Living Faith

‘Come, Follow Me’ for July 24-30: What have Church leaders and scholars said about Acts 16-21?

This week’s study guide includes Paul’s sermon at Mars’ Hill in Athens and early missionaries such as Aquila and Priscilla

By Kaitlyn Bancroft July 23, 2023 2 p.m. EDT

Paul preaches to the Athenians in this scene from the Church’s Bible Videos.

Living Faith

‘Come, Follow Me’ for July 24-30: What have Church leaders and scholars said about Acts 16-21?

This week’s study guide includes Paul’s sermon at Mars’ Hill in Athens and early missionaries such as Aquila and Priscilla

By Kaitlyn Bancroft July 23, 2023 2 p.m. EDT

This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers Acts 16-21, which includes Paul’s sermon about the “unknown god” at Mars’ Hill in Athens, mentions of the Stoics and Epicureans, and the faith of missionaries such as Aquila, Priscilla and Apollos.

Church News recently dug through its archives to learn what leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and scholars have said about these chapters.

Paul and the Athenians

“The most universal subjugation in our day, as it has been throughout history, is ideology or political beliefs that are inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Substituting the philosophies of men for gospel truth can lead us away from the simplicity of the Savior’s message. When the Apostle Paul visited Athens, he tried to teach of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of this effort we read in Acts, ‘For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing’ (Acts 17:21). When the crowd realized the simple religious nature of Paul’s message, which was not new, they rejected it.

“This is emblematic of our own day, where gospel truths are often rejected or distorted to make them intellectually more appealing or compatible with current cultural trends and intellectual philosophies. If we are not careful, we can be captured by these trends and place ourselves in intellectual bondage.”

— Elder Quentin L. Cook, October 2013 general conference, “Lamentations of Jeremiah: Beware of Bondage”

“Why are a few members, who somewhat resemble the ancient Athenians, so eager to hear some new doubt or criticism? (See Acts 17:21.) Just as some weak members slip across a state line to gamble, a few go out of their way to have their doubts titillated. Instead of nourishing their faith, they are gambling ‘offshore’ with their fragile faith. To the question ‘Will ye also go away?’ (John 6:67) these few would reply, ‘Oh, no, we merely want a weekend pass in order to go to a casino for critics or a clubhouse for cloakholders.’ Such easily diverted members are not disciples but fair-weather followers.”

— Elder Neal A. Maxwell, October 1988 general conference, “Answer Me”

“Even today it is hard to enter Athens without reverence for the unexcelled skill and taste of its ancient builders. This was not Paul’s reaction, however, since he saw not merely admirable buildings but operating pagan shrines filled with images of the gods and goddesses. His was not a snap judgment, for Paul said, ‘I passed by and beheld your devotions’ (Acts 17:23). The phrase could be more literally translated: ‘I have gone throughout the city and looked over your shrines.’ … No city excelled Athens in sheer concentration of divine objects, and Paul was depressed by the sight. ...

“Here, Paul did not judge Athens without receiving its sneers back. The crowd’s insolence comes in Athenian idiom when he was called ‘this babbler,’ but the King James Version is not in sharp focus. The label spermologos is literally ‘seed-picker,’ applied to various scavenging birds and moving to the modern Greek meaning of a ‘gossip.’ Paul was then preaching plainly of ‘Jesus and the resurrection’ (Acts 17:18). Yet with the carelessness of those who knew too much, some merely laughed Paul off as a peddler of scattered ideas.”

— Richard Lloyd Anderson, former professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, in the 1976 Ensign article, “Paul and the Athenian Intellectuals”

The Stoics and Epicureans

“There were substantial men in Paul’s audience [at Mars’ Hill], philosophers of the Stoic and Epicurean schools … a fact that Paul took into consideration as he later addressed his educated audience there.

“Epicureans took their name from their founder Epicurus, an Athenian of broad experience who founded a school and left his writings to dominate it. He did not deny the existence of traditional gods, but made them irrelevant to life by picturing them as distant and unconcerned with the world. For Epicureans ... man was as temporary as material objects. Death would bring dissolution and a termination of consciousness. To the Epicurean, this was a concept of hope, because troubles and pain would dissolve as death obliterated the individual. ... Man’s duty in life was to seek maximum pleasure — defined not as sensual pleasure, but in terms of the higher joys of life. ...

“The Stoics in Paul’s audience had a history parallel to the Epicureans. Their founder was Zeno, and because he lectured in Athens in the Painted Stoa, his movement was nicknamed ‘Stoics.’ It attracted creative thinkers who added to the concepts of the system. By Paul’s day, it was the most popular philosophic movement, with Roman statesmen like Cicero and Seneca adherents to its basic concepts. Stoicism had rejected the pagan gods in favor of veneration of supreme reason, not personified, but seen as permeating the universe — a form of pantheism. Man’s duty was to place himself in harmony with reason and nature, renouncing selfish desires for a virtuous life. Yet the common Stoic view was that souls were less than eternal, perishing in periodic, fiery destructions that would begin further cycles of creation. … As Paul proclaimed a personal Savior and physical resurrection, Stoics would feel sharp differences from their views of God and man.”

— Richard Lloyd Anderson, former professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, in the 1976 Ensign article, “Paul and the Athenian Intellectuals”

Mars’ Hill

“These skeptical philosophers brought Paul to another gathering: ‘they took him and brought him unto Areopagus’ (Acts 17:19). The King James version adds false definiteness by narrating the opening of Paul’s speech there: ‘Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill’ (Acts 17:22). But the above King James terms … translate the same Greek word, Areios Pagos, either meaning the hill of Ares (or Romanized Mars) — the ancient place of judgment above the agora and below the Acropolis — or meaning the council that originally sat upon that hill. Had the council continued to meet in its traditional site in Paul’s day, it would not matter as much whether one should translate Areios Pagos as the hill or the council, but evidence suggests that the Areopagus judges sometimes changed their location. ...

“In Paul’s day, the Areopagus was the municipal council with broad regulatory powers, staffed by upper classes. They would inevitably be concerned with the message that had caused riots in other Greek cities. This body, and the philosophers that brought about the hearing, would merge as an audience accustomed to logic and aware of systems of thought. Paul’s opportunity was great, and he spoke as one knowing both their general convictions and how the gospel message could affect them.”

— Richard Lloyd Anderson, former professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, in the 1976 Ensign article, “Paul and the Athenian Intellectuals”

The ‘unknown god’

Paul walks through Athens in this scene from the Church’s Bible videos.

“The apostle [Paul] moved to symbolize his message by the altar he had seen with the inscription (literally) ‘to an unknown god’ (see Acts 17:23). ... The point is not the god but the unknown. When all the ingenuity of ancient mythology was finished, the Greeks were still not sure that they had included all possible divine beings. ...

“Athens was a paradox: a showpiece of traditional paganism led by men whose education fostered disbelief in human myths about their gods. Thus Paul’s speech reminded this audience of what they generally knew: that human shrines and statues could not possibly capture the majesty of the true creator; that all move and think through His power — in fact men are His ‘offspring’ (genos), literally of the divine ‘race’ or ‘class’ (see Acts 17:28). ...

“It is too simplistic to look for modern altars to unknown gods, but striking admissions that God is unknown are not hard to find. … ‘Agnosticism’ is the English adaptation of Paul’s three words... Like Paul, those with valid knowledge of God and His plan can generally say to the modern intellectual, ‘I declare to you the Creator whom you admit you do not know.’”

— Richard Lloyd Anderson, former professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, in the 1976 Ensign article, “Paul and the Athenian Intellectuals”

Aquila, Priscilla and Apollos

“About the same time Paul began his missionary labors, Claudius, emperor of Rome, issued an edict expelling all Jews and their converts from that city. Among the refugees were Aquila and his wife Priscilla, who fled to Corinth where Aquila earned their living as a tentmaker. Aquila came from Pontus on the Black Sea. Priscilla, whose name is Latin and means ‘the little old one,’ may have been a native of Rome.

“Because Paul was also a tentmaker, he came to live and work with Aquila and Priscilla when he first came to Corinth. While Paul plied his trade during the week, the scriptures tell us that ‘he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks’ (Acts 18:4). It is not difficult to picture that reasoning extending into his weekday activities with Priscilla and Aquila. ...

“Though Priscilla and Aquila are mentioned by Paul in some of his later epistles, little is known of their subsequent history. We find in Priscilla a thorough student of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She was a fearless teacher and was willing to confront even the eloquent Apollos to share with him the truths that she had learned. Surely she made sacrifices to spread the gospel. She strengthened the branch in Corinth. She strengthened the branch in Ephesus. Those who have lived in tiny struggling branches on the fringes of the Church know the costs and courage of such fidelity. Priscilla’s fame extends even beyond the biblical record, for one of the oldest catacombs of Rome was named in her honor. Her name appears on many monuments of Rome and we read in Tertullian, ‘by the holy Prisca the gospel is preached.’ Examining carefully this cameo of Priscilla, we discover an early missionary.”

— Ann N. Madsen, former professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, in the September 1975 Ensign article, “Cameos: The Women of the New Testament”

Ephesus, Apollos and the temple of Diana

A family studies the ‘Come, Follow Me’ curriculum at home at their table.

“Ephesus at this period was the home of the great temple of Diana, with its decadent fertility cult. Ephesus, with Syrian Antioch and Alexandