Epicureans and Stoics

Biblical Text

The account appears in Acts 17. It took place while Paul was staying in Athens during his second missionary journey. Seeing the city full of idols, Paul reasoned daily with people in the synagogue and in the marketplace. At that time "certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him" (Acts 17:18). Some called Paul a "babbler," while others said he seemed to be "a setter forth of strange gods." The text explains that this was because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. They brought Paul to the Areopagus to hear his teaching (Acts 17:19-31). When he spoke of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while a few, including Dionysius and Damaris, believed (Acts 17:32-34).

Background

• The Epicureans: This school was founded in Athens by Epicurus in the fourth and third centuries BC. It explained the world in terms of combinations of atoms. It held that even if the gods existed, they did not intervene in human affairs. It regarded a state free from pain and mental disturbance as happiness, and it held that at death the soul also disperses.
• The Stoics: The school takes its name from the "Painted Porch" (Stoa Poikile) in Athens, where Zeno of Cyprus taught. The Stoics held that a divine reason, the Logos, pervades the universe. They regarded as virtue a life lived in accordance with reason and nature and not governed by the passions.

Neither school accepted the resurrection of the body. The Greek word spermologos, translated "babbler," originally meant "a bird that pecks at seeds." It came to be used as a disparaging term for someone who strings together scraps of ideas picked up here and there.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The Areopagus sermon is an example of the gospel being proclaimed to a Gentile audience unfamiliar with the Scriptures. Paul declared that God made the world, that He does not dwell in temples made with hands, and that He made all nations of one blood (Acts 17:24-26). He also quoted a Greek poet, "For we are also his offspring" (Acts 17:28), a line generally attributed to the poet Aratus, who was influenced by Stoic thought. The sermon closes with a call to repentance and a declaration that God will judge the world through the man whom He raised from the dead. This conclusion runs counter to the views of both schools. The passage is sometimes read alongside 1 Corinthians 1:22-25, which says that while "the Greeks seek after wisdom," the apostles preach Christ crucified.

Interpretation and Issues

• Assessment of the mission in Athens: Some interpreters read 1 Corinthians 2:2 as Paul's reflection on the philosophical approach he had taken in Athens. In that verse Paul says that in Corinth he determined "not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Other interpreters reject this view, pointing out that Luke recorded the sermon as a model and that some people did believe.
• The setting at the Areopagus: Scholars are divided over whether Paul underwent a formal hearing or simply explained his teaching informally.
• Philosophy and faith: The passage is sometimes read as an example of using an audience's ideas and language as a point of contact for evangelism. Conversely, it is also read as an example of Paul drawing a line between the gospel and philosophy through the proclamation of the resurrection.
• Extrabiblical tradition: The account that Dionysius later became the first bishop of the church in Athens is a tradition reported by the church historian Eusebius. It does not appear in Acts.