Acts 17:18

"And certain also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, What would this babbler say? others, He seemeth to be. setter forth of strange gods: because he preached Jesus and the resurrection"Epicurean" Those who belonged to the school of philosophy founded by Epicurus (c. 306 B.C.). This system of thought included the following beliefs: 1. The gods were so remote that they took no interest in the affairs of this life, and thus exercised absolutely no providential control over the affairs of men. 2. The world was due to chance. 3. No existence was beyond death and hence no judgment. Human beings should pursue pleasure, "especially the serene enjoyment of. life detached from pain, passion and fear" (Stott p. 280). "By pleasure, Epicurus meant good pleasure (and it pleasured him to be generous, kindly, and patriotic). But his followers formed their own standards of pleasure, and too often they lived lives indulging the pleasures of the flesh" (Reese p. 622). Hence the Epicurean philosophy is often summed up in the words, "Let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die". "Stoic" "It took its name from the Stoa Poikile, the portico or lecture place in Athens where its founder, Zeno, taught" (Nelsons p. 1012). The basic beliefs of this system were: 1. They believed in god but in. pantheistic way, that is the world was god and god was the world. 2. Everything was governed by fate. 3. While the Epicureans handled life with pleasure, the Stoics emphasized self-sufficiency, which meant simply to resign yourself and submit to enduring the pain of this life,. kind of. grin and bear it attitude. They also emphasized apathy or indifference to either pleasure or pain and mastery over all desires and lusts. Spock on Star Trek would have been. hero to the Stoics.

Erdman notes that we find the same basic philosophies still among us today. The modern counterpart to the Epicureans are the materialists who insist that "he who dies with the most toys wins", while Hinduism and other Eastern religions are good examples of Stoic thought, that is absolute apathy is the highest moral attainment. Before we move on let us note that Paul's sermon will seriously undermine the premises underlying both of these popular theories.

Acts 17:18 "What would this babbler say" The word rendered babbler, lit.,. seed-picker, was applied to men '"Who picked up scraps of information here and there and then tried to palm them off as their own" (Reese p. 623). "Particularly to describe teachers who, not having an original idea in their own heads, unscrupulously plagiarize from others, 'zealous seekers of the second-rate at second hand', until their system is nothing but. ragbag of other people's ideas and sayings" (Stott p. 282). We should be impressed with how versatile Paul was. He was able to speak effectively in. Jewish synagogue, among the common folk in the marketplace, or even when among highly sophisticated philosophers. The gospel message makes you qualified to carry on an intelligent discussion with individuals from any social class or level of education (2 Timothy 3:16). "He seemeth to be. setter forth of strange gods" The word "strange" in this passage means "foreign". "A proclaimer of foreign gods" (ABUV). "Because he preached Jesus and the resurrection" Some writers think that the Athenians misunderstood Paul and initially thought that "Jesus" was. male deity and "resurrection" (Anastasis) in the Greek was. female deity. Stott notes, "It is interesting, as Dr. Conrad Gempf has pointed out to me, that both Paul's speeches to pagans in the Acts seem to have been occasioned by. misunderstanding. "The Athenians imagine two new gods, while the Lystrans think they are seeing two old ones! (Acts 14:12). Could Luke be warning his readers of ways in which pagans misunderstand?" (p. 282). Yet this much is clear, when Paul preached Jesus, people understood Paul to be saying that Jesus was Divine.