Acts 17:26

The Apostle rebukes the narrow pride of the Greeks, who divided mankind into Greeks and barbarians, the latter being of no account. The Stoics, who believed in the spiritual equality of all men, would have agreed with St. Paul in this.

28. A quotation from the 'Phænomena' of Aratus, a Cilician poet. Almost the same words occur in the 'Hymn to Zeus' of Cleanthes. Both these poets were Stoics. St. Paul quotes the Gk. poets again, 1 Corinthians 15:33 and Titus 1:12 but it is not safe to assume that he had any wide acquaintance with Greek classical literature. His Pharisaic training would have made him indisposed to devote serious study to profane literature.