Acts 17:21

(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.)

The solicitude of the Berean disciples would not permit them to leave their beloved teacher travel without an escort, and some of them therefore volunteered to accompany him to a place of safety. The original intention seems to have been to conduct Paul down to the coast and have him wait there in some port until Silas and Timothy could join him once more. There he could be ready for flight across the sea at a moment's notice. But this plan for some reason did not prove feasible, and therefore Paul's friends conducted him all the way to Athens. This city was one of the most famous cities of the world, situated in Greece, the Roman province of Achaia, on the Attic peninsula, five miles northeast of the Saronic Gulf, and connected with its seaport Piraeus by long walls. On the hill, called the Acropolis, stood the famous temple Parthenon, and other beautiful public buildings crowned other eminences. Athens was no longer the political capital of Greece at that time, but continued to be its literary center, as it was that of the entire civilized world for several centuries after. But in spite of all its learning and philosophy, which was the boast of its proud citizens, the city had fallen a prey to social decay and moral rottenness. "In Athens itself, where flourished the most profound philosophy, the most glowing eloquence, the most exquisite poetry, and the most refined creative art which the world has ever seen, there was the most complete and studied abandonment to every vice which passion could prompt or imagination invent. " Having arrived at Athens, Paul dismissed the brethren that had accompanied him with the charge to Silas and Timothy to join him as quickly as possible. But while Paul was waiting for his assistants in Athens, he was by no means idle. As he wandered up and down the streets of the famous city, he was violently agitated and filled with anger, severely provoked, his spirit was so stirred up in him, because he saw that the entire city was full of idols; it was a feature which distinguished Athens among all the cities of Greece. Thousands of figures of gods and goddesses were erected along the streets, and many altars invited the sacrifices of such as still believed in the ancient form of Greek religion. The apostle's extreme vexation over these conditions, and his earnest desire to expose such heathenish errors, caused him to reason and argue not only in the synagogue, with the Jews and the proselytes whom he could meet there, but also daily on the forum, in the market-place of the city. This was not a bare or vacant lot in the middle of the town, but was surrounded with beautiful porticoes ornamented with sculpture work by famous artists, where the learned men of the day came together for philosophical discussions, and the philosophic schools had their meeting halls. The Stoa Poikile was on one side, where the philosophic school of the Stoics met, and the gardens of Epicurus were not far away, the one school teaching absolute resignation to fate, the other proclaiming intellectual and sensual enjoyment in every form. But it made no difference to Paul, who reasoned with chance comers on the market-place as well as with the members of these philosophical schools. The disputes sometimes took the form of formal encounters, heated debates, as Paul tried to convince these philosophers. And their comments upon his efforts were not at all flattering. Some jeeringly inquired what this babbler was trying to say. The meaning of this strange epithet which was applied to Paul has been made clear by recent discoveries, for it is applied to one that picks up scraps and crumbs thrown into the streets. "It evidently meant to these learned Athenians that Paul, notwithstanding his claims, was not an original philosopher, but was a picker-up of certain scraps of philosophy which had been thrown away by authorized and properly educated teachers " Others sneeringly remarked that Paul seemed to be a proclaimer of foreign demons, of novel and strange divinities, of gods that had never been heard of before. This last remark was occasioned by the fact that the apostle had preached to them the Gospel-news: Jesus and the resurrection. Note: whether we are dealing with the self-righteousness of Jews or with the wisdom of Greeks, there is always and only one duty before us, to preach the Gospel of the crucified and resurrected Christ. Finally the matter came to a crisis. The men with whom Paul was debating took him and brought him to the Areopagus, with the remark in the form of a question whether it would be possible for them to find out what this novel teaching as proclaimed by him was about. Paul did not speak about a doctrine, but he actually preached the Christian doctrine. Strange, novel matters they were which he was bringing in to their ears, startling and bewildering to people proud of their human philosophy; they were therefore determined to know what meaning they wanted to convey. Luke adds, by way of explanation, that all the Athenians, the natives of the city as well as the foreigners who resided in the city for a time, had leisure for nothing else, found no occupation more pleasant or fascinating, than that of reporting or hearing something new, novel, out of the ordinary, something to tickle their jaded intellects; the very latest news in philosophy and science was their choicest morsel. Note: The world of letters in our days has changed in appearance, but not in kind. The eternal verities of the Bible are despised as stale prattling, but every new theory of true and false science, he its argumentation never so tenuous, is hailed with delight and all too often set up as an irrefutable law.