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We have here a further account of the travels of Paul, and his services and sufferings for Christ. He was not like a candle upon a table, that gives light only to one room, but like the sun that goes its circuit to give light to many. He was called into Macedonia, a large kingdom, Act 16:9. He began with Philippi, because it was the first city he came to; but he must not confine himself to this. We have him here, I. Preaching and persecuted at Thessalonica, another city of Macedonia (Act 17:1-9). II. Preaching at Berea, where he met with an encouraging auditory, but was driven thence also by persecution (Act 17:10-15). III. Disputing at Athens, the famous university of Greece (Act 17:16-21), and the account he gave of natural religion, for the conviction of those that were addicted to polytheism and idolatry, and to lead them to the Christian religion (Act 17:22-31), together with the success of this sermon (Act 17:32-34).

Now when they had passed through Amphipolls,.... A city of Macedonia, where it is placed by Pliny (q); according to Ptolomy (r), it was in that part of Macedonia, which is called Edonis, and was near Philippi, and lay in the way from thence to Thessalonica; Harpocratian (s) says, it was a city of Thrace, formerly called "the Nine Ways"; it was upon the borders of Thrace, and had its name Amphipolis from the river Strymon running on both sides of it, making it a peninsula; it was also called Crademna, and Anadraemum; it is now in the hands of the Turks, and by them called Empoli; this city was originally built by Cimon the Athenian, into which he sent ten thousand Athenians for a colony, as the writer of his life reports (t). The apostle only passed through this place; it does not appear that he at all preached in it, or at any other time, nor do we read of it in ecclesiastical history, nor of the following place: and Apollonia; this is also placed by Pliny (u) in Macedonia, and is said by him to have been formerly a colony of the Corinthians, and about seven miles from the sea; and by Ptolomy (w), in that part of Macedonia called Mygdonia, and with him its name is Apollonia of Mygdonia; it was situated by the river Echedorus, and was famous for Augustus Caesar's learning Greek here, and is now called Ceres: there was another of this name in the region of Pentapolis, and was one of the five (x) cities in it; and another in Palestine mentioned by Pliny (y), along with Caesarea; and by Josephus (z), with Joppa, Jamnia, Azotus, &c. but this was near Thessalonica; it is said to be about twenty miles from it: here also the apostle did not stay to preach the Gospel, nor is there any mention made of it elsewhere in the Acts of the Apostles, and yet Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, is said to be bishop of Apollonia; See Gill on Luk 10:1, but whether the same place with this, or whether fact, is not certain; they came to Thessalonica; a free city of Macedonia (a); it was formerly called Halis (b), and sometimes Therme; it had its name of Thessalonica from the victory which Philip king of Macedon obtained over the Thessalians; and not from his daughter Thessalonica, the wife of Cassander, who also had her name from the same victory: in this place a sedition being raised, and some magistrates killed, Theodosius the Roman emperor suffered seven thousand men to be slain; and when he came to Milain, Ambrose bishop of that place having heard of it, would not suffer him to enter into the church and receive the Lord's supper, until he repented of his sin, and made public confession of it (c). Thessalonica has been since the head of a new kingdom erected by Boniface marquis of Montferrat; it was for some time in the hands of the Venetians, but was taken from them by Amurath emperor of the Turks (d). The Italians call it now Saloniki; it has been since inhabited by Christians, Turks, and Jews, and chiefly by the latter, their number, according to their own account, is fourteen thousand, and their synagogues fourscore. There always were many Jews in this place, and so there were when the apostle was here, for it follows; where was a synagogue of the Jews; it seems as if there was none, neither in Philippi, nor in Amphipolis, nor in Apollonia: why these two last places should be passed through by the apostle, without making any stay at them, cannot be said; it is very likely he had, as in some other instances before, some particular directions from the Spirit of God, there being none of the chosen vessels of salvation to be called there, at least, at this time, when there were many at Thessalonica. (q) Nat. Hist. l. 4. c. 10. (r) Geograph. l. 3. c. 13. (s) Lexic. Decem. Orat. p. 20, 104. Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 8. (t) Cornelius Nepos in Vita Cimon. c. 2. (u) Nat. Hist. l. 3. c. 23. (w) Geograph. l. 8. c. 13. Vid. Plin. l. 4. c. 10. (x) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 5. (y) Ib. c. 13. (z) Antiqu. l. 13. c. 15. sect. 4. & de Bello Jud. l. 1. c. 8, sect. 3. (a) Plin. l. 4. c. 10. (b) Ptolom. l. 3. c. 13. (c) Magdeburg. Hist. Eccles. cent. 4. c. 3. p. 82. (d) Petav. Rationar. Temp. par. 1. p. 462, 475.

