toward all and all things. Truly St. Justin in Damascene, book I of Paralipomena, chapter LXV: "As bodily health," he says, "is the good of the body, so the knowledge of God is the good of the soul: which is as it were a certain health of the soul, by which divine likeness is obtained." The same in Anthony, in the Melissa, book II, discourse XLIII: "The end of philosophizing is to become assimilated to God, as far as it is possible for us." IF PERHAPS THEY FEEL AFTER HIM.—In Greek, ψηλαφήσειαν, that is, they feel or grope after him, as a blind man in darkness gropes about to find his way and place. Thus Pagninus, Vatablus and others. It signifies that God cannot be seen by us and clearly known in this life, and that we, as it were blind, by groping after the footsteps of God, namely creatures, arrive at knowledge of Him. For just as a blind man by groping arrives at the place to which he tends, so we by groping and investigating creatures, arrive at God their creator. Truly St. Augustine, epistle 120 to Honoratus, chapter III, and tract. 1 in John: "How," he says, "is a man placed in the sun blind; the sun is present to him, but he himself is absent from the sun: so every fool, every wicked man, so every impious man is blind in heart; wisdom is present to him, but to the blind man it is present, absent from his eyes, not because it itself is absent from him, but because he himself is absent from it." The same you may say proportionally of any man, even a just one: for every man with respect to God is blind. For although God is wholly light, yet to Himself alone is He light, by which He sees all things most clearly, but to us He is transcendent and inaccessible light. Tiberius Caesar had eyes so bright, that in darkness by their light he saw all nearby things, as Suetonius says in his Life; God has far brighter eyes: seeing all things therefore by no one is He seen. The sense therefore is, if perhaps men feel after God, not by bodily touch, but by metaphorical and mental touch, that is, if they touch, find and know God with their mind, so that they might venerate, love and invoke Him: know Him, I say, from His operation and production of fruits and all things. For just as a blind man if in the densest forests, or in a house most full, if he moves even slightly, he will strike against trees, walls, or other things: so everywhere God encounters man, nay, assails him. For who, if he more deeply considers his own body and its members and organs, so many and so varied; if his own soul and its senses, powers, movements and actions; if his own being, so wonderful and manifold; especially, when he does not understand by what reason these things are made and are made, will not immediately gather that there is a divinity within him, which has fabricated, ordered, protected and governed this fabric like a clock, furnished with so many machines and organs; which produces those admirable movements, which mingles, tempers and joins most closely together in one composite that wonderful harmony of body and soul, of senses and members, of mind and flesh by divine art? Thus Sanchez. For in every thing and movement we must come to some immobile principle, as it were to the first cause. Whence Plato, in the Timaeus, defines God to be one and the same, and always like to Himself, one ungenerated principle of all things. For if He were generated, surely He would not be a principle, but produced from another principle. See St. Augustine, book VIII of the City of God, chapter VI. ALTHOUGH,—καίτοιγε, that is, although, or for. Whence the Syrian translates it, since, and that is very apt here, that is to say, It is easy to find God, since He Himself is not far from each one of us. Our own, however, Pagninus, the Zurich Bible and others translate although: let us therefore follow this and explain it. ALTHOUGH HE IS NOT FAR FROM EACH ONE OF US. — Lest anyone should think from the fact that Paul had said: Seek God, if perhaps they may feel after him, or find him, that God is absent from us: for we seek and find him in his absence; as if correcting this, he explains by adding that God is not far from each one of us, both in position and place, but rather in operation: for from this it is easy to feel after and to know God, inasmuch as he gives us life, motion, food and all things, as follows, that is to say, Just as the sea is not far from fishes, because fishes are generated in it and from it, are nourished and live; whence they perceive this: so God is not far from us, because in him, and from him as from a sea of all goods we draw life, motion and all things: from which it is easy to feel after and to know him. For although he himself is an invisible spirit, yet through these effects of his he exhibits himself to blind men as knowable and as it were tangible. "God," says St. Augustine, lib. VII De Civit., cap. XXX, "is wholly everywhere, enclosed by no places, bound by no chains, divisible into no parts, changeable in no respect, filling heaven and earth by his present power, not by his absent nature." From this one true God we hope for eternal life. Gabriel Vasquez carefully notes, I part., disp. XXVIII, cap. IV, num. 17, that Paul here does not directly and purposely treat of the immensity of God, but how easily it may be felt after by us from his works, not by hands, but by mind, that is, known and worshipped. For God is near to us by his operation, indeed intimate as the air in which we live, which we draw in by breathing. Just as therefore we feel after and perceive the air by breathing, while it refreshes us; so we know God operating in us and as it were feel after him. Wherefore Cajetan and others less correctly conclude from this passage that the reason and foundation of God's existing in things is his very operation, as in bodies quantity is the reason for filling space. For operation is a sign and effect of the presence of God and angels, not the cause. For it is prior that God, or an angel, be present somewhere, than that he operate there, indeed often an angel is present and operates nothing. Paul therefore treats here rather of the presence of divine operation, that is to say, We perceive God's operation in us: for he himself operates in us life, motion and existence; in him indeed we live, move and are: therefore he is not unknown to you Athenians, as you think, but can most easily be known and felt after from his operation. Yet it is true that the operation of God is conjoined with the presence of the divine substance, and presupposes it: because God is immense, hence he is present everywhere according to substance, nor can he operate anywhere unless he be present, because this is required, not by operation, or the mode of God's operating, but by his immensity. For if he operated anywhere where he is not, he would not be immense, and consequently would not be God, nor could he operate as God. Moreover, God can be perceived and felt after from his operation, not from his presence, since he is spirit and invisible. All these things Paul signifies here. The sense therefore is, that is to say, God is present to us, although he is not seen by us. For he is immense and everywhere: hence also he operates everywhere and exhibits himself knowable to all. From operation therefore you can know God, that is the first cause, the first and immense being, for as he is everywhere, so he operates everywhere. It is otherwise with the sun, which operates in absence at a distance, because it is not immense. Add, just as we perceive a place, namely the air, through breathing, refreshment or heat, so also God: for God is the place of places. I shall explain this sense more fully presently.
17:28
28. In him we live, and move, and are. — Not as if we were in God's very substance itself and were a part of it, as some have foolishly imagined, says St. Cyril, book IX on John, chapter XL; St. Augustine, book IV On Genesis according to the letter, chapter XII. But first, in him, that is through him, says St. Cyril. For Paul proves that God gives to all life, inspiration and all things from the fact that in him, that is through him, we live, move and are. Therefore we are in him as in an efficient and conserving cause, that is in a manner continuously creating: for conservation is the continuation of creation, and continuous creation. For God conserves our soul, life, motion, sense and essence, always flowing these into us, just as he created them at first; just as the sun conserves its rays, perpetually emanating and producing them. Secondly, concomitantly we are in him, as in a container and divine place, as I have already said. "God is near to you," says Seneca, epistle 41, "and when he is near, he is within. A sacred spirit sits within us." For God, just as he is the aeon of aeons, so is he the space of spaces and the place of places, without which no place is, or can be. For just as all being flows from the essence of God and all time, and all duration flows from the eternity of God; so also all space and all place flows from the immensity of God, as our Lessius teaches learnedly; in his book On Divine Attributes, treating of the immensity of God. God therefore is as it were a certain immense sea extended through infinite spaces, in which the world and all things in it float, like a sponge in the ocean, says St. Augustine, book VII of the Confessions, chapter V. Wherefore St. Gregory, describing God's immensity learnedly and elegantly, book II of the Morals, chapter VIII: "He himself," he says, "remains within all things, he himself outside all things, he himself above all things, he himself below all things: and he is superior by power and inferior by sustenance, exterior by magnitude, interior by subtlety: ruling above, sustaining below, surrounding without, penetrating within: nor is he one way superior in one part, another way inferior; or one way exterior in one part, and another way remains interior; but one and the same wholly, everywhere presiding sustains, sustaining presides, surrounding penetrates, penetrating surrounds: hence presiding above, hence sustaining below; and hence surrounding without, hence filling within: without disturbance ruling above, without labor sustaining below; penetrating within without diminishment, surrounding without without extension. He is therefore inferior and superior without place, he is more ample without breadth, he is more subtle without diminishment." And Minucius Felix, in the Octavius, answering the Gentiles objecting that Christians worship a God whom they do not see: "Rather," he says, "we believe in God for this reason, that we can sense him, we cannot see him. For in his works, and in all the virtues of the world we always behold his presence, when he thunders, lightens, strikes with lightning, when he clears the sky." And soon after: "How could you endure him who is the maker of the sun itself, the very fountain of light; when you turn yourself away from his brightness, hide yourself from his lightning bolts?" And below: "He is not only near to us everywhere, but infused. Look again at the sun: fixed in the sky, but scattered over all the earth: equally present everywhere he is present, and mingles with all things (for nowhere is his brightness violated): how much more God the author of all things, and observer of all things, from whom nothing can be hidden, is present in darkness, is present in our thoughts, as in other darknesses? We not only act under him; but with him, so to speak, we live." In God therefore, as in an infinite ether, we live and move, within Him we stand and dwell: He penetrates us with His essence and substance, penetrates our whole body and our entire soul and all its recesses, corners and hiding places: we cannot go outside Him, because He is everywhere: and because He is immutable, where once He is, He is always. For this reason Paul says pointedly: In Him we live, not through Him, so as to signify that God is the efficient cause of our life in such a way that He is also local and as it were material, inasmuch as He supplies to us all the matter of bodily life and essence, and our whole subject, just as the sea supplies fishes, but in a far more excellent manner. For God created matter from nothing, and by conserving it quasi continually creates: the sea, however, receives what was created by God, and imparts it to fishes. Just as therefore fishes live in water and from water by natural sympathy and dependence, so that they cannot live outside it: so we live in God and from God, so that we cannot live outside Him, to such a degree that if by impossibility God did not exist in us, or in the place in which we are, we could not exist and subsist in that same place. For just as our substance depends on the substance of God: so our existence in place depends on God's existence in the same place, as a ray from the sun, as an embryo from a mother and womb, as a bird from air, as a man from breathing; and more plainly as a body lives, moves, is and is sustained by a soul. Just as therefore it can be said of the soul that in it we live, move and are, so much more the same is said of God: for He is the soul not only of the body, but of each soul, present everywhere to it and vivifying, moving and sustaining it. See therefore how physically we are joined to God, and morally ought to be joined, so that as often as we draw breath, so often we draw God, think of and invoke Him in whom as in air we live, move and are. Thus St. Chrysostom: "Just as," he says, "it is impossible to be ignorant of air diffused everywhere and existing not far from each one of us, so assuredly also of the maker of all things. See how He says all things are His, that providence is His; conservation is from Him; the power of operating; to have action, and not to perish." Profoundly Lyra: "He," he says, "is more intimate to us than we ourselves: because He joins the intrinsic principles by which indeed each one of us is constituted substantially." Moreover God is in us, and we in turn in God just as light is in air, and air in light. See St. Augustine, book IV On Genesis according to the Letter, chapter XII, and book XIV On the Trinity, chapter XII; and St. Cyril, book III on John, chapter XL. Thirdly, in God we live, move and are, as in a circle, or wheel enclosing and surrounding us. Whence Empedocles: "God," he says, "is a circle whose center is everywhere, circumference nowhere." And a circle is a symbol of the perfection and eternity of God, as Pierius teaches, Hieroglyphics, book XXXIX. Divinely St. Dionysius, chapter VII On Divine Names, says that the divine monad, or unity in three persons, diffuses itself from the heavenly things into all things, even the lowest, so that it is, he says, the first principle of all essence and cause; and the same contains all things in an excellent manner by its embrace, which is invincible. Fourthly, juridically in God, that is in God's dominion and jurisdiction we live, and are surrounded by it, so that we cannot escape His law and hand, according to that Psalm 138, 7: Whither shall I go from Thy spirit, and whither shall I flee from Thy face? If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there: if I descend into hell, Thou art present, etc., but He Himself as it were as a potter forms us, moves, rules, changes us as He wills. Whence St. Augustine on that passage Matthew VI: Our Father, etc. "God," he says, "is in Himself as alpha and omega; in the world as ruler and author: in angels as taste and beauty: in the Church as the father of a household in his house; in the soul as a bridegroom in a bridal chamber; in the just as helper and protector; in the reprobate as fear and horror." And Aristotle, or whoever is the author, in the book On the World: "What," he says, "the helmsman is in a ship, the charioteer in a chariot, the precentor in a choir, the law in a city, the commander in an army, God is the same thing in the world;" and consequently the world in turn is in God, just as a kingdom is in the king by whom it is ruled. Therefore this preposition 'in' signifies that we depend intimately on God, and that God is as it were the soul and life