Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Note 1: This Bible study is being created specifically for a friend of mine. It
is not meant as an exhaustive study of the book of Acts. Please do your own
research, using the commentary links as a starting point, for a better
understanding of the book of Acts and other books of the Bible. Thank you for
your dedication to studying the word of God!
Note 2: All Bible verse citations are from NKJV (New King James Version) unless
otherwise stated.
Note 3: # This symbol will be used for any information from Dr. Nunnally’s “A Commentary on the Book of Acts”
(Source info below). This Bible study is heavily based on Dr. Nunnally’s work.
I have not yet discovered if he has published his book, but I will post a link
for his work if I find out that he has published it. Feel free to comment on
this blog if you discover his published book (if it’s published) before I do!
- All notes that have
this or no symbol in front of them are my interpretations of scripture.
*NIV Zondervan study
Bible
+ other source (cited within
hyperlink or below if used)
Verse 9: Other translations read, “they made
Jason and the others post bond and let them go.”
Verse 15: #1: Silas and Timothy are initially staying
behind in Berea (verse 14), but Paul is going to a new area (Athens, Greece) to
share the message of Christ. Paul tells Silas and Timothy to follow after him
as soon as possible. Paul has an escort (“those who conducted Paul”), but none
of the other leading disciples are going with him initially.
Verse 17: “Gentile” refers to any person who
was not a Jew.
Verse 18: #2: An “Epicurean” was someone who
followed “Epicurus,” a man who believed that Nature was the “supreme teacher”
and that “sensations” should be trusted to understand the “truth” in the world.
#3 A “Stoic” was someone who followed “Zeno,” a man who
taught that ‘“duty, reason and self-sufficiency was the goal of life.”’
- ‘“He seems
to be a proclaimer of foreign god”’ People may have considered Jesus to be a
foreign God because they had never heard of him before in that area of the
world, or because the Jews did not accept the fact that Jesus is the Son of
God.
Verse 19: #4: “Areopagus” was the name of the
court in the area. In other words, the people took Paul and the others “to
court” in order to question them about the message of Jesus.
Verse 28: #5: The poets that Paul is referring to
are “Epimenides of Crete, Aratus of Cilicia.” Both of these poets were well
known to the people of Athens.
Verse 31: The “Man” to whom Paul is referring is
Jesus.
Verse 34: Some of the people who were in the
court (the Areopagus) accepted Paul’s message and became Christians.
+ According
to the majority of the commentaries on Bible Hub, women
were not present in the court, but some of the women (namely Damaris and
others) either heard Paul speak before he went to court or heard about him
through their husbands or friends, and so became Christians.
Sources
W.E. Nunnally. A Commentary on the Book of Acts, 2008, Evangel
University, 2008, Springfield, Missouri, 2017.
#1: pg. 392, 2nd and 3rd paragraphs
#2: pg. 394, 3rd paragraph
#3: pg. 394, 3rd paragraph
#4: pg. 396, 1st paragraph
#5: pg. 401, 3rd paragraph
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