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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 17
Paul and Silas preach and are persecuted in Thessalonica and in
Berea—Paul, in Athens, preaches on Mars' hill about the Unknown
God—He says: 'We are the offspring of God.'
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1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and
Apollonia, they came to aThessalonica, where was a
synagogue of the Jews:
2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and
three sabbath days areasoned with them out of the
bscriptures,
3 Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
4 And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul
and Silas; and of the devout aGreeks a great multitude, and
of the chief bwomen not a few.
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5 ¶ But the aJews which believed
not, moved with envy, took unto them certain blewd fellows
of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an
cuproar, and dassaulted the house of
Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
6 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;
7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.
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8 And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.
9 And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.
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10 ¶ And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica,
in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and
asearched the scriptures daily, whether those things were
so.
12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
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13 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.
14 And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul
to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and aTimotheus abode
there still.
15 And they that conducted Paul brought him unto
aAthens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and
Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed.
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16 ¶ Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his
spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city awholly
given to bidolatry.
17 Therefore adisputed he in the
bsynagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and
in the market daily with them that met with him.
18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
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19 And they took him, and brought him unto
aAreopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine,
whereof thou speakest, is?
20 For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.
21 (For all the Athenians and strangers which were
there aspent their time in nothing else, but either to
tell, or to hear some new thing.)
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22 ¶ Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and
said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are
atoo superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your
adevotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE
bUNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye
cignorantly worship, him ddeclare I unto
you.
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24 God that amade the world and all
things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
bdwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is aworshipped with
men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and
bbreath, and all things;
26 And hath amade of
bone cblood dall
enations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,
and hath fdetermined the gtimes before
happointed, and the ibounds of their
habitation;
27 That they should aseek the Lord,
bif haply they might cfeel after him, and
find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we alive, and move,
and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are
also his boffspring.
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29 Forasmuch then as we are the
aoffspring of Goda,
we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto
bgold, or silver, or stone, graven by
artb and man's
cdevice.
30 And the times of this aignorance
God bwinked at; but now ccommandeth all
men every where to drepent:
31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he
will ajudge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath bordained; whereof he hath given
assurance unto all men, in that he hath craised him
from the dead.
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29a we are the offspring of
God This, as also stipulated in verse 28, we are children of God
the Father of Spirits. This is confirmed in the Old Testament, as it states
that we are of the race of God, being children of the most High (Psalms 82:6,
see also Deut. 14:1, Hosea 1:10). This is precisely the scripture which Jesus
used to defend himself as being the Son of God, in that God had so stated
that 'We are gods' ('Ye are Gods' (Psalms 82:6 - John 10:33-36)). This as we
understand, we all are the Spirit offspring of God the Father of Spirits,
Jesus Christ being the Firstborn in the Spirit, and thus our Elder Brother
and heir to God the Father of Spirits.
29b we ought not to think that the
Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art
The point being here is that if we are the offspring of God, then certainly
God is not an inanimate object, but a living being. And as it states in
Genesis, God made man in his own image. That is the image of God is the same
image of which is a man, head, shoulders, knees and toes; eyes, ears, mouth,
and nose. When ever God has dealt with man he and his messengers appear unto
man as a man with all the attributes of a man. This is that man is the
offspring of God and his early body is made in the image of God, which must
be in that same form and image as is the Spirit of a man. That is the body
fits the form of that which it houses, the spirit of man. This is also
confirmed in latter day scripture as in Ether 3:15-16 Mahonri Moriancumr see
Jehovah, who is Jesus Christ, the creator and God of this Second Estate. And
at this juncture he is but a spirit himself, which is explained, that he did
made the form of man after the image of his spirit body. This is covered in
relation to John 1:1-4 commentary where Jesus Christ is identified as the
crator under the direction of God the Father of Spirits.
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32 ¶ And when they heard of the
aresurrection of the dead, some bmocked:
and others said, We will hear thee again of this
matter.a
33 So Paul departed from among them.
34 Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed:
among the which was Dionysius the aAreopagite, and a
woman named Damaris, and others with them.
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32a when they heard of the resurrection
of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this
matter The Greeks believed not in a literal resurrection deaming that
the things of the spiritual nature were higher than the physical, which they
considered to be but a corruption. Thus when Paul would teach them of a
literal resurrection, of the physical body being restored to the spirit of
man, they mocked Paul on this matter and would think, 'Why would any one want
to be restored to this physical corruption?' They would have to be converted
to the concept that a body of flesh and bones could become of an exalted
nature and not a fallen nature. This also seem to be the basis of why in
Traditional Christianity they did corrupt the doctrine of the literal
resurrection to merely being that man would be raised from the grave to live
again, but not to be raised to a uniting of the body with the spirit. It was
a pagan corruption of the true doctrine of the literal resurrection due to
the persistance of new converts in retaining their old favored beliefs or
what is termed the Helenization of Christianity which also persisted in the
Helenistic view of the Godhead being three in one being rather than accepting
that the Godhead was three distinct beings.
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