of us, according to that saying of St. Augustine, sermon 18 On the Words of the Apostle: "The soul is the life of the body, God is the life of the soul." For man and any thing whatsoever depends more on God than on itself: because both matter and form of it are not from themselves, but all their being they have from God, and they have it so long as it pleases God. For if He should withdraw His hand, immediately all things fall back into their nothingness, from which they were brought forth by God through creation. Therefore we depend more on God than rays on the sun, light on light, heat on fire, life on the soul, breathing on breath. And this is the reason why we ought to love God more than ourselves, that is, our life and soul: because namely from God, as from a fountainhead principle, we depend more, and the whole universe, of which we are a part, than from ourselves. Thus St. Thomas and the Scholastics, II II, Question XXVI, article 3. Morally: in Him we live signifies first that we by an easy step ascend from our life and soul to God. Whence St. Augustine, book VII of the Confessions, chapter X, citing these words of Paul: "And thence," he says, "admonished to return to myself, I entered into my inmost self, with you as my guide, and I was able to do so, because you became my helper. I entered, and I saw with the eye of my soul, however it could see, above that same eye of my soul, above my mind, the light of the Lord unchangeable, not this common light visible to all flesh, nor as it were of the same kind. It was greater, as if this light shone much more brightly and filled all things with its greatness. It was not that light, but something else; something very different from all these things. Nor was it above my mind in the way oil is above water, nor as the sky is above the earth, but higher: because it itself made me; and I am lower, because I was made by it. He who knows the truth knows it; and he who knows it knows eternity. Charity knows it. O eternal truth and true charity and dear eternity! You are my God, I sigh for you day and night." Secondly, in Him signifies that God has in His hand our life, our breath, our being, and consequently our grace and glory, our happiness and eternal damnation. In Your hands are my lots, says David, Psalm XXX, 16. This is what Daniel thunders forth to King Belshazzar announcing his destruction: You have praised, he says, the gods of silver and gold, etc. But God who has your breath in His hand and all your ways, you have not glorified, Daniel V, 23. Symbolically, in God Himself we live and are as in an exemplary cause: for the ideas of all of us, according to which we were created, properly exist in God: "in Him," says St. Augustine, "the eternal reasons of all things live." In God therefore I am and I live, because my idea and exemplar properly exists, and lives in God. See St. Thomas and the Scholastics, I part., Question XV. Again, in God, that is in God's mind, wisdom, will, care and providence we live, move and are. For He always thinks of us, cares for our affairs, rules, directs and provides for us in all things. If therefore we wish to be grateful, we ought continually to think in turn of our God, obey Him and please Him in all things. For just as there is no moment in which we do not enjoy God's benefits, so there ought to be no moment in which we do not think of Him. For who would forget his soul, or the breath in which he lives, moves and is? Thus St. Dominic, St. Thomas and other Saints continually spoke of God, or with God. Thus St. Augustine in the Soliloquies, chapter XVIII: "At every moment," he says, "you bind me to yourself, Lord, while at every moment you bestow on me your great benefits; as therefore there is no hour or point in all my life in which I do not use your benefit, so there ought to be no moment in which I do not have you before my eyes, in my memory, and do not love you with all my strength." Wherefore God, just as He is the center of our soul, so ought He to be also the center of all our thoughts, intentions and actions. Cassianus teaches this elegantly, Collation XXIV, chapter VI, by the example of a tortoise, or vault, whose roundness ought to come together and be drawn tight at the center, otherwise it will collapse: "Thus also, he says, our mind, unless it fixes solely the charity of the Lord, as an immovable center, turning through all the moments of our works and efforts by the compass of charity, shall not aptly arrange or repel the quality of all thoughts, and will by no means construct that structure of the spiritual building, of which Paul is the architect, I Corinthians III, with probable skill, nor shall it possess the beauty of that house, which blessed David, desiring to exhibit to his Lord in his heart, says: Lord, I have loved the beauty of thy house, and the place of the habitation of thy glory." And St. Augustine, in the book On Spirit and Soul, chapter XVII, or whoever is the author. For that it is not by St. Augustine, but by someone later than him, is clear from chapter XXXVII, where he cites Boethius, who was killed by Theodoric, king of the Goths, in the year of Christ 526, when St. Augustine lived in the year of Christ 420. And in chapter XLVIII, he cites much from Gennadius, book On Ecclesiastical Dogmas, who is likewise more recent than Augustine. This author, I say, piously and elegantly describing the common and particular benefits of God, and His care and providence, adds: "My God has done these and many other things for me, concerning which it is sweet for me always to speak, always to think, always to give thanks, so that for all His benefits I may always be able to praise and love Him. For since He presides over all, filling each one, present everywhere, caring for the universe, and providing for both individuals and all things, thus I see the whole occupied for my protection, so that, if I stand upon my own protection, as if He had forgotten all things, and wished to attend to me alone. He always exhibits Himself present, always offers Himself ready, if He finds me ready. Wherever I turn, He does not abandon me, unless I first abandon Him. Wherever I shall be, He does not withdraw from me, because He is everywhere, so that wherever I go I may find Him, with whom I may be. Whatever I do, He likewise assists, as the perpetual inspector of all my thoughts, intentions and actions. When I consider these things carefully, I am confounded by fear and great shame, because I behold Him present everywhere to me, and seeing all my hidden things. For there are many things in me, concerning which I blush before His eyes, and for which I greatly fear to displease Him. Nor do I have anything to repay Him for all these things, except only that I love Him. For it cannot be repaid better, nor more fittingly, than by love, what was given by love." Wherefore St. Bernard, in the book On the Manner of Living Well, chapter XXIX, gives to his sister this pious and salutary teaching: "Sin there, where you do not know God to be. For nothing is hidden before God. He sees hidden things, who made secret things. The Lord is present everywhere. The Spirit fills all things. The majesty of almighty God penetrates all elements, there is no place outside God. The Lord knows the thoughts of men." Again St. Augustine, sermon 255 On the Seasons: "In us, he says, two altars are established, namely of our body and of our heart. God seeks a twofold sacrifice from us: one, that we be chaste in body; another, that we ought to be pure in heart. Therefore on the outer altar, that is in our body, let good works be offered, on the heart let holy thought breathe forth the odor of sweetness, so that the heart as an altar of incense may perpetually exhale from God the incense of praise and thanksgiving." The same, book XIV On the Trinity, chapter XII: "It is, he says, great misery for man to be without Him, without whom he cannot be, that is to subsist. For in whom he is, without doubt he is not without Him; and yet if he does not remember Him, and does not understand Him, nor love Him, he is not with Him." These things are said physically of natural being, by which we naturally live, move and are in God. Mystically, these things are more true in their supernatural being and degree. For supernaturally we live in God through grace, we are moved through charity and other virtues, we exist through the highest union with God, by which made sharers of the divine nature, we have become a new and supernatural creature. For through justification God becomes present in the soul of the just in a new way, so that if by impossibility He had not previously been present in it through essence, presence and power, immediately by the virtue of grace and justice He would become present through essence, presence and power, as I have shown from St. Thomas, Suarez, and other Scholastics at Hosea I, 10. Whence St. Ambrose, in the book On the Good of Death, final chapter: "We are moved, he says, in God, as in a way; we exist, as in truth; we live, as in eternal life." And St. Cyprian, in the book On the Baptism of Christ, applies these things to the Holy Trinity: "In the Father, he says, we exist, in the Son we live, in the Holy Spirit we are moved and make progress." This is what Isaiah says, chapter XXVI, 12, that God works all our works in us, likewise all things in all things, as Paul says, I Corinthians XII, 6, and that He works in us to will and to perfect, Philippians II, 23. This is what Christ asserts plainly, John XIV, 23: If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him; and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him. In Thee therefore, O Lord, we live, and move, and are, as an infant in the bosom, nay rather in the womb of its mother, by whom it is begotten, formed, nourished and receives all its being; as a little fish in the sea, as a bird in the air, as herbs and grasses in the earth, as those sailing in a ship, as those riding in a chariot. For Thou art the chariot of Israel, and his driver, Thou as a chariot dost sustain and carry us: as a driver Thou dost moderate, direct and lead us in right paths to heaven. "What do I ask that Thou come into me, who would not exist unless Thou wert in me? Or rather would I not exist unless I existed in Thee?" says St. Augustine, I Confessions, chapter II. In Thee, that is, in Thy memory, intellect and will we always live; Thou art always mindful of us, Thou thinkest of us, disposest and orderest us. Grant that in turn Thou always livest, that we remember, understand, will and love nothing but Thee, that day by day we may know and love Thee more and more by seeking Thee. "What indeed, says St. Augustine, book I Confessions, chapter 14, art Thou my God? What, I pray, but the Lord God? For who is Lord except the Lord, or who is God except our God? Most high, most good, most powerful, most omnipotent, most merciful and most just, most secret and most present, most beautiful and most strong, stable and incomprehensible, unchangeable yet changing all things, never new, never old, renewing all things, and bringing the proud into old age, and they know it not. Always acting, always at rest; gathering, and needing nothing; bearing, and filling, and protecting; creating, and nourishing, and perfecting; seeking, when nothing is lacking to Thee: Thou lovest, yet art not inflamed; Thou art jealous, yet secure; Thou repenteth, yet grievest not; Thou art angry, yet tranquil; Thou changest Thy works, yet changest not Thy counsel; Thou receivest what Thou findest, and never losest; never in want, and rejoicest in gains; never covetous, yet exactest usury: and it is given to Thee that Thou shouldest owe, and who hath anything that is not Thine? Thou payest debts owing to none, Thou forgivest debts losing nothing. And what shall we say, my God, my life, my holy sweetness? Or what saith any one, when he speaketh of Thee? And woe to those who are silent about Thee, for the talkative are made mute." And from these things gather and measure how great is the divine goodness and beneficence, both present and rather future; and how great are the goods and joys which God hath prepared in the heavens for those who love Him, measure them by this measure and standard. For, as St. Eucherius says, in his letter to Valerius: "Since God in this life bestows such splendid things on the just and unjust alike, what manner of things are to be thought those which He reserves for the just? Let us consider who gave such great things, how great He will restore; who is so great in gifts, how great will He be in rewards. If the benignity of Him who gives is so inestimable, what is that of Him who rewards? Ineffable are the things which God hath prepared for those who love Him: how great will He repay the good, who giveth such great things to the ungrateful?" How therefore we ought always to have God present in mind and always to represent His presence to ourselves, so that we do nothing, will nothing, think nothing unworthy of Him which might offend His eyes! How holy it behooves us to be, who in holiness itself, in God, that is, as in an uncreated temple, live, move and are! Philo said in turn, and from him Lactantius, in the book On Anger, chapter XIV, "The whole world is a certain most holy temple, and worthy of God." Much more the microcosm, namely man, especially the faithful and holy man, is an animated and living temple of God, in which God substantially dwells, and therefore in it he can and ought always to contemplate, revere and worship Him. "Let this be a perpetual study for you," says the Nazianzen in his Sentences, "that you build your mind a temple for God: for thus you will have Him in your inmost heart as a spiritual statue." Thus St. Gorgonia, the sister of the Nazianzen, exhibited herself a living temple to God, and therefore dying she uttered this swan-like voice: "In peace into the same I will sleep and rest," as he himself testifies, oration 11, which is concerning St. Gorgonia. IN HIM WE LIVE, MOVE AND ARE. — These three things as it were respond antistrophically and confirm the three things which Paul said men receive from God in verse 25, when he says: "Since he himself giveth to all life, and breath, and all things," that is to say, God gives us life, because in Him we live; He gives breath, because in Him we move: for breathing itself is motion; for it is a continuous inspiration and expiration of air, which is made by the contraction and dilation of the lungs as it were of bellows, to cool the heart. Again breathing is joined with motion: for those things which have the power of motion, breathe: whence also while they move more strongly, they breathe more: for by motion heat is excited, which by breathing is to be cooled and tempered. Finally He himself gives all things, because in Him we are, that is, from Him we suck and draw all our being, all that we have, the whole that we are: for besides life and motion, we have many other things from God. Note: In God we live, not formally, as if He himself were the formal cause of our life, as some have thought: and the heretical Apollinarists took away from Christ as man mind and soul, saying that the divinity performed the function in His stead. Again some Scholastics thought that life, which consists in the vision of God, is made by the sole influx of the divinity or of the light of glory into the soul, so that the soul itself does nothing, nor actively elicits the act of beatific vision, but merely passively conducts itself, receiving it only. For these things are repugnant both to Philosophy and to Theology, which teaches that vital acts, such as vision, intellection, love, etc., express an essential order to the soul living in which they are, so that they ought to flow and be produced vitally from it: otherwise they will not be vital acts, but dead qualities and actions. For in this a vital act is distinguished from a non-vital one, that the former proceeds vitally from an intrinsic principle, the latter does not. Note secondly, that in which we move. For from this it is evident that God immediately concurs in every motion of ours, equally as in every operation of a secondary cause; and therefore from this the Apostle rightly concludes that God is not far from us, but is everywhere present; because namely everywhere immediately not only us, but also all our motions and actions He touches, and cooperates with them, so much so that without His concurrence and cooperation we could neither stretch out a finger, nor produce the least nod or motion. Thus throughout against Durandus, in II, distinction I, Question V (where he teaches that God only gives and preserves the power of motion, but does not concur in the motion itself), the Scholastics teach with St. Thomas, I part., Question XVIII, article 4, to 1. For every thing depends and flows from God: therefore also action: for it is itself a thing and a certain being. Gabriel Vasquez, and from him Sanchez, take genus not for offspring, but for work, that is to say, We are a work and creature of God. Whence Clement of Alexandria, book V of the Stromata, near the end: "We are His offspring," he says, namely by creation: for γένος signifies not only to beget, but also to produce. Whence the book Genesis is called, in which the creation and production of things is narrated. Thus in Job XXXVIII, God is said to be the father of rain, that is, the producer; so that the sense is, that is to say, If we who are offspring, that is, a work of God, far excel wooden and stone idols, indeed these images are formed by the hand of man, much more does God excel them: wherefore it is impious that these be equaled to God or worshipped as God. But others everywhere take genus for progeny and offspring. Thus the Greek Poets call Heroes διογενεῖς, διοτρεφεῖς and δίους, that is born of God, nourished by God and divine. Man therefore is the genus of God, who was created in the image and likeness of God, as it were God's offspring and son; who accordingly participates in His essence before other creatures, the highest degree of being, namely rational nature. See what is said Genesis cap. II. Far more excellently and perfectly are we the genus, that is the sons of God, through grace, by which we are adopted as sons of God, indeed sharers of the divine nature, as St. Peter says in Epistle II, I, 4. Whence St. Gregory, lib. XX Moral., cap. XVI, and Bede: "We are," they say, "the genus of God, not because we are of the substance of God, or a part of it, but because through His Spirit, and willingly through adoption we are recreated," for in justification not merely some quality, such as grace and charity, but the very Holy Spirit Himself, and the whole Blessed Trinity is given to us, as I said a little before, which unites us to itself substantially, and as it were transforms us into itself, so that we may be His kindred and co-corporeal, and therefore one genus with Him, indeed one spirit, as it is said I Corinthians VI, 17. Thus St. Gregory of Nyssa writes concerning his brother St. Basil the Great, in his Funeral Oration: "Kinship indeed and relationship with God belonged to him (Basil): but his country was virtue." Furthermore, from the fact that we are God's genus, the Apostle rightly confirms his statement, that in Him we live, move and have our being, inasmuch as we are so much the genus of God that we are intimately united to Him and His substance, and are wholly penetrated and possessed by it; and consequently that God is not remote from us, nor unknown, as the Athenians thought; but known and near, not only in place, but also in knowledge and substance: because we are of the genus and stock of God, as it were His offspring and progeny; for Aratus, as is evident from his verses cited a little before, so says we are the genus of God, that He everywhere (namely the macrocosm, and much more the microcosm, that is men) fills and completes all things with Himself and His divinity, that is His substance, presence, operation, continuous beneficence, and all of us need Him, use Him and enjoy Him perpetually, while namely we live, move and have our being in Him, as the Apostle explains. AS ALSO CERTAIN OF YOUR POETS (the Syrians, wise men: for the Poets were the wise men of the Gentiles and as it were Prophets) HAVE SAID. — Virgil, IV Georgics: For God goes through all things, the lands and tracts of the sea, and the deep heaven. Hence cattle, herds, men, every kind of wild beasts, and each draws forth his slender life as it is born. Plato, and from him Virgil, Aeneid VI: A spirit within nourishes, and mind infused throughout the limbs moves the whole mass, and mingles itself with the great body. Thence the race of men, of cattle, and of flying creatures. If God is the soul of the world and of the microcosm, much more is He the soul of the microcosm, namely of man. Lucan, lib. IX: Jupiter is whatever you see, wherever you move. Again: All things are full of Jupiter. Ennius in Cicero, lib. II On the Nature of the Gods: You see the sublime ether spread out immeasurably, which with tender embrace encompasses the earth, hold this as the highest god, proclaim this as Jupiter. Aratus has similar things, of whom presently. FOR WE ARE ALSO HIS OFFSPRING. — These are the words of Aratus in the Phaenomena. Aratus was an ancient and celebrated Poet, in the favor of King Antiochus, in the 125th Olympiad, in the year 472 from the founding of Rome, a native of Soli, not far from Tarsus; and therefore almost a fellow-countryman of Paul. He wrote excellently concerning the stars and the heavenly signs; whence Cicero translated his verses into Latin, lib. II On the Nature of the Gods. Aratus therefore begins thus: From Jupiter the beginning, whom we never send forth incomplete: but all things are indeed full of Jupiter, and all the assemblies of men, the sea is full, and the harbors; everywhere moreover we all need Jupiter. Others for "we need," translate "we use," or "we enjoy," as if χρεώμεθα were derived from χρῶμαι, that is I use, not from χρηίζω, that is I need. But χρῶμαι is constructed with the dative, χρηίζω with the genitive; such as here is Διός, that is of Jupiter: For we are His offspring. Which hemistich Paul cites for brevity's sake only, and because it suffices to confirm what he had said: "In Him we live, move and have our being." Aratus adds that Jupiter provided the fixed seasons for sowing, sprouting, reaping, etc. Whence he concludes: "Hail, Father, great wonder, great benefit to men." Morally, by the example of Paul learn that the sentiments of the Heathen are rarely and soberly to be cited by a Christian preacher: concerning which our Lorinus has much here. But the first sense is the genuine one, as is evident to anyone examining Aratus. Hence the ancient Philosophers and Poets, such as Orpheus in the Hymns, Soranus, Varro and Philo, say that God is to creatures both father and mother, namely that He is μητροπάτωρ and πατρομήτωρ, that is, mother-father and father-mother. First, because, just as man receives his being and goods from father and mother, so much more does he himself, and every other creature, receive the same from God. Second, because, as Philo says in the book On Drunkenness, the name of father denotes power, that of mother knowledge, namely the idea, which conceives and forms the structure of a thing as a mother does; God therefore is father through omnipotence, and is also mother through omniscience, and the idea of all things, which is attributed to the Word, namely to the Son. He is therefore as it were the mind and mother of all things. Third, because God is father through the production and creation of all things: and is mother through goodness and beneficence, by which He creates, preserves, nourishes and governs all things. Whence God the Father, to whom creation is attributed, is father; the Holy Spirit, to whom goodness is attributed, is as it were mother of all things. Fourth, because God in the world and through the world emits the seeds of things to be produced as a father: and likewise receives the same as a mother. Thus Varro and Soranus, who nevertheless erred in this, that they thought the world itself to be God. Hear them cited and refuted by St. Augustine, lib. VII of the City of God, cap. IX: "To Jupiter," he says, "they are accustomed to attribute the universe. Whence comes that saying: All things are full of Jupiter. Therefore they can think of Jupiter, so that he be God, and especially so that he be king of the gods, as nothing other than the world: so that among the other gods according to these men he reigns in his own parts. In this opinion Varro also expounds certain verses of Valerius Soranus in that book which he wrote separately from these on the worship of the gods, which verses are these: Jupiter almighty, King of kings, himself God and also Progenitor, and mother-bearer of the Gods, God one and all. They are expounded moreover in the same book thus, that they thought him male, who would emit seed; female, which would receive: and that Jupiter is the world, and that he emits all seeds from himself, and receives them into himself; for which reason, he says, Soranus wrote: Jupiter progenitor, and mother-bearer; no less with reason, one and all to be the same. For the world is one, in that one all things are." Fifth, most aptly the Word made flesh is πατρομήτωρ. For the Godhead is as it were father, the humanity in Christ is as it were our mother: for this reason God became man, so that He who was father might be to us also mother, concerning which more in I John I, 1. Second, the phrase "for we are also his offspring" could be referred higher in the Hebrew manner to the former part of verse 27: "To seek God, if perhaps they may feel after him, or find him," so that this is the proof of that rather than of what immediately preceded: "In him we live, and move, and are;" as if to say: We are the offspring of God, His kinsmen and sons: therefore we can easily find and know Him: for a son by nature recognizes his father, a kinsman recognizes a kinsman, one of the same blood recognizes one of the same blood, one of the same kind recognizes one of the same kind; just as an ox recognizes an ox, a nightingale a nightingale, a horse a horse, a lion a lion and loves it. It is commonly said: "Like rejoices in like: The cicada is dear to the cicada, the ant to the ant: the ass to the ass, the pig to the pig is fair: always the jackdaw sits beside the jackdaw." Third, others think it is an argument from the greater to the lesser, as if to say: It should not seem wonderful to you, O wise men, that I said we live, move and are in God; since your own Poet attributes even more to him, and teaches that there is a greater union of us with him, when he says we are the offspring of God, or progeny; because namely he created us, equally as the angels, to his image, and made us partakers of his freedom, reason and spiritual essence. For God is as it were the soul of the world, which diffuses itself through it entirely, and in it produces men as it were sons from itself and in itself, just as the sea produces fish from itself and in itself: so that like fish in the ocean of God and divinity we live, swim, move and are. Wherefor, although in men and animals sons are separated from their parents, in God nevertheless both in place and in operation they are joined with him, because he himself is immense and fills, penetrates and occupies all things. Hence again, although man once begotten by his father is no longer begotten by him, nor receives body or life from him, in God however it is otherwise: for we depend upon him continually as a ray depends upon the sun. Thus therefore we are the offspring of God, so that he continually as it were begets us, by preserving us and continually influencing into us life, motion and all our being. Finally, Aratus rightly proves that we all have need of God, from the fact that we are His kind, that is, His offspring and children. For children have need of the help of their father, inasmuch as they receive from him life, food, clothing, inheritance and all things: but especially do they have need of the help of the divine Father, and of God Himself, who is the father of all being and of all existence and essence, and therefore in Him we live, move and are, as the Apostle reasons. Morally: Learn here how great is the nobility of the soul, namely that it is heavenly, divine, the offspring and progeny of God; and therefore it is unworthy if it should abase itself to brute desires: wherefore it ought to live a divine, heavenly and angelic life, so that it may imitate God its father, and return blessed to Him. Wherefore the same thing which Aratus says here, other Poets also said, namely, that the soul of man is "a particle of divine air." Ovid, book I of the Metamorphoses: A nobler animal was wanting still, one capable of lofty mind, and able to rule over the rest: Man was born, whether the maker of things, the origin of a better world, fashioned him from divine seed. Manilius, book IV: Is it doubtful that God dwells beneath our breast, and that souls return to heaven, and come from heaven? Virgil, book VI of the Aeneid: Theirs is a fiery vigor and a heavenly origin. St. Paulinus to Ausonius, epistle 14: The mind indeed, which survives the fallen limbs, endures from a heavenly stock. Juvenal, satire 15: We have drawn sense sent down from a heavenly citadel. Claudian, Panegyric 4 of Honorius, says that Prometheus, in order to fashion men and animate them, "having stolen a pure mind from his father Olympus," bestowed it upon man as it were as a soul. Hesiod and Homer frequently say that Jupiter is πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε, that is, as Virgil, following Homer in his manner, translated it, in the Aeneid XI, "the sower of men and gods."
17:29
29. SINCE WE ARE THE OFFSPRING OF GOD, WE OUGHT NOT TO THINK, etc. — This is the argument of the Apostle: Man is not fashioned from gold, silver or stone, but from flesh and a rational soul, which far surpasses all gold and silver; but man is the offspring, progeny and image of God: therefore God also is not fashioned from gold or silver, but is pure spirit, uncreated, omnipotent. For if indeed a living man far excels a golden image, inasmuch as it is mute and inanimate; much more does God excel it. Again, God cannot be fashioned by man, but rather conversely man was made by God, and is His offspring and progeny; but idols are fashioned by man: therefore they cannot be gods. Or rather this is the reasoning of the Apostle: Our soul, according to which we are the offspring of God, cannot be painted or depicted in gold, silver, or carved stone, since it is incorporeal and spiritual; therefore much less can the divinity, which is the purest spirit and the source and origin of all spirits, be painted, depicted and represented in the same. Finally, by this statement Paul rebukes the Epicureans and Anthropomorphites, who said that God is corporeal. For we are the offspring of God according to the rational soul, not according to the body. Therefore, as Cato says: If God is mind, as the poems tell us, this especially ought to be worshipped by you with a pure mind. OUGHT NOT TO THINK. — νομίζειν, to think, to suppose, to believe. OF GRAVEN WORK AND OF THE DEVICE OF MAN. — The word of graven work is not in the nominative case, as if to say, Gold, Silver or Stone, which are graven work, or idols carved by art; but in the dative: for in Greek it is χαράγματι, it is therefore an apposition or epexegesis, as if to say, We ought not to suppose that God and divinity are like unto gold, silver or stone, namely to graven work formed by the art and device of man. Whence Pagninus and the Zurich version translate, we ought not to suppose that the divine is like unto gold and silver, or to stone carved by art, or invented by man. OF THE DEVICE. — Thoughts, that is, of the thinking, meditation, conception, imagination, namely the idea which the artificer and sculptor imagined, conceived and devised. Irenaeus, book III, chapter XII, translates it as desire: "Stone," he says, "deformed by the art or desire of man." DIVINE. — τò θεῖον, that is, divinity. Thus the Syriac; or the divine power, as Pagninus and the Zurich version translate it.
17:30
30. AND INDEED THE TIMES OF THIS IGNORANCE (Syriac, idolatry) GOD OVERLOOKING. — Overlooking, that is, looking down from on high and having mercy, according to that in Luke I, 78: "Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the dayspring from on high hath visited us." For this is properly ὑπεριδεῖν, that is to overlook, namely to look downward, as the Latins note. And thus it is taken in Psalm LIII, 9: "For thou hast delivered me out of all tribulation, and my eye hath looked down upon my enemies." Thus the saying of St. Francis was: "Despise the earth, look up to heaven." Thus Emmanuel Sa. Secondly, others interpret ὑπεριδών, that is overlooking, as despising, or dissembling, as if to say God hitherto neglected and dissembled this ignorance of your fathers and yourselves by conniving, and not punishing you, so that by this his longsuffering you through my preaching, in which I announce the true God to you, might come to your senses, do penance and turn to him. Thus Chrysostom and Oecumenius, as if to say: Hitherto God was silent and dissembled his injury: but now he will dissemble no longer: hence he speaks through me, and commands that idols be abolished and that he himself be worshipped as the true God. Thirdly, Lyra refers despising not to men, but to gods and idols, as if to say God despising and abhorring idols, has now determined to put an end to them and overturn them, so that they may no longer be held as gods, nor be worshipped. Fourthly and genuinely, ὑπεριδών is an aorist signifying when he shall have despised in the past, as if to say: Hitherto God despised, that is neglected, the Gentile idolaters, permitting them to serve idols, as if he did not care for them, and they did not pertain to his paternal providence: but now after Christ and through the merits of Christ, he does not despise them, but regards them with paternal eyes, and determines to extend his care over them: wherefore he announces to you through me the faith, grace and salvation of the one true God. For Paul says the same thing here that he said in a similar address to the Lycaonians, cap. XIV, 15: "Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways:" for what he says there "suffered," he says here "despised." Thus Sanchez. St. Augustine gives the causes why God suffered the Gentiles, epist. 47, sap. II, where he answers Porphyry cavilling at the same thing. Paul notes the unhappiness of former times and the happiness of the present, namely of the new law, which is as it were a golden age, and a perpetual jubilee of grace, joy, virtues and all goods; so that we ought to give infinite thanks to God that he made us to be born in this time of the shining Gospel, by which we can easily attain blessedness; whereas our ancestors were born in a time of ignorance of God and idolatry, and therefore perished with other idolaters and were damned. Socrates gloried that he was born at Athens, as in the school of wisdom. King Philip gloried that Alexander was born to him in the time of Aristotle, so that he could be instructed by him: much more should a Christian glory that he was born in the time of Christ, in whose Church he learns the faith and wisdom of God; and let him not be ungrateful for such grace of God, nor receive it in vain; but let him strenuously cooperate with it for his own salvation and that of others. THAT ALL SHOULD DO PENANCE. — from their ignorance, that is idolatry and other sins.
17:31
31. BECAUSE HE HATH APPOINTED A DAY, WHEREIN HE WILL JUDGE THE WORLD. — Paul preached the same thing to Felix the governor, Acts XXIV, 25, and Peter to Cornelius, Acts X, 42: "He commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he who is appointed by God to be judge of the living and of the dead," so that namely they might believe in him as redeemer and obey him whom they expect as judge. Let the preacher proclaim this same thing frequently. For threats and terrors strike and shake the hardened hearts of sinners more than blandishments and promises. I heard in Belgium a distinguished and powerful preacher who in all his sermons with many efficacious words refreshed and inculcated to the people the memory of judgment, stirred up vehement movements of souls, and converted many. Most excellently St. Justin in Damascenus, in the Second Book of Chronicles, chapter LXXVII: "Just as," he says, "in all bodies procreated by God this is implanted, that they have a shadow; so also God, who is endowed with justice, both to those who have proposed virtue to themselves to be cultivated, and to those who have preferred to embrace vice, it is fitting to distribute rewards and punishments according to each one's merit," that is to say, Just as a shadow follows a body inseparably, so divine providence and retribution accompany God. IN THE MAN, IN WHOM HE HATH APPOINTED. — Pagninus and the Zurich Bible: through that man, through whom he had decreed, namely through Christ. Hence it is clear that Christ according to his humanity, in that he is man and a man, not in that he is God, will be judge. For it is fitting that the judge of men be a man, so that he may be seen, felt, and heard by them. Christ therefore is the man appointed by God as judge. Whence the Council of Ephesus, chapter XXXI, at the end: "In him," it says, "who will appear from without, and will be plainly seen by all who are to be judged, the divine nature lying hidden will exercise judgment." St. Ambrose notes, book VI, on chapter IX of Luke, prudently that Paul first preached only the humanity of Christ, and gradually through it made a step toward his divinity, lest, if he had immediately said that he was God and man, he would be rejected and mocked by the Sophists of Athens, as he was mocked on account of the resurrection of Christ. The same thing is to be imitated by the preacher and teacher among the rude, averse, and imbued with contrary errors, such as pagans, heretics, etc. Finally, St. Dionysius, On the Divine Names, chapters II and III: "When," he says, "that supreme God took on the substance of our flesh, and was called a man, etc., in our natural properties he was supernatural, in those things which are of our essence he was above essence, possessing all things of ours from us and above us most excellently." GIVING FAITH TO ALL. — That is to say, Making faith and publicly declaring him to be judge, through his resurrection to immortal and glorious life. For this is sufficient testimony to make faith, that he himself was raised up for this reason, that he might rule gloriously and be judge of the world. Thus Chrysostom and Cajetan. Secondly, others explain it thus, that is to say, God showed himself faithful in his promises when he raised Christ from the dead: because he had promised that he would do this, Psalm XV, 10. Thirdly, Lyra and Hugh, that is to say, God gave faith to our resurrection through the resurrection of Christ, namely that he will likewise raise us up, as he raised up Christ. Fourthly, others, that is to say, God through Christ gave faith to those things which he wished to be believed about himself, about judgment, about penance and other things which preceded. But the first sense is most connected with the preceding, and therefore is the genuine one. Faith therefore here does not signify Christian faith, but proof, or argument, in the way that Aristotle, I Topics, chapter VIII, says: "One proof is through induction, another through syllogism," etc.; that is to say, God gave faith, that is, sufficiently proved to men that Christ is that man through whom he will judge the world, inasmuch as in proof and confirmation of this matter, he raised him up first of all to immortal life. For, as the Apostle says, Romans XIV, 9: "For to this end Christ died and rose again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living."
17:34
34. AND CERTAIN MEN CLEAVING TO HIM BELIEVED. — Arator marvels at this conversion of the Athenians through Paul, and in amazement exclaims: O rapacious wolf Paul, what shall now remain in the world, which thou dost not seize with thy mouth, after Greek learning has yielded, and thou dost vanquish unlearned Athens in doctrine? AMONG WHOM ALSO DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE. — In Greek it is the article ὁ, that is to say, that famous and celebrated judge Dionysius the Areopagite, chief in the senate of the Areopagites. This is he who wrote those sublime books On the Celestial and Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, On the Divine Names, On Mystical Theology, etc., in which he describes the heavenly city of the angels and the attributes of God so graphically, as if he had beheld them with his eyes in heaven. Wherefore he is called by St. Chrysostom οὐράνιος ὁ Διονύσιος, that is, a creature of the heavens: by others most divine, by his native name Ionicus, and by his Christian name Macarius, apostle of Gaul. He was made by Paul Bishop of Athens. Whence on account of him the Church of Athens flourished wonderfully; Origen says, in book III Against Celsus, and brought forth men most illustrious in learning and holiness, Quadratus, Athenagoras, Publius, whom he appointed as his successor in the bishopric of Athens when he was about to go to Rome, etc. His books Baronius, Delrio, and formerly Maximus, Anastasius, Hincmar, Hilduin and others have learned defended against the calumnies of the heretics Scaliger and Erasmus. Indeed, their very profundity, and the sublimity and majesty of their eloquence, by which they transcend the writings of all theologians and Fathers, indicate the author to have been a man Pauline and divine. Again, that this Dionysius is the same as Dionysius, Bishop of Paris, not different, as some from Ado wish, Baronius demonstrates in the Martyrology, on the 9th of October. Furthermore, a great cause or occasion of the conversion of St. Dionysius was the vision of a miraculous eclipse in the year of Christ 34, on Good Friday, when Christ was being crucified, which he himself saw at Heliopolis in Egypt, with Apollophanes, as he himself testifies, in his epistle to the same Apollophanes, and epistle 11 to Polycarp. For then in amazement he exclaimed: "Either God the author of nature suffers, or the machine of the world is dissolved:"; or, as Suidas relates, and Michael Syncellus in the Encomium of St. Dionysius, saying that he received this from his ancestors: "God unknown suffers in the flesh, and therefore the world is darkened by these shadows and shaken." St. Dionysius adds, in his epistle to Apollophanes, that he was then 25 years old: wherefore since Paul preached at Athens in the nineteenth year after the passion of Christ, which was the 52nd year from his nativity, and the 10th of Claudius, it follows that Dionysius was converted at that same time, when he was 44 years of age. Thence for three years he adhered to St. Paul, that he might thoroughly learn the mysteries of the Christian religion; soon after created by him the first Bishop of Athens, he wonderfully propagated the faith of Christ there: thence ascending with Paul to Jerusalem, he was present at the death and funeral of the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, as he himself asserts, in the book On the Divine Names, chapter III. After this St. John the apostle, exiled by Domitian to Patmos, in the year of Christ 97, he consoled through an epistle, in which he predicts his speedy return: for in the following year Domitian was slain; soon St. John returned from exile, at whose exhortation St. Dionysius set out for Rome to St. Clement: by whom he was sent into Gaul with Rusticus and Eleutherius, after great and long labors, by which he propagated the faith and glorified the Gallic Church, he was at length crowned with noble martyrdom at Paris in the year of the Lord 119, in the reign of Hadrian, when he was 110 years of age, as Baronius shows: when a prodigy unheard of from ages occurred, namely that he himself received his head cut off by the executioner in his hands and carried it, accompanied by singing angels, for two miles, as if triumphing over death and the tyrant. Thus his Life and the tradition of the Gallic Church have it. A follower of St. Denis both in learning and wisdom, and in virtue and life, and in martyrdom and the miraculous carrying of his head was that great Severinus Boethius, son-in-law of Symmachus, who was killed together with him by Theodoric, the Arian king, in the year of the Lord 526. Hear Julius Martianus in his Life, and from him Baronius: "The inhabitants of Ticinum have always constantly affirmed from their ancestors that Severinus, when the royal executioner inflicted a mortal wound, held up his head torn apart with both hands; and when asked by whom he thought himself struck, he answered: 'by the impious'; and thus when he had come into a nearby church and, having knelt before the altar, received the sacred mysteries (the holy synaxis), he expired shortly after. Being dead, he obtained divine honors (those which are customarily shown to Martyrs) from our people, because he endured death for the Catholics against the perfidy of Arius." His prison and tomb at Ticinum are visited in the church of St. Augustine. AND A WOMAN NAMED DAMARIS. — St. Chrysostom in book IV of On the Priesthood, and Hilduin in the Life of St. Denis, and St. Ambrose hints at it in his letter to the Church of Vercelli, consider her to have been the wife of Denis. And the Greek γυνὴ signifies both wife and woman. But if Luke had thus added αὐτοῦ and said "his woman," he would have indicated she was Denis's wife; but now he says absolutely in the gender γυνή, that is, woman: whence it signifies that she was not Denis's wife, but a prominent woman: thus Pagninus, the Zurich Bible and others in various places. AND OTHERS WITH THEM. — Many think one of them was Hierotheus. For the Greeks hand down that he was Athenian, and from them Ambrose Morales in his History of Spain, and John Mariana in book IV of his History of Spain, chapter III, and the name itself indicates he was Greek; for ἱερόθεος in Greek means the same as sacred, or consecrated to God. Whence also in the Roman Martyrology, on the 4th of October, we read thus of him: "At Athens, St. Hierotheus, disciple of St. Paul." And on the same day the Menology of the Greeks has thus: "The birthday of St. our father Hierotheus, who was one of the number of the Areopagites, who was instructed by the apostle Paul together with that great Denis, and when he had lived religiously, he departed to the Lord." Some add that Hierotheus was Bishop of Athens; but the Menology has nothing of the sort. The Spanish, however, think Hierotheus was Spanish, or rather Prefect of Spain; and that he was converted there by Paul: thus Morales and Ribadeneira in the Life of St. Denis. Furthermore, Hierotheus is wonderfully praised throughout by St. Denis. For in chapter II of On Divine Names, he is called by him "our illustrious teacher, οὐ μόνον μαθὼν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παθὼν τὰ θεῖα, that is, not only learning, but also suffering divine things, perfected," etc. And in chapter III, judged by all to be the praiser next after the Apostles, and therefore he placed him in the position of honor: "All Doctors," he says, "he surpassed, wholly exceeding, wholly outside himself, inspired by divine power, occupied by God, divine, that is, a certain sacred God, and our divine teacher."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
17:1
v. 1 cum autem perambulassent Amphipolim, iter fecissent per Amphipolim, e/ Apolloniam, venerunt Thessalonicam, Amphipolis, Atheniensium colonia, cuius latera Strymon divisus in duas partes alluit (Patr.), erat caput Macedoniae primae, distat Philippis ab occasu 33 millia passuum (cf. K. Miller, Weltkarte des Castorius, Tab. peuting. segm. 8); nunc lamboli nomen habet; Apollonia posita in Myvgdonia Macedoniae regione, ab Amphipoli distans 30 millia passuum (Tab. peuting. l. c.). vel ut Livius dicit, iter unius die (55,298), sita erat ad Bolben lacum, haud ita longe a mari. Thessalonica erat per illam aetatem urbs primaria totius Macedoniae, sedes praesidis romani; olim Therme vocabatur, unde sinui cui adiacet nomen est Thermaeo, nunc Saloniki vocata, abest in occasum ab Apollonia circiter 37 m. p. (Patr.), in tab. peut. depicta est urbs tamquam magnum quoddam emporium (cf. K. Miller, l. c. ' Einleitender Text p. 92). Nomen inditum esse dicunt vel a Cassandro, Antipatris filio, in honorem uxoris Thessalonicae, filiae Philippi magni, vel a Philippo in memoriam victoriae de Thessalis reportatae (cf. Cornely, Introd. III 9. ed. p. 397; ibi videsis eius rei assertores). Quales fuerint in ea urbe Iudaei, tum ex hac narratione, tum ex 1 Thess. 2,15. 16 satis elucet; ub: erat synagoga Iudaeorum; v. ל secundum consuetudinem autem Paulus introivit ad eos; cf. 13,5. 1%, 15,1. Rom. 1,16. 1 Cor. 9,20; ad quam consuetudinem ostendendam Cr. merito allegat Rom. 9,3 et 10,1; insuper vide Rom.
