Acts 17:22

σταθεὶς, Lucan, see Acts 1:15. ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ Ἀ. π., i.e., in the midst of the Council or Court of Areopagus, see above on Acts 17:19, cf. Acts 4:7, Peter stood in the midst of the Sanhedrim. Ramsay pertinently remarks that the words “in the middle of Mars' hill” are far from natural or clear, and those who adopt them usually omit the word “midst,” and say that Paul stood on Mars'hill, justifying the expression by supposing that ἐν μέσῳ is a Hebraism for ἐν, Acts 1:15; Acts 2:22. But whilst a Hebraism would be natural in the earlier Chapter s referred to, it would be quite out of place here in this Attic scene, cf. also Acts 17:33, Ramsay, Expositor, September, 1895, so too Curtius, u. s., p. 529, in support of the rendering adopted by Ramsay. Ἄνδρες Ἀθην.: usual way of beginning a speech; strange to allege it as a proof that the speech is not genuine: “according to the best MS. evidence, Demosthenes habitually, at least in some speeches, said ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι without ὦ. It is therefore a mistake to note as unclassical the use of the vocative here without ὦ, cf. Acts 1:14; Acts 19:35,” Simcox, Language of the New Testament, p. 76, note. κατὰ πάντα : “in all things I perceive that ye are,” R.V., meaning that wherever he looked he had evidence of this characteristic the A.V. would imply that in all their conduct the Athenians were, etc. The phrase which is common in classics is only found here, in Acts 3:22; Colossians 3:20; Colossians 3:22; Hebrews 2:5; Hebrews 4:15, in N.T. ὡς, see Grimm-Thayer, sub v., i., d., Winer-Moulton, xxxv., 4. δεισιδαιμ.: “somewhat superstitious,” R.V., but in margin, “somewhat religious,” so in Acts 25:19 the noun is rendered “religion,” R.V. (in margin, “superstition”), where Festus, in speaking to Agrippa, a Jew, would not have been likely to call the Jewish religion a superstition. R.V. gives a better turn to the word than A.V. with Tyndale, “too superstitious,” cf. Vulgate, superstitiosiores, as it is incredible that St. Paul should have commenced his remarks with a phrase calculated to offend his hearers. The R.V. has modified the A.V. by introducing “somewhat” instead of “too,” according to the classical idiom by which the comparative of an adjective may be used to express the deficiency or excess (slight in either case) of the quality contained in the positive. But the quality in this case may be good or bad, since the adjective δεισιδαίμων and the cognate noun may be used of reverence or of superstition, cf. for the former Xen., Cyr., iii., 3, 58; Arist., Pol., v., 11; cf. C. I. Gr [311], 2737b; Jos., Ant., x., 32; Polyb., vi., 56, 7, and for the latter, Thcoph., Char., xvi.; Plut., De Superstit., 10; Jos., Ant., xv., 8, 2; M. Aurelius, vi., 30, and instances in Philo, cf. also Justin Martyr, Apol., i., 2 (see Hatch, Biblical Essays, p. 43). Ramsay renders: “more than others respectful of what is divine”; so Renan, “le plus religieux”; Holtzmann, “Gottesfürchtige,” so Weiss, so Zöckler, “religiosiores ceteris Græcis” (Horace, Sat., i., 9, 70), cf. Winer-Moulton, xxxv., 4. In thus emphasising the religious spirit of the Athenians, St. Paul was speaking in strict accordance with similar testimonies from various quarters, cf. Thuc., ii., 40; Soph., O. C., 260; Jos., C. Apion., ii., 11; Pausanias, In Attic., 24; Petronius, Sat., c. 17. The context, Acts 17:24, where εὐσεβεῖτε, religiose colitis (Wetstein), is one result of this δεισιδαιμονία, strengthens the view that the adjective is used here in a good sense; cf. the comment on its good use here by St. Chrys., Hom., xxxviii., and Theophylact. There is therefore no reason to suppose that Paul's words were an accommodation to the usual practice of Athenian orators to commence with a mere compliment. At the same time it is possible that with delicate tact the Apostle made use of a word of doubtful meaning, verbum per se μέσον, which could not possibly provoke hostility at the outset, while it left unexpressed his own judgment as to the nature of this reverence for the divine “with kindly ambiguity,” Grimm-Thayer.

[311] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.