Acts 17:16

"Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he beheld the city full of idols"Paul waited for them at Athens" The word them refers to Timothy and Silas (Acts 17:15). "The distance between Berea and Athens by land is about 250 Roman miles; this would take about twelve days to make the journey, whereas three days would have been sufficient for the voyage by sea" (Boles p. 276). "The city is located about five miles from the Aegean Sea on the narrow plain between Mount Parnes to the N, Mount Pentelicus to the. and Mount Hymettus to the SE. The classical and Roman city was located within roughly circular walls. The Acropolis occupied the. central portion. The Areopagus Hill lay to the NW, the Pynx Hill to the. and the marketplace to the N. Visitors to Athens such as Paul would have entered through the Diplyon Gate just beyond the old potter's quarter cemetery and traveled along the Panathenaic Way through the agora to the Acropolis" (Zond. Ency. p. 403). "His spirit was provoked with him" The word provoked means to exasperate, stir and irritate.

Athens was the city of Perciles, Demosthenes, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles and Euripides. "In its Agora Socrates had taught, here was the Academy of Plato, the Lyceum of Aristotle, the Porch of Zeno, the Garden of Epicurus. Here men still talked about philosophy, poetry, politics, and religion. It was the art center of the world. The Parthenon, the most beautiful of temples, crowned the Acropolis" (Robertson p. 277). As Stott notes, Paul was no "uncultured Philistine. In our own terms he was. graduate of the universities of Tarsus and Jerusalem" (p. 277). Carefully note that Paul was not struck or awed by any of the above things. Paul realized that if culture does not bring one to God then that culture has failed, despite whatever accomplishments it may boast. Here was probably one of the greatest "wastes" of the human mind and intellect in the ancient and modern world,. city that had been filled with such "talent", and yet. city in bondage to idolatry. There is. great lesson here for the United States. Progress is not true progress if it fails to include God. The centers of higher learning need to take note that an education that fails to bring young men and women to God is. very limited education indeed. Notice what "provoked" Paul, when he saw men giving idols the worship, devotion, and attention that the true God solely deserves. We need to have such. zeal for God's honor. In like manner we should become irritated or upset when we see people pouring their talents and energies towards the devotion of material things.

Acts 17:16 "Full of idols" "Completely steeped in idolatry" (Wms). "First and foremost what he saw was neither the beauty nor the brilliance of the city, but its idolatry. We might say that it was 'smothered with idols' or 'swamped' by them. Paul saw 'a veritable forest of idols'" (Stott p. 277). Paul was not. shallow thinker. He was not stirred by the beauty of the statues, rather, he clearly understood what these images represented, false religion! Paul saw absolutely no artistic merit in objects that were leading people away from the true God. "Paul knew well the reputation of Athens, but he could not have realized, until he saw it, the extent to which it was given to idolatry" (McGarvey p. 119). Other ancient writers had noted the same thing. "It is said that Athens had more idols or images than all the rest of Greece. Pretonius satirically said it was easier to find. god than. man in Athens; Xenophon calls the city one great altar" (Boles p. 276). "Pliny states that in the time of Nero Athens had over 3,000 public statutes besides countless ones in the homes" (Robertson p. 278). Athens was probably the classic example of the statement, "in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God" (1 Corinthians 1:21).