ris3n's Apologetics Codex
Acts 17.31-32
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Passage

Acts 17.31-32

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

29. Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. 30. The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent:

31. inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. 32. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, We will hear thee concerning this yet again.

  1. Thus Paul went out from among them. 34. But certain men clave unto him, and believed: among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. (Acts 17:29-34, ASV)
WEB

29. Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man. 30. The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,

31. because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.” 32. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”

  1. Thus Paul went out from among them. 34. But certain men joined with him, and believed, among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. (Acts 17:29-34, WEB)
KJV

29. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 30. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

31. Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. hath given: or, offered faith 32. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

  1. So Paul departed from among them. 34. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. (Acts 17:29-34, KJV)
YLT

29. 'Being, therefore, offspring of God, we ought not to think the Godhead to be like to gold, or silver, or stone, graving of art and device of man; 30. the times, indeed, therefore, of the ignorance God having overlooked, doth now command all men everywhere to reform,

31. because He did set a day in which He is about to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom He did ordain, having given assurance to all, having raised him out of the dead.' 32. And having heard of a rising again of the dead, some, indeed, were mocking, but others said, 'We will hear thee again concerning this;'

  1. and so Paul went forth from the midst of them, 34. and certain men having cleaved to him, did believe, among whom [is] also Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman, by name Damaris, and others with them. (Acts 17:29-34, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul, addressing the Areopagus (17:22) (17:31); the narrator of Acts, traditionally Luke, then reports the reaction (17:32)
  • Audience: the Athenians who brought him there, including Epicurean and Stoic philosophers (17:18-21), with the council of the Areopagus
  • Location: the Areopagus at Athens; the name belonged both to the hill of Ares northwest of the Acropolis and to the ancient council that took its name from it, and which of the two Luke means is debated
  • Time period: c. AD 50, on Paul's second missionary journey, shortly before his eighteen months in Corinth (Acts 18:11)

Theological reading

"Inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, We will hear thee concerning this yet again." The last sentence of Paul's speech, and the moment it was cut off.

A fixed day, an appointed judge. God has "appointed" (Strong's G2476) a day for judgment, and the judge is a man God "hath ordained" (G3724). That second verb is the one used in verse 26 for God having "determined" the seasons and boundaries of the nations. The God who arranged history has also fixed its end. Peter uses the same verb of Jesus: "this is he who is ordained of God to be the Judge of the living and the dead" (Acts 10:42). Paul does not name Jesus here, though the Athenians had already heard him preach "Jesus and the resurrection" (17:18).

Assurance. The word is pistis (G4102), elsewhere "faith"; here it means a pledge or proof, and the KJV margin renders "offered faith." The evidence God offers "unto all men" is the resurrection. The claim is public and checkable, the kind Paul made at length in 1 Corinthians 15. Romans makes a similar connection: Jesus was "declared to be the Son of God with power... by the resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:4), using the same verb.

The divided audience. "Some mocked" (G5512). For Greek hearers the resurrection of a body was not a respectable idea. In Aeschylus's Eumenides, the play that tells the founding of the Areopagus court, Apollo says that once a man has died and the dust has drunk his blood, there is no resurrection (anastasis) (Eumenides 647-648). Paul was asserting, before the court of the Areopagus, exactly what its founding myth denied. Others wanted to hear more. Paul did not soften the point to keep the room. See Resurrection of Jesus and Resurrection of the Body.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

People:

Lexicon:

Guides:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.