God that made the world, and all things therein,.... In this account of the divine Being, as the Creator of the world, and all things in it, as the apostle agrees with Moses, and the rest of the sacred Scriptures; so he condemns both the notion of the Epicurean philosophers, who denied that the world was made by God, but said that it owed its being to a fortuitous concourse of atoms; and the notion of the Peripatetics, or Aristotelians, who asserted the eternity of the world; and some of both sects were doubtless present. Seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth; as appears by his being the Creator of both; hence he supports them in their being, and governs all creatures in them by his providence. Dwelleth not in temples made with hands; such as were the idol temples at Athens; nor in any other edifices built by man, so as to be there fixed and limited; no, not in the temple at Jerusalem: but he dwells in temples that are not made with hands, as in the temple of Christ's human nature, in which the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and in the hearts of his people, who are the temples of the Holy Ghost. This strikes at a notion of the Athenians, as if God was limited, and circumscribed, and included within the bounds of a shrine, or temple, though it is not at all contrary to his promises, or the hopes of his own people, of his presence in places appointed for divine worship, but is expressive of the infinity and immensity of God.

And inasmuch as this is true, when [preaching to the Athenians on the Areopagus-where, no Jews being present, he had it in his power to preach God with freedom of speech-he said to them: "God, who made the world, and all things therein, He, being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is He touched by men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; who hath made from one blood the whole race of men to dwell upon the face of the whole earth, predetermining the times according to the boundary of their habitation, to seek the Deity, if by any means they might be able to track Him out, or find Him, although He be not far from each of us. For in Him we live, and move, and have our being, as certain men of your own have said, For we are also His offspring. Inasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Deity is like unto gold or silver, or stone graven by art or man's device. Therefore God, winking at the times of ignorance, does now command all men everywhere to turn to Him with repentance; because He hath appointed a day, on which the world shall be judged in righteousness by the man Jesus; whereof He hath given assurance by raising, Him from the dead." Now in this passage he does not only declare to them God as the Creator of the world, no Jews being present, but that He did also make one race of men to dwell upon all the earth...

Most instructively, therefore, says Paul in the Acts of the Apostles: "The God that made the world, and all things in it, being the Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped by men's hands, as if He needed anything; seeing that it is He Himself that giveth to all breath, and life, and all things."

Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles, is recorded to have said to the Areopagites, "I perceive that ye are more than ordinarily religious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with the inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you. God, that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him; though He be not far from every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we also are His offspring." Whence it is evident that the apostle, by availing himself of poetical examples from the Phenomena of Aratus, approves of what had been well spoken by the Greeks; and intimates that, by the unknown God, God the Creator was in a roundabout way worshipped by the Greeks; but that it was necessary by positive knowledge to apprehend and learn Him by the Son.

For is it not the case that rightly and truly we do not circumscribe in any place that which cannot be circumscribed; nor do we shut up in temples made with hands that which contains all things? What work of builders, and stonecutters, and mechanical art can be holy? Superior to these are not they who think that the air, and the enclosing space, or rather the whole world and the universe, are meet for the excellency of God? It were indeed ridiculous, as the philosophers themselves say, for man, the plaything of God, to make God, and for God to be the plaything of art; since what is made is similar and the same to that of which it is made, as that which is made of ivory is ivory, and that which is made of gold golden. Now the images and temples constructed by mechanics are made of inert matter; so that they too are inert, and material, and profane; and if you perfect the art, they partake of mechanical coarseness. Works of art cannot then be sacred and divine. ... But how can He, to whom the things that are belong, need anything? But were God possessed of a human form, He would need, equally with man, food, and shelter, and house, and the attendant incidents. Those who are like in form and affections will require similar sustenance. And if sacred has a twofold application, designating both God Himself and the structure raised to His honour, how shall we not with propriety call the Church holy, through knowledge, made for the honour of God, sacred to God, of great value, and not constructed by mechanical art, nor embellished by the hand of an impostor, but by the will of God fashioned into a temple? For it is not now the place, but the assemblage of the elect, that I call the Church.

What, again, if He was One who was "crowned with glory and honour," and He Another by whom He was so crowned, -the Son, in fact, by the Father? Moreover, how comes it to pass, that the Almighty Invisible God, "whom no man hath seen nor can see; He who dwelleth in light unapproachable; " "He who dwelleth not in temples made with hands; " "from before whose sight the earth trembles, and the mountains melt like wax; " who holdeth the whole world in His hand "like a nest; " "whose throne is heaven, and earth His footstool; " in whom is every place, but Himself is in no place; who is the utmost bound of the universe;-how happens it, I say, that He (who, though) the Most High, should yet have walked in paradise towards the cool of the evening, in quest of Adam; and should have shut up the ark after Noah had entered it; and at Abraham's tent should have refreshed Himself under an oak; and have called to Moses out of the burning bush; and have appeared as "the fourth" in the furnace of the Babylonian monarch (although He is there called the Son of man),-unless all these events had happened as an image, as a mirror, as an enigma (of the future incarnation)? Surely even these things could not have been believed even of the Son of God, unless they had been given us in the Scriptures; possibly also they could not have been believed of the Father, even if they had been given in the Scriptures, since these men bring Him down into Mary's womb, and set Him before Pilate's judgment-seat, and bury Him in the sepulchre of Joseph.

"God that made the world and all things therein, He being Lord of heaven and earth" - for, that they may not imagine Him to be one of many, he presently sets them right on this point; adding, "dwelleth not in temples made with hands" - do you observe how, little by little, he brings in the philosophy? how he ridicules the heathen error?

"God," he says, "that made the world." He uttered one word, by which he has subverted all the doctrines of the philosophers. For the Epicureans affirm all to be fortuitously formed and by concourse of atoms, the Stoics held it to be body and fire. "The world and all that is therein." Do you mark the conciseness, and in conciseness, clearness? Mark what were the things that were strange to them: that God made the world! Things which now any of the most ordinary persons know, these the Athenians and the wise men of the Athenians knew not. "Seeing He is Lord of heaven and earth": for if He made them, it is clear that He is Lord. Observe what he affirms to be the note of Deity - creation. Which attribute the Son also hath.

For the Prophets everywhere affirm this, that to create is God's prerogative. Not as those affirm that another is Maker but not Lord, assuming that matter is uncreated. Here now he covertly affirms and establishes his own, while he overthrows their doctrine. "Dwelleth not in temples made with hands." For He does indeed dwell in temples, yet not in such, but in man's soul. He overthrows the corporeal worship. What then? Did He not dwell in the temple at Jerusalem? No indeed: but He wrought therein.

For fear that they should think that God proclaimed by him was one of the common gods, he adds in correction: "He does not dwell in hand-made temples." For indeed he dwells in temples, but not in these, rather in the human soul. For he is not said to dwell in the temple of Jerusalem, but to operate there. Nor was he worshiped among the Jews by the hands of men, but with the mind: for he did not so desire those things as if he were in need. For he says, "Shall I eat the flesh of bulls? Or shall I drink the blood of goats?" (Ps. 50:13) and the following.

God, who made the world and everything in it, being the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, and so on. The order of the apostolic discourse is to be carefully observed, in which he formed a way of dealing with the Gentiles: first teaching that there is one God, the author of the world and of all things, in whom we live and move and have our being, of whom we are the offspring. This shows that he ought to be loved not only for the gifts of light and life but also because of a certain kinship of race. Then he refuted that opinion about idols by clear reasoning, that the creator and lord of the whole world cannot be confined in stone temples, that the giver of all benefits does not need the blood of sacrifices, and that the creator and governor of all men cannot be created by the hand of man. Finally, that God, in whose image man was made, should not be thought to resemble metals, teaching that the remedy of error is the endeavor to repent. For if he had first sought to destroy the ceremonies of idols, the ears of the Gentiles would have rejected him. Therefore, when he persuaded them that there is one God, he then affirmed by His judgment that salvation had been given to us through Christ. He called Him more man than God, starting from the things He did in the body and describing them as divine, so that He seemed more than a man. He had conquered death by His power, and, rising from the dead, He (for faith grows gradually), as He was seen to be more than a man, was believed to be God. For what does it matter in what order one believes? Perfection is not sought in beginnings, but one progresses from beginnings to what is perfect.

"God, who made the world and everything in it." He said one word and undermined all the positions of the philosophers. The Epicureans assert that everything came about by itself and from atoms, but he says that the world and everything in it is the work of God. "He does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He served by human hands." So that they would not think that one of their many gods was being preached, Paul adds to what was said: "He does not dwell in temples made with hands," but in the human soul. So then what? Did He not dwell in the temple in Jerusalem? No, He did not dwell there, but He acted there. How then did the Jews worship Him through the service of hands? Not through the service of hands, but with the mind, because He did not require anything material, having no need of it: "Do I eat the flesh of bulls and drink the blood of goats?" (Ps. 49:13)

Paul and his company, passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, come to Thessalonica, were they preach the Gospel to the Jews, several of whom believe, Act 17:1-4. Others raise a mob, and bring Jason, who had received the apostles, before the magistrates, who, having taken bail of him and his companions, dismiss them, Act 17:5-9. Paul and Silas are sent away by night unto Berea, where they preach to the Jews, who gladly receive the Gospel, Act 17:10-12. Certain Jews from Thessalonica, hearing that the Bereans had received the Gospel, come thither and raise up a persecution, Act 17:13. Paul is sent away by the brethren to Athens, where he preaches to the Jews, Act 17:14-17. He is encountered by the Epicureans and Stoics, who bring him to the Areopagus, and desire him to give a full explanation of his doctrine, Act 17:18-20. The character of the Athenians, Act 17:21. Paul preaches to them, and gives a general view of the essential principles of theology, Act 17:22-31. Some mock, some hesitate, and some believe, and, among the latter, Dionysias and Damaris, Act 17:32-34.

God that made the world, etc. - Though the Epicureans held that the world was not made by God, but was the effect of a fortuitous concourse of atoms, yet this opinion was not popular; and the Stoics held the contrary: 1. St. Paul assumes, as an acknowledged truth, that there was a God who made the world and all things. 2. That this God could not be confined within temples made with hands, as he was the Lord or governor of heaven and earth. 3. That, by fair consequence, the gods whom they worshipped, which were shut up in their temples could not be this God; and they must be less than the places in which they were contained. This was a strong, decisive stroke against the whole system of the Grecian idolatry.

AT THESSALONICA THE SUCCESS OF PAUL'S PREACHING ENDANGERING HIS LIFE, HE IS DESPATCHED BY NIGHT TO BEREA, WHERE HIS MESSAGE MEETS WITH ENLIGHTENED ACCEPTANCE--A HOSTILE MOVEMENT FROM THESSALONICA OCCASIONS HIS SUDDEN DEPARTURE FROM BEREA--HE ARRIVES AT ATHENS. (Act 17:1-15) when they had passed through Amphipolis--thirty-three miles southwest of Philippi, on the river Strymon, and at the head of the gulf of that name, on the northern coast of the Ægean Sea. and Apollonia--about thirty miles southwest of Amphipolis; but the exact site is not known. they came to Thessalonica--about thirty-seven miles due west from Apollonia, at the head of the Thermaic (or Thessalonian) Gulf, at the northwestern extremity of the Ægean Sea; the principal and most populous city in Macedonia. "We see at once how appropriate a place it was for one of the starting-points of the Gospel in Europe, and can appreciate the force of what Paul said to the Thessalonians within a few months of his departure from them: "From you, the word of the Lord sounded forth like a trumpet, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place,"" (Th1 1:8) [HOWSON]. where was a synagogue of the Jews--implying that (as at Philippi) there was none at Amphipolis and Apollonia.

God that made the world and all . . . therein--The most profound philosophers of Greece were unable to conceive any real distinction between God and the universe. Thick darkness, therefore, behooved to rest on all their religious conceptions. To dissipate this, the apostle sets out with a sharp statement of the fact of creation as the central principle of all true religion--not less needed now, against the transcendental idealism of our day. seeing he is Lord--or Sovereign. of heaven and earth--holding in free and absolute subjection all the works of His hands; presiding in august royalty over them, as well as pervading them all as the principle of their being. How different this from the blind Force or Fate to which all creatures were regarded as in bondage! dwelleth not in temples made with hands--This thought, so familiar to Jewish ears (Kg1 8:27; Isa 66:1-2; Act 7:48), and so elementary to Christians, would serve only more sharply to define to his heathen audience the spirituality of that living, personal God, whom he "announced" to them.