Profecti sunt per viam Egnatiam quae ab Hellesponto ad Dyrrachium pertinebat (Bl.);
17:2
11, 14; et per sabbata tria disserebat eis de scripturis διελέξατο disputavit cum eis (gig); verbum intelligi omnino potest de sermonibus alternis, ita ut Iudaei Paulo docenti obiecerint, ille responderit; nam tale colloquiorum genus in synagogis non erat inusitatum (cf. Matth. 42,9. Luc. 4,16. Ioan. 6,95-59; Feit.). Disputatio autem erat ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν; materies sumebatur e locis s. librorum;
17:3
v. 3 adaperiens et insinuans, aperiens scil. verum illorum sensum (cf. Luc. 25,32. &5) et παρατιθέμενος proferens locos iisque docens, quia Christum, Messiam quem gens iudaica exspectat et quem prophetae vaticinati sunt, oportuit pati et resurgere a mortuis; ita igitur quasi in theoria veram exposuit imaginem Messiae in scripturis annuntiati; dein exposuit in quo solo ea omnia sint impleta, quis itaque sit ille quem diu exspectatum iam debeant agnoscere et quia hic est Iesus, homo ille in Palaestina notus, Cristus quem ego annunttio vobis; graece : hic est 6 χριστές, Iesus (scil. quem ego annuntio vobis. Nota, quomodo ex vaticiniis argumenta depromat et doceat, eo seil. modo qui ad Iudaeos maxime erat accommodatus. Et praedicationem minime caruisse successu ipse testatur 1 Thess. 1,5 seq. et Lucas refert v. 4 οἱ quidam ez eis crediderunt et adiuncti sunt. Paulo et Silae, iis fideliter adhaeserunt, quo magis edocerentur; ἐπείσθησαν lis persuasum est; argumenta intellexerunt; zpocεχληρώθησαν, quasi sorte attributi sunt a Deo et associati Paulo et Silae; ludaeorum paucos credidisse, ex voce «wi; satis colligitur et effertur ipsa oppositione e/ de colentibus gentibusque multitudo magna et mulieres nobiles non paucae; proin hic quoque longe maior numerus fidelium constituitur ex colenttbus σεξομένοις 1. e. proselytis, et gentilibus, Graecis. Nam illud xa: (gentilibusque, et de Graecis, gig) quod aliqui testes habent, videtur omnino retinendum. Id ex eo iam probatur, quod 1 Thess. 1,9 maior fidelium pars ethnicae superstitioni dicitur antea addicta fuisse : ipsi enim annuntiant... quomodo conversi estis ad Deum a simulacris servire Deo vivo et vero; id quod sane de colentibus dici nequit. Porro id iam ipsa exigitur dictione, nam ὁ σεδόμενος Ἕλλην nunquam legitur, « nec apud Lucam occurrere poteat, cui Ἕλλην non est nomen nationis, sed nomen religionis atque proin ὁ c«6. E. = ethnicus verum Deum colens » est contradictio in adiecto; unicus locus N. T. in quo Ἕλλην barbaro oppositus Graecum natione designat est Rom. 1,15; in aliis omnibus Iudaeo opponitur et religionem designat » (Cornely, Introd. III 2 ed. p. 399). Quare non nimium asserit Patr. scribens : verum multa et gravia sunt quae latina hoc in loco praeferre vel sinunt vel etiam cogunt. Inter socios Pauli duo recensentur Thessalonicenses : Aristarchus et Secundus (20,4). Verum, uti Antiochiae et Iconii (13,50; 15,2. 18), ita hic quoque Iudaei exsistunt perturbatores ei persecutores
17:5
v. 5 zelantes autem Iudaei, invidia et ira flagrantes ob magnam fidelium ex gentibus multitudinem; cf. 13,55 et 1 Thess. 2,16 prohibentes nos gentibus loqui nos persecuti sunt; habent zelum, sed non secundum scientiam (Rom. 10,2), assumentesque de vulgo viros quosdam malos τῶν ἀγο- ραΐων ἄνδρας τινὰς ex circumforaneis, ex iis qui otiose in foro versantur, subrostrani, subbasilicani, et turba facta concitaverunt civitatem, tumultu excitato civitatem perturbarunt, e! assistentes domui lasonis ἐπιστάντες se sistunt ante domum Iasonis apud quem noverant hospitari Paulum et Silam, quaerebant eos producere in populum, ut plebe per ludaeos excitata male tractarentur. lason nomen est apud ludaeos non adeo infrequens, quod scil. pro hebr. Iesus usurpabatur, ut aliquo modo graecis moribus accommodaretur (cf. 2 Mach. 1, 7; 5,1; losephus, Antiq. 19,5,1 : ὁ μὲν οὖν 0006מ1' ᾿Ιάσονα αὐτὸν yszovzpacev) ;
17:6
v. 6 et cum non invenissent eos, trahebant Iasonem et quosdam fratres ad principes civitatis, ἐπὶ τοὺς πολιτάρχας; hanc vocem bene notent quicumque Lucae fidem detrectare audent! vox enim haec olim lexicographis incognita, tandem reperta est et ea quidem qua titulus magistratus Thessalonicae constituitur; πολιτάρχας enim Thessalonicae rebus praefuisse inscriptiones docent, in quibus vel sex vel quinque vel duo nominantur (cf. Bl.; Vigourouz 1. c. p. 228!). 60058010 erat eadem quae etiam a Iudaeis contra Iesum erat prolata (Luc. 23,2. Ioan. 19,12. 15; Saim.), clamantes : quoniam hi qui urbem concitant et huc venerunt τὴν οἰχουμένην; ergo legendum est orbem (fuld., orbem terrarum Cassiod., orbem Ca:.); quibus verbis alludi videtur ad id quod Iustinus narrat de ludaeis : « delectos homines constituislis ac per eos in totum orbem terrarum missos praedicastis impiam quandam et exlegem sectam a plano quodam Iesu excitatam fuisse » (c. Tryph. n. 108; cf. n. 17; M. 6,727. 515) ; idem quoque ex veterum scriptis patere asserit Eusebius (ad Is. 18, 1; M. 24,913). Proinde iam omnium invidiam in eos excitare student; v. T quos suscepit lason, et hi omnes, proinde non solum apostolos, verum omnes iam fideles pro sua perfidia reos agere volunt laesac maiestatis, contra decreta Caesaris faciunt, regem alium dicentes esse Iesum; proin isti pariter, uti sacerdotes hierosolymitani, negant Messiam regem; regnum eius spirituale calumniatores isti regnum dicunt temporale, quo facilius invidiam et vindictam Romanorum evocent. Atque ita agunt ludaei, ceteroquin ad rebellionem paratissimi et odio alieni imperii accensi. Hisce accusationibus plebem et praesides rei ignaros revera perturbarunt; nam si hoc ita erat, facile accidere poterat, ut civitas haberetur a Romanis pro seditiosa. Sed [asoni ceterisque fidelibus thessalonicensibus qui praesidibus noti erant, non erat difficile illas calumnias destruere; praesidibus quoque honori reputandum est, quod non clamoribus Iudaeorum se obruere paterentur, sed testimonio lasonis aliorumque acquiescerent
17:9
v. 9 εἰ accepta satisfactione a lasone et a ceteris dimiserunt eos τὸ ἰχανὸν λαβέντες satisdatione accepta, ita scil. ut praesidibus persuasum esset nihil contra leges accidisse 860 machinari. Quomodo illis sit satis datum, an per vades, sponsores, fideiussores (ph, //.), an deposita pecunia, ut simul pro futuro adesset sponsio, decerni nequit, neque multum interest. Et profecto, illis erat haud difficile invicte probare nihil esse actum nec agi neque ullum esse periculum ne quid ageretur quod cum aliqua specie criminis laesae maiestatis posset accusari. Nihilominus consultum putarunt, ut apostoli furori Iudaeorum cederent. Ita Paulus citius quam pro institutione Thessalonicensium optandum erat profectus est (cf. 1 Thess. 2,17. 18; 3,10; 5,12 seq.)
17:10
v. 10 fratres vero confestim per noctem dimiserunt Paulum et Silam in Beroeam; urbem Macedoniae, ad occidentem versus ἃ Thessalonica, ad radices montis Bermii prope Pellam; qui cum venissent , in synagogam Iudaeorum introierunt, pro more ; Iudaeis enim ex Christi mandato prius erat nuntius messianus deferendus; in synagoga aderant proselyti; ibi ergo ii praesto erant qui iam maxime praeparati erant ad evangelii susceptionem et per quos spes aderat fore , ut alii quoque ad evangelium audiendum adducerentur. Haec erat via et ratio aptissima pro propagatione evangelii. Et imprudentissimos rerumque plane vel ignaros vel negligentes se praebent illi qui volunt Paulum non a synagogis incepisse, sed statim reiectis synagogis gentiles esse allocutum. Quod uti fuisset contra sanam agendi rationem, ita est contra rerum gestarum fidem. Sed « criticae sublimiori » licet contra utrumque impingere. Saepe traducunt isti « critici » auctorem nostrum tamquam antiiudaicum; sed audiatur quomodo laudet Iudaeos si quid revera in iis laude dignum invenerit :
17:11
v. 11 λὲ autem erant nobiliores eorum i. e. iis qui sunt Thessalonicae , 606900600 ἐπιειχέστεροι (Chr. Oec. Theoph.) animis nobiliores, magis generosi, liberaliores; meliorem hanc indolem exhibebant : qui susceperunt verbum cum omni aviditate οἵτινες quippe qui cum omni animorum promptitudine et desiderio praedicationem audierunt auditamque expenderunt et examinarunt, quotidie scrutantes scripturas, si haec 6 se haberent, examinantes 8011. 10608 a Paulo allatos, rectene ex iis argumenta duxerit scil. Messiam debuisse pati, resurgere etc. Bene notat Lap. : « non enim tenebantur credere, imo prudenter credere non poterant initiis evangelii et Paulo novo praedicatori, nisi re examinata comperissent hanc praedicationem esse consonam verbo Dei et oraculis prophetarum ». Antequam crederent, doctrinam Pauli examinarunt secundum normam scripturarum (cf. Cassiod. Cat. Dion. Calm. Deel. Patr. Felt.); distinguitur enim suscipere verbum et credere. Omnes quidem qui audierunt Paulum praedicantem examinarunt locos scripturae; at non omnes revera fidem amplexi sunt. Fructum praedicationis et examinis instituti enarrat Lucas in
17:12
v. 19 οἱ multi quidem crediderunt ez eis, vel ut altera lectio habet : et alii quidem eorum credebant, alii autem non credebant; sed fructus praeclarus quoque exstitit ex parte gentilium : et mulierum gentilium honestarum et viri non pauci xa ἀνξρῶν et mulierum et virorum non pauci, τῶν εὐσχημένων nobilium; οἷ. 13,50; divites (gig). Quam vere scripserit Paulus a Iudaeis se prohiberi gentibus loqui (1 Thess. 2,16), iterum ostenditur
17:13
v. 13 cum autem cognovissent in Thessalonica Iudaei, quia et Beroeae praedicatum est a Paulo verbum Dei et quod crediderunt (alt. lect.), venerunt et illuc commoventes et turbantes multitudinem; « nos persecuti sunt, Deo non placent, omnibus hominibus adversantur » (1 Thess. 2,15). Iudaei hierosolymitani occiderunt Messiam ; Iudaei in diaspora synedrii sententiam et voluntatem exsequentes suo modo conantur occidere Messiam , ne in hominum animis vivat, ne eius regnum constituatur, atque ad id furorem rabiemque vulgi excitant. Iudaeorum iram et indignationem praeprimis dirigi in Paulum, ex narratione patet; nam fratres in id incumbunt ut eum illorum vindictae subtrahant; Iudaeorum in se persecutiones multas ipse Paulus commemorat : quinquies a Iudaeis se flagellatum esse, pericula ex genere i. e. ex gente sua se expertum (2 Cor. 11,94. 26); v. 1% statimque tunc Paulum dimiserunt fratres ut iret usque ad mare; comitati sunt eum ad mare, ut opportunitate navigandi forte inventa facilius insectationes Iudaeorum vitaret. Id emolumenti afferebant istae persecutiones, ut indicat CAr., praedicatio extendebatur Paulo in alias abeunte regiones; Szlas autem et Timotheus remanserunt 10i;
17:15
v. 15 qui autem deducebant Paulum, perduxerunt eum usque Athenas; verbis ipsis iter terrestre indicatur; navem itaque paratam invcnisse non videntur. Iter terrestre clare indicatur altera lectione, eum impeditum fuisse, dum Thessaliam transiret, illis praedicare, quamvis in Thessalia non defuerint oppida maiora, uti Larissa , Pharsalus. Impeditus erat & Spiritu sancto (cf. 16,6); cito enim evangelium Corinthum erat perferendum, quoniam populus erat Domino multus in hac civitate (18,10); et accepto mandato ab eo ad Silam et Timotheum, ut quam celeriter venirent ad illum, profecti sunt; erat itaque coetus fidelium Beroeae satis firmiter constitutus; quare cooperatores suos Paulus ad se venire voluit ut in novo laborum campo sibi essent adiutores.
17:16
v. 16 Paulus autem cum Athenis eos exzspectaret , incitabatur spiritus eius in ipso, videns θεωροῦντος tdololatriae deditam civitatem, παρωξύνετο, διέργεσιν xat ζῆλον δηλοῖ (Chr.), διηγείρετο, οὐχ ἔφερεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐτήχετο (Chr. Oec. Theoph.); χατείδωλον πόλιν urbem idolis plenam; quae vox hoc solum loco legitur; sed recte formata est, sicut aliae similes : χατάμπελος, κατάδενδρος etc. Veteres quoque affirmant Athenienses quam plurimos deos colere; iis attribuit Pausanias περισσέτερέν τι ἢ τοῖς ἄλλοις σπουδῆς circa divina (1,95,3) et Iosephus scribit Graecorum omnium religiosissimos affirmari (εὐσε- δεστάτους) Athenienses (c. Ap. 2,11) et Strabo hoc eis testimonium reddit : multa sacra peregrina receperunt, adeo ut eo nomine etiam in comoediis exagitarentur (10,3,18; al. 10 p. 571. al, 732); illos duplo plures agere dies festos quam alii soleant Xenophon asserit (de republ. Athen. 3 ἑορτὰς διπλασίους ἄγουσιν ἢ ci ἄλλοι) ; maiorem in deos quam ceteri religionem prae se ferunt, repetito scribit Pausanias (1,17,1); “τᾶς quoque ibi cerni deorum simulacra , omni genere et materiae et artium insignia (545,97) narrat; etiam plura ]Vetst. affert. | Magno studio Paulus omnibus doctrinam veritatis et salutis exponere conabatur
Timotheus Athenas venit ad Paulum; sed inde a Paulo missus est Thessalonicam ad fratres confirmandos in fide (1 Thess. 3,1. 2). Ipse dein et Silas Corinthi apostolo adiunguntur (18,5). Utrum Silas quoque Athenis cum Paulo fuerit et ab eo inde directus sit in Macedoniam ad ecclesias Philippensium et Beroeanorum, an diutius Timotheo abeunte remanserit Beroeae et solum Corinthi Paulum iterum adierit, certo dici nequit. Sed quia Paulus utrumque quam celerrime ad se venire iusserat, merito illud prius assumendum erit. Paulus utrumque exspectabat Athenis;
17:17
v. 17 disputabat igitur, διελένετο cf. 17,9 in synagoga cum Iudaeis et colentibus, proselytis, diebus sabbati, et in foro per omnes dies ad eos qui aderant, in foro vetere sub Areopago sito (D/.), in Ceramico; nam nomen istius fori erat Ἱκεραμειχός; de eo eiusque porticibus, síatuis, picturis, templis agit Pausanias (1,3). Cum iis qui . forte aderant in foro, sermones miscebat;
17:18
v. 18 quidam autem epicurei et stoici philosophi disserebant cum eo συνέδαλλον αὐτῷ cum eo congrediebantur, cum eo conferebant; et epicurei quidem, homines voluptati dediti, eius doctrinae magnum offerunt contemptum et statim a limine eam repudiant; et quidam dicebant : quid vult semtniverbius hic dicere τί ἂν θέλοι quasi rem proponeret quae ad quid tendat et quid sibi velit nullatenus intelligi possit ὁ σπερμολόγος, proprie avicula est quae in triviis solet semina colligere; inde homines viles eo nomine vocari solebant (Oec. Theoph.), 66 imprimis erat verbum contumeliosum ad locutorem futilem, blateronem, nugatorem , scur- ' ram designandum; > sine dubio hoc ex ipso ore Atheniensium auctor excepit » (B/.). Frivola et profana indoles epicureorum satis una ea voce depingitur. Aliter stoici: alii vero *: novorum daemoniorum videtur annuntiator esse, δαιμονίων « plane ut Socrates ex accusatione Meleti, Xenoph. Memor. 1,1,1; Plato Apol. 2&; neque fortuita haec similitudo; ipse usus nominis τὸ δαιμόνιον == ὁ δαίμων (cum proprie esset velut τὸ θεῖον) ἃ Socratis notissimo daemonio fluxit » (Βἰ.). Et cur peregrina numina iis annuntiare videatur, exponitur : quia Iesum et resurrectionem annunttiabat eis; Iesum et Anastasin peregrina esse numina putabant, Anastasin deam quandam esse existimantes (Chr. Felt. Bl. Wendt). Uti Cicero refert, Epimenide Crete suadente Athenienses fecerunt Contumeliae fanum et Impudentiae (de legibus 2,11). Quare Anastasin etiam tamquam numen quoddam eos concepisse facile creditur. Curiositate autem stimulati, quid tandem fabularum de peregrinis hisce numinibus peregrinus afferret, eum adducunt in locum editum vacuum, ut coram multis rem suam exponat
17:19
v. 19 δὲ apprehensum eum ἐπιλαδέμενοι 9,97; eum amice manu prehendentes, ad areopagum duxerunt dicentes : possumus scire quae est haec nova quae a te dicitur doctrina? non vi, non ad iudicium eum ducunt, non ut accusent eum coram iudicibus; sed uti ex ipsa quaestione patet et Lucas in v. 91 clarissime indicat, nova quaedam ab eo audire voluut. Erat autem areopagus locus editus et vacuus iuxta forum, in quo versari solebat Paulus; « commodissimum erat loco vacuo uti, ubi quod etiam caedis iudicia antiquitus fiebant, profecto nihil ad hanc rem attinet. Attinet fortasse, quod in conspectu proximo erat arx cum praeclarissimis veterum Athenarum monumentis; sed huius rei nosmetipsi commonefacimus, non Paulus neque Lucas, qui haec neque scire neque curare videtur » (B/.). Cur eum audire velint, etiam plulentia, novitate permira videntur infers auribus nostris; volumus ergo scire, quidnam velint haec esse; et quantopere id Atheniensium indoli congruat, Lucas adnotat
17:21
v. 91 Athenienses autem omnes et advenae hospites et peregrini qui ibi habitant; Athenienses qui tunc erant colluviem nationum vocat Piso apud Tacit. Annal. 2,55 (8 .), ad nihil aliud vacabant, nisi aut dicere aut audtre aliquid novi , id quod iam Demosthenes iis exprobravit : βούλεσθε περιιόντες αὐτῶν πυνθά- 60000 λέγεταί τι xatvóv; in Philip. 1,10, et Seneca (ep. 94) : Alexander qui quod cuique optimum est eripuit, Lacedaemona servire iubet, Athenas tacere; plura eiusmodi affert Wetst. ad ἢ. 1. 0006 veteres dicunt ad iudices Paulum esse ductum non est repetendum. Oratio Pauli quae sequitur magna prudentia et arte est ad auditorum indolem accommodata. Orditur ab aliqua captatione benevolentiae (v. 22) et mentione facta inscriptionis : ignoto Deo, attentio audiendi aliquid novi excitatur (v. 23); dein exponitur vera Dei notio, a quo per unum hominem totum genus humanum exsistat quandam cum Deo cognationem ac similitudinem referens teste poeta quodam; unde iam explodi notionem idololatriae; Deum nunc omnibus nuntium mittere, ut ab eo errore resipiscant; nam fore iudicium Dei per virum 8 Deo constitutum et resuscitatione a mortuis approbatum (v. 25-31). Bene notat BI. : «oratio Pauli quin fideliter, etsi brevissime, expressa sit, recte dubitari nequit; ita sunt omnia et loco et audientibus accommodata. Tum quilibet qui paullo recentiore aetate orationes Pauli conficturus erat, usurus erat Pauli epistulis, quarum in hac non magis quam in ceteris orationibus (c. 13. 90.99. 24.26) ullus usus comparet. Neque vero ex illo μόνοι 1 Thess. 3,1 concludendum est ne ministrum quidem Paulo Athenis adfuisse ». In loco igitur edito ex quo in urbem et monumenta et templa aspectus late patet Paulus hanc primam demonstrationem christianam, primam hanc apologiam coram gentilibus pronuntiavit, quam tamen plene ad finem perducere non potuit, uti ex v. 32 patet;
17:22
v. 22 s/ans autem Paulus in medio areopagi, non dicitur "42806 πάγος nisi de loco (Bl.), ait : viri Athenienses, per omnia quasi superstitiosiores vos video ὡς δεισιξαιμονεστέρους) quae vox in latina versione non est feliciter reddita ; non enim dura illa expressione superstitionis utitur Paulus, sed effert quam studiosi sint colendi et reverendi numina, ξαιμένια; Chr. explicat εὐλαξεστέρους 64 816 : ὥσπερ ἐγχωμιάζων αὐτοὺς δοχεῖ οὐξὲν λέγειν βαρύ. Nam omne numen revereri illis ita cordi erat, ut ignoto quoque deo aram consecrarent,
17:23
v. 93 praeteriens enim et videns simulacra vestra inveni et aram, tn qua scriptum erat: ignoto Deo; « inde pulcherrimum sumit initium, quod scriptum reperit : ignoto Deo, ut necessario quaererent, quem ipsi incognitum sibi esse professi sunt » (Casstod.). Et Pausanias quidem refert in Phalero, portu Athenarum, fuisse aras θεῶν ὀνομαζομένων ἀγνώστων )1,1,8( et Olympiae quoque recenset ἀγνώστων θεῶν βωμόν (5,15,8). Ex quo narrandi modo exstitisse aras ignotis diis inscriptas, nullatenus sequitur ubique pluralem numerum esse adhibitum ; dubitari nequit quin Paulus id revera viderit quod coram Atheniensibus se vidisse affirmat. Qua ratione genes Laertius narrat in vita Epimenidis (Vitae philos. 1,10); « Atheniensibus 'enim peste laborantibus Epimenides ita pestem compescuit : sumpsit oves nigro et candido vellere duxitque in areopagum atque inde quo vellent abire permisit, his qui illas sequebantur mandans, ubicumque illae accubuisstnt, singulas deo loci — τῷ προσήκοντι θεῷ — immolarent. Hinc est quod etiamnunc per Atheniensium demos sive pagos reperiuntur arae sine nominc » i. e. arae sine nomine certi cuiusdam dei , quae itaque inscriptae eraut τῷ προσήχοντι θεῷ, τῷ ἀγνώ- στῳ etc. !. | Inde ergo ansam capit, quasi dicens non peregrina vobis annuntio, sed quem vos ipsi nominastis ignotum Deum, hunc praedico (cf. Theoph.) : quod ergo ignorantes colitis, hoc ego annunttio vobis, « ordo diligenter apostolicae disputationis est intuendus, qua ita apud gentiles tractatus seriem format, ut primum unum Deum auctorem mundi omniumque esse doceat » (Beda)
17:24
v. 24 Deus qui fecit mundum et omnia quae in eo sunt, hic coeli et terrae cum sit Dominus , non in "Üanufactis templis. habitat; Deus iste vobis ignotus creator est omnium adeoque Dominus omnium; de eo nullatenus cogitandum est prout de falsis diis sentiri solet; nam dii, seu numina divina censebantur habitare in simulacris; quare apud Ciceronem de Verre talia queruntur, sese iam ne deos quidem in suis urbibus ad quos confugerent habere, quod eorum simulacra sanctissima C. Verres ex delubris sustulisset; et apud senatum romanum alii queruntur, deos ipsos convulsos esse ex sedibus suis, quos adorarent, ad quos precentur et supplicent, Ambraciensibus non superesse (vide haec aliaque eiusdem rei testimonia in meo Comment. Is. ]] p. 164). Una hac voce, ait Chr., omnia philosophorum dogmata (de origine mundi rerumque omnium) subvertit; opus Dei esse declarat mundum et cuncta quae in eo sunt ; vide brevitatem et in brevitate claritatem. Dein duo divinitatis indicia exhibet, quod nullo indigeat et quod omnibus omnia praebeat (Chr.)
17:25
v. 25 nec manibus humanis colitur, θεραπεύεται non indiget ministerio humano, ut quaedam ei suppeditentur; non indiget sacrificiis, quasi zndigens aliquo, cum tpse det omnibus vitam et inspirationem πνοὴν, halitum, spiritum vitalem, quo scil. vita semel data conservatur; proin vitae conservationem largitur continuo, sicuti continuo spiritus ille vitalis trahitur et uno verbo tribuit nobis et omnia; notionem sublimem Dei tradit : est omnium effector, dominus omnium, omnibus largiens cuncta quae habent, totum quod sunt. Homo igitur a Deo originem et vitam habet; verum ita ut omnes homines unam magnam familiam constituant ex uno parente ortam ac proin arcta necessitate et cognatione coniunctam
17:26
v. 96 fecitque ex uno omne genus hominum tnhabitare super universam faciem terrae; mythos igitur illos convellit, quibus alia origo aliis nationibus attribuitur; proin aliae gentes non sunt contemnendae, non utpote barbarae et vili origine ortae abiiciendae; eadem est in omnibus ac singulis dignitas humana. Genus humanum Deus sua providentia regere eique providere non desistit: defintens statuta tempora οἱ terminos habitationis eorum, dum scil. prout singulis hominibus, ita populis quoque suum cuique tempus imperii et quasi vitae assignaret, iisque certos quosdam terminos habitationis praefi- " geret. Ita cuncta in populorum historia Deo subesse et ab eo dirigi docet. Uti cuique genti certum quoddam tempus praefigitur, ita conditiones quoque regionis, aeris, brevi, cuncta quibus termini hahitationis constituuntur et ab aliis distinguuntur, singulis ab eorum creatore ac gubernatore attribuuntur (cf. 13,19. lob 12,93). Sunt qui statuta tempora explicent secundum 15,16 : dans tempora frugifera, dans ver, aetatem , hiemem (W'end!); verum id iam continetur in v. 25; hoc loco apostolus maius quid indicat et generi humano sicuti 06168 tempora , ita quoque certos terminos ait assignari qui montibus, fluminibus, maribus aliisque conditionibus fertilitatis, variorum subsidiorum inter se differant et constituantur. Haec autem Dei providentia et cura in id tendit ut homines hunc rerum omnium effectorem ac gubernatorem ex ipsius effectibus adeo conspicuis agnoscant ac venerentur
17:27
v. 97 quaerere Deum, scil. ut quaererent Deum, infinitivus solus saepe ita ponitur ut quod quis consequi velit exprimatur (cf. Buttmann, Neutest. Gr. p. 22&; Blass, Gram. d. neutest. Gr. p. 218). Proin ex omnibus illis quae habebant, ex apta rerum dispositione id consequi voluit Deus, ut inquirerent quisnam sit eorum omnium causa, scil. ut ex effectibus illis ad effectorem concluderent (cf. Sap. 13,1 seq. Rom. 1,20), si forte attrectent eum aut inveniat , εἰ ápaye! an igitur (saltem rebus scil. ita comparatis) eum cogitando et quaerendo attrectent mente et inveniant, notionem veram eius et iustam sibi efforment; verbo ψηλαφᾶν egregie declaratur et proximum esse Deum et oculis occultum )27.( Dictio apta est ad verbum quaerere; qui quaerit, manibus palpat et 81 rem quaesitam palpaverit eam invenit. Id quod facile ad mentis operationes transfertur. Atque haud difficile fuisse Deum invenire statim subditur : quamvis non longe sit ab unoquoque nostrum,
17:28
v. 98 in ipso enim vivimus et movemur el sumus, vita omnis, omnis motus, ipsum esse in eo solo habetur, ab eo accipitur, per eum conservatur; in eo tamquam in causa efficiente nos toti versamur; in eo omnis vita, motus, esse omne quasi in suo fulcro et origine consistit et nititur; insuper « quasi corporeo exemplo huiusmodi quidpiam dicit : sicut impossibile est ignorare aerem ubique diffusum non procul ab unoquoque 6556 , imo et in nobis esse, ita etiam omnium creatorem » (CÀr.). Unde Lap. : in Deo ergo quasi in aethere infinito vivimus et movemur; intra illum stamus et habitamus; ille nos penetrat sua essentia, penetrat totum corpus, totam animam , omnes eius sinus , angulos et latebras; extra illum exire non possumus; in Deo vivimus et ex eo vivimus, ut extra eum vivere non possimus. In ipsa sententia cernitur gradatio : sine Deo vel extra Deum non haberemus vitam, ne motum quidem, ne esse quidem. Unum quod in illo ἐν αὐτῶ continetur, nos scil. haec habere a Deo iam illustrat apte ad indolem audientium : 510%] οἱ quidam vestrorum poetarum dixerunt : ipsius enim et genus sumus; hemistichium hoclegitur apud Aratum (quem CAr. quoque nominat) Phaenom. 5 et apud Cleanthem, Hymn. in lov. 5 (cf. Beel. Patr. Felt. Wendt) i. e. ab ipso originem ducimus, ipsius sumus progenies; proin similitudo quaedam necesse est intercedat inter nos et ipsum, cuius genus sumus. Quare ea sententia apostolus utitur, ut genus idololatriae vulgatum perstringat et ostendat, homines ex sua ipsorum natura debuisse pervenire ad notionem Deo digniorem
17:29
v. 29 genus ergo cum sinus Dei, non debemus aestimare auro aut argento aut lapidi , sculpturae aris et cogitationis hominis divinum esse simile ; divinum esse simile figuris scil. factis ex auro vel argento, vel sculpto, operi caelato quod hominum ars vel ἐνθύμησις, cogitatio studiumve fecerit. Homo itaque ex sua ipsius natura, ex intellectu et voluntate, sibi efformare debuit notionem Dei summe intelligentis, potentis, libere volentis et plane respuere notionem qua numen divinum. consecratione quadam statuis inesse iisque quasi alligari vulgus existimabat; eius opinionis testimonia vide in Comment. Is. 11 p. 1654. > Nostra. conditio et natura jpsa certiores nos facit nihil divinum esse posse in fictis numinibus, sive ad horum materiem spectes sive ad formam quippe quam nos pro lubitu illis indamus » (Patr.). Ita sibi paravit viam ad veritatem annuntiandam, quam ipse Deus iam omnium auribus animisque inferri iubet
17:30
v. 30 et tempora quidem huius ignorantiae despiciens Deus; cf. 14,15; haec tempora erroris aversatus, nunc annuntiat hominibus , ut omnes ubique poenitentiam agant, μετανοεῖν, ut resipiscant cum dólore de anteactis; de vocis notione hac vide quae notavi in Comment. Matth. I p. 117. Ad quam adhortationem firmandam additur ratio
17:31
v. 31 eo guod statuit diem in quo iudicaturus est orbem in aequitate, proin, uti Rom. 1,18, iram Dei minatur; iudicium fore dicit ἐν δικαιοσύνη ; quale iudicium igitur immineat idololatris, nisi egerint poenitentiam, satis ex antecedentibus colligitur, quibus ostensum est, quam longe ignoratio Dei et idololatria a norma veri ac recti recedat et homini ratione utenti in ignominiam et culpam vertatur. Dies itaque talis iudicii iam constitutus est. Iudicium autem fiet per Iesum ; unde ἐπ vtro (cf. 1 Cor. 6,2 in vobis iudicabitur mundus), simul explicatur intima eius viri, in quo Deus iudicaturus est, cum Deo unio ac consensio, in quo statuit ἐν ἀνδρὶ ᾧ ὥρισεν quem statuit, constituit (10,52) ad hoc destinavit; et hunc virum ab eo esse approbatum, fidem praebens omnibus suscitans eum a mortuis huic Deus apud omnes fidem facit, omnibus persuasionem certam demonstrat illum esse constitutum iudicem, quia eum a mortuis suscitavit. Ergo hic quoque resurrectio tamquam certissimum pro Iesu missione documentum profertur. Ita apostolus iam de Iesu servatore sermonem inferre voluit. Verum qui eum audiebant, mentione plane mira suscitationis a mortuis adeo percelluntur, ut loquentem interrumpant
17:32
v. 32 cum audissent autem resurrectionem mortuorum, quidam quidem irridebant, quidam vero dicebant : audiemus (e de hoc iterum ; alii eum deridebant, alii urbanius id agentes dicebant : audiemus te alias hac de re (Bee. ); simili modo audita resurrectione mortuorum Festus exclamat : insanis, Paule; multae te litterae ad insaniam convertunt (26,24). Oratione itaque minime ad finem perducta
17:33
v. 33 sic Paulus exivit de medio eorum. Neque tamen omni fructu eius oratio caruit
17:34
v. 3& quidam vero viri adhaerentes ei crediderunt, in quibus et Dionysius Areopagita et mulier nomine Damaris et alit cum eis, Dionysius erat areopagitici tribunalis assessor; in collegium Areopagitarum deveniebant munere archontum functi (B/.). Erat proin vir nobilis et munerum gestatione insignis. Nomen Δάμαρις aliunde est ignotum; 20206 (quod fl praebet) satis vulgatum ; neque tamen propterea mutationem facere consultum est. Nam etsi λ et p saepius inter se commutentur, nomina virorum Damarion, Damares; Damaretus, nomen mulieris Damarete reperiuntur (cf. Wendt), adeoque Damaris nihil habet quo quis offendatur. Neque opus est ut in tanta nominum multitudine et varietate unumquodque nomen pluribus testimoniis comprobari quis velit. Athenis parum fructus se collecturum intellexit Paulus et indole Atheniensium (17,21) et modo quo duae illae philosophorum sectae doctrinam contemptim audierunt. Hisce sectis duo illa quasi exhibentur quae maximo fidei impedimento sunt : voluptas et superbia ; quibus si accedat levitas illa, verbum Dei solum irrisioni exponitur. Unde apostolus se recepit ab Athenis, ἀναχωρήσας (D) quasi locum quaerens tutiorem, meliorem (Beís., vide quae de eo verbo dixi ad Matth. 54,19)
17:1
St. Paul passed through A. and Apollonia (v.) on his way with Silas from Philippi to Thessalonica in the year, it seems, 51 A.D. (Act. 17, 1).
Epistles I-II to the Thessalonians
… but these had fled by night to Berea, a nearby town, so as to be able to oversee closely the development of the new community of the T.; but the Jews also at Berea incited the mob against Paul, who, leaving his collaborators, had to depart for Athens (Acts 17, 1-15). The I Thess. alludes to external trials, to sufferings, outrages that Paul and the converts suffered at Thessalonica, persecutions that continued relentlessly (2, 2-20); and Paul, …
… Both Jesus (cf. Mt. 4:23; Lk. 4:16 ff.; 13:10) and his disciples (Acts 9:20; 13:5, 14; 14:1; 17:1, 17; 18:4, 19, 26; 19:8) took advantage of this custom to spread the new doctrine. …
17:2
Thessalonica (now Thessaloniki)
EVANGELIZATION. - Christianity penetrated into T. in the apostolic age. In 50-51, during his second journey, St. Paul, coming from Philippi by way of Amphipolis, accompanied by Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy, preached in the Synagogue for three consecutive sabbaths (Acts 17:2); there he founded the second European Christian community, recruited especially from the Greek element. …
17:3
St. Paul, with Silas (Acts 17, 3), made a stop there during his second apostolic journey, going from Philippi to Thessalonica, from which A. is 57 km. away; but there is no evidence that he preached there.
… The central theme of apostolic preaching is that Jesus is the Ch., from Peter (Act. 2:36) and Paul (Act. 9:22; 17:3; 18:5, 28) to John (Io. 20:31; I Io. 2:22; 5:1; II Io. 7, 9). The polemic on this point burns against the Jews, who awaited the Ch. (Io. 1:20, 25, 41; 3:28; Lc. 3:15), suspected …
17:4
Epistles I-II to the Thessalonians
… To these, for three sabbaths, he expounded the Holy Scriptures, demonstrating the messiahship of Jesus; some of them believed and joined Paul and Silas; there also joined "a great number of proselytes and Greeks and not a few women of the first families" (Acts 17, 4). This enraged the Jews, who stirred up the rabble, hired the parasites of the market and the squares, and threw the city into an uproar; to rid themselves quickly of Paul and Silas, …
ETHNIC-CHRISTIANS. - Name by which one customarily designates the non-Jews converted to Christianity in the apostolic age ("Ἕλληνες: Acts 14:1; 17:4, etc.; Rom. 1:16; 2:9 ff.; Gal. 2:3, etc.; τὰ ἔθνη: Acts 10:45; 11:1, 18; 13:46; Gal. 2:12, 14).
17:5
Corfu, Zante and Cephalonia, Diocese of
CORFU, Zante and Cephalonia, Diocese of. - According to tradition, the Gospel was preached by Jason, a disciple of the apostle Paul (Acts 17:5-9; Rom. 16:21), in Corfu, which was the seat of an ancient bishopric, elevated to a metropolis in 1310, and which numbered among its pastors Marc'Antonio Barbarigo (v.) and the learned …
Epistles I-II to the Thessalonians
… the fainthearted, etc." (1 Thess. 5:14; cf. 4:11 ff.) to the alleged expectation of the imminent end. St. Paul will repeat it with energy in 2 Thess. 3:6-12: "If anyone refuses to work, let him not eat." In Thessalonica idlers must have abounded (cf. Acts 17:5), and some had insinuated themselves among the faithful, perhaps exploiting the generous charity of the good converts, praised by Paul (2 Thess. 1:3). Not a single word, in the two …
JASON OF THESSALONICA. - Converted by St. Paul, he hosted the Apostle in his house during the second missionary journey (Acts 17:5-9).
… Among the converts in this city it suffices to mention Jason, who at his own expense received the missionaries (ibid. 17:5, 9), and Aristarchus and Secundus, who later became companions of the Apostle (ibid. 20:4). To escape the hostility of the Jews, Paul went to Beroea, where he carried out a serene and …
17:6
… other ideas (common slavery with regard to Christ, 1 Cor. 7:22; danger of a slavery of sin, Rom. 6:6, 16). In politics, a subject constantly avoided, P. does not appear at all the "revolutionary" identified by some contemporary Jews (cf. Acts 16:20, 21; 17:6, 7; 24:5, 12) and by certain modern historians. …
Thessalonica (now Thessaloniki)
… During the second civil war, it sided with the triumvirs Octavian and Antony; and these, after the victory of Philippi (42 B.C.), granted it recognition as a free city, governed by six πολιτάρχαι, a title used in Acts 17:6, 8. Because of its geographical position, between Thrace, Macedonia and Achaea, T. attracted St. Paul, who must have regarded it as a center for the spread of the faith, which it in fact …
17:7
… 6, 8). In the religious sense of divine ordinances contained in the Mosaic law it is found in Jewish Hellenism (III Mach. 1, 3; Josephus, Apologia, 1, 24). In the New Testament the sense is that of ordinance, decree, whether imperial (Lk. 2, 1; Acts 17, 7), or of the Apostles (Acts 16, 4), or Mosaic (Eph. 2, 15; Col. 2, 14). All the preceding meanings are encountered
17:10
… At the rise of Christianity there was an important Jewish colony there, where St. Paul, a fugitive from Thessalonica, preached with success (Acts 17, 10-14). One of the Apostle's companions, Sopater, was from B. (Acts 20, 4).
Sosipater (Σωσίπατρος, volg. Sosipater)
… Sopater) and is said to be "son of Pyrrhus, of Beroea." The reference to the city leads one to suppose he was a conquest of Paul during his brief but fruitful apostolate in Beroea (Acts 17:10-15). Angelo Penna
17:11
BEREANI. - They are so called the followers of a Scottish sect which, wishing to imitate the Christians of Berea (Acts 17:11), read the Scripture every day. Its founder was John Barclay (1734-98), a Presbyterian minister of the Church of Scotland, from which he separated. …
17:14
… because he too enjoyed the right of Roman citizenship (ibid. 16:19-40). At Beroea he was momentarily separated from the Apostle, who was forced to flee, and who from Athens sent word for him to join him as soon as possible; this happened at Corinth (ibid. 17:14; 18:5). Silas no longer appears in Paul's later life, who associates him in writing the two letters to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1), composed precisely at Corinth. …
17:15
St. Paul visited it on his second missionary journey, probably in 51 (Acts 17:15-34; 1 Thess. 3:1). Alone, he awaits the arrival of Silas and Timothy from Berea. …
Thessalonica (now Thessaloniki)
… The Jews stirred up riots and forced the missionary to take refuge first in Beroea and then in Athens, where Paul had Silas and Timothy join him (Acts 17:15; 18:5), whom he then sent back to T. (1 Thess 3:1).
17:16
Areopagus (Ὁ Ὄρειος Πέλαγος 'Hill of Mars')
… died and rose again); but before he had concluded he was interrupted by mockery concerning the "Resurrection." Few, in that frivolous and pretentious environment, were converted, among them the Areopagite Dionysius (v.) and a notable woman, Damaris (Acts 17:16-32).
Damaris (Damaride, ΔΆΜΑΡΙΣ, var. ΔΆΜΑΛΙΣ)
… If, as seems likely, Acts 17:34 refers to the entire Athenian stay (Acts 17:16-34), in order to give the result of Paul's preaching in Athens, D. could also have belonged to the "God-fearers" encountered by the Apostle in the synagogue (17:17), or, in any case, …
… Then Paul moved on to Athens (ibid. 17:16-34), where he delivered an interesting speech on the Areopagus (ibid. 17:22-31); but the result was rather meager. …
… Indeed, πνεῦμα is less the subject of these than their principle, with rare exceptions, generally justified by the context (Lk. 1, 47; Act. 17, 16; I Cor. 14, 14; elsewhere it is a matter of the Holy Spirit). …
17:19
Areopagus (Ὁ Ὄρειος Πέλαγος 'Hill of Mars')
… He was brought by these to the A. (Acts 17:19, 22: the term a. here probably designates not a place but an assembly) as an announcer of foreign divinities (ἔξνα δαυτόνια) and of a new doctrine (κατὴ διδάχη); thus Socrates had been …
17:22
Areopagus (Ὁ Ὄρειος Πέλαγος 'Hill of Mars')
… Socr., 26b, 27c). The Apostle in his speech (Acts 17:22-31) does not address judges with a personal apology, but a large public, among whom were the wise men of Athens, adapting himself to the Hellenic mentality. v. AGNOSTOS THEOS.
… know God (τὰ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ εἰδότα τὸν θεόν; I Thess. 4, 6). Men, however, even in paganism could have risen to God from the creatures in which he had manifested himself, and therefore the sin of idolatry was inexcusable (Rom. 1, 19-20). At the Areopagus (Act. 17, 22-28; cf. 14, 16) the Apostle discovers that a deep aspiration toward the one true God is inherent in the cult of the «unknown God». …
and to inculcate faith in a God who is creator and redeemer (discourse of Paul at Athens, Acts 17:22-31). Furthermore, catechesis could be directed to a new audience, of people to be won to the faith, or to persons already initiated (who could be catechumens or neophytes or mature Christians). …
… road to the west, had chosen that to the east, one could be certain that of the Chinese, more than of the Greeks, he would have said that they were in every respect pious, God-fearing, religious, devout, even to excess κατά πάντα ὡς δεισιδαιμονοτέρους (Act. 17:22). From the most distant origins of this people, around the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C., in fact, the religious sentiment toward the Supreme Being and the filial and devout piety …
… The text immediately suggests a comparison with the quotation of the poet Aratus, made by St. Paul in his speech to the assembly of the Areopagus (Acts 17, 22 ff.), composed of Epicureans and Stoics: here too God "is not far from each one of us" (οὐ μακρὰν ἀπὸ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου ἡμῶν ὑπάρχοντα). …
… Then Paul moved on to Athens (ibid. 17:16-34), where he delivered an interesting speech on the Areopagus (ibid. 17:22-31); but the result was rather meager. …
17:23
… Tertullian: «Porro cum in eodem commentario Lucae et tertia hora orationis demonstretur...» (De Ieiunio, 2, 10, cf. Act. 2, 15). Clement of Alexandria cites Act. 17, 23, «as Luke in the Acts of the Apostles recalls» (Stromata, 5, 12, 82: PG 9, 124). Origen: «Luke who wrote the Gospel and the Acts» (in Eusebius, Hist. …
… God and the ultimate destiny of man. Agnostics in the time of St. Paul were the Athenians, who, dissatisfied with the gods of the official religion, in certain particular circumstances raised altars and supplications to the unknown God (ἀγνώστῳ θεῷ: Acts 17:23). Gnostics, on the other hand, were called those heretics of the first centuries of Christianity who claimed to fathom with the powers of pure reason not only the content of natural …
The problem of the ἄγνωστοι θεός arose following the mention of an altar dedicated to an ἄγνωστοι θεός (singular!) in Athens, in the discourse addressed by St. Paul to the Areopagus (Acts 17, 23). The various problems are well brought out by Ed. Norden in his great work Agnostos Theos (Leipzig 1912, 2nd ed. 1929). A discussion from the Catholic point of view is found in …
… The God who made the world and all that is in it, being the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples built by human hands and cannot be served by human hands, as though he needed anything, he who gives to all life, breath and all things" (Acts 17, 23-25).
17:26
To these considerations the Apostles and Fathers add other reasons, such as: 1) that man might be the principle of the whole human race and the unity of origin and of species might be established (Mt. 19:4; Acts 17:26; cf. Gen. 3:20; 5:1-2); 2) that the dignity and authority of man might be evident (1 Cor. 11:7-9; 1 Tim. 2:13-14); 3) that the union of Christ and the Church might be prefigured (Eph. …
… because she was the mother of all the living"; Wis. 10:10: "It was Wisdom who preserved the first man formed by God to be the father of the human race, the only one created; she drew him out of his sin and gave him power to govern all creatures." In Acts 17:26-27 St. Paul, speaking at the Areopagus, affirmed: "From one man God made all the human race to populate the surface of the whole earth." 1 Cor. 15:45: "The first man, Adam, was made …
… The texts of the New Testament: Rom. 5, 12, 19; I Cor. 15, 21. 22. 45-49; Act. 17, 26 depend on Genesis and are more explicitly contrary to polygenism (on this see B. Mariani, art. cited, pp. 137-46, 1932; F. Ceuppens, Le p. et la Bible, in Angelicum, 24 [1947], pp. …
17:28
St. Paul (Acts 17:28), in order to demonstrate in his speech at the Areopagus that man can easily reach God, cited A. verbatim: "For we are also his offspring" (Phaen., 5). This hemistich also occurs …
Areopagus (Ὁ Ὄρειος Πέλαγος 'Hill of Mars')
… Brescia 1939, pp. 232-50; M. Zerwick, Act. 17, 28, in Verbum Domini, 20 (1940), pp. 307-21; W. Schmid, Die Rede des Apostels Paulus vor den Philosophien und Areopagiten in Athen, in Philologia, 95 (1942), pp. 79-120.
… St. Paul in the Areopagus discourse in Athens energetically asserts: "In him (God) we live, move and exist" (Acts 17, 28).
… and recalls his almost fanatical zeal "for the traditions of his fathers" (Gal. 1:14). It is possible that in the intellectual city of Tarsus, P. attended Greek schools, but the traces of a Hellenistic education are extremely faint and debatable (cf. Acts 17:28; 1 Cor. 15:33; Titus 1:12), whereas his rabbinic formation is undeniable; to perfect it he went as a young man (A.D. 14-20?) to Jerusalem. …
… ogni cosa e osserva i segni dei tempi, annunzia il passato e il futuro e rivela le tracce delle cose occulte » (Eccl. 42, 17-19). « Egli tutte le cose porta con il verbo della sua potenza » (Hebr. 1, 3). « In lui noi viviamo e ci muoviamo e siamo » (Act. 17, 28). The problem of p. is therefore resolved in the active presence of God in nature and in history; it is an ordinary presence in the conservation of the cosmos and an extraordinary …
… the Infinite in the finite, so that the finite is wholly "contained" by the Absolute as by the true Being "without predicates," in harmony with the biblical notion of God of Exodus (3:14: "Sum, qui sum") and of St. Paul's discourse at the Areopagus (Acts 17:28), which can recall the ἔστι γὰρ εἶναι of Parmenides (B 6; Diels I, 232, 21). In this sense G. Siewert interpreted Thomism through the exigency of ontological "participation," which …
17:30
… The Lord's final command ("... praedicari in nomine eius paenitentiam in remissionem peccatorum": ibid. 24:47) was faithfully carried out in the apostolic preaching (cf. Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:22; 17:30). If in the Pauline epistles faith is proposed as the way of life, the death of St. Paul includes "metanoia," of which St. Paul himself is a shining example.
17:31
… Then he will say also to those at his left: depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels..." (Mt. 25, 31-46; cf. Mk. 13, 26-27; Lk. 21, 27). The Apostles echoed the Master's teaching (Acts 10, 42; 17, 31; 24, 25; Rom. 2, 16; 14, 10; I Cor. 3, 4; 4, 5; II Cor. 5, 10; II Tim. 4, 15; II Thess. 2, 5; II Pt. 2, 9; Jude 15; Rev. 20, 12).
17:32
1. The faith in the resurrection, which Christianity defended against the assault of general unbelief (cf. Mt. 22, 23; Lc. 22, 27; Act. 17, 32; St. Augustine: «In nulla re sic contradicitur fidei christianae, quam in resurrectione carnis» Enarr. in Ps. 88, 2: PL 37, 1134). Over the remains of Christians there breathed from …
17:34
Damaris (Damaride, ΔΆΜΑΡΙΣ, var. ΔΆΜΑΛΙΣ)
- A woman converted by the preaching of St. Paul in Athens (Acts 17:34).
… From all this it has been believed that the author is the Dionysius the Areopagite of Acts 17, 34. Under this name his writings are cited for the first time by the Monophysite patriarch Severus of Antioch (512-18) and then by the Monophysites in a dispute with the Orthodox at Constantinople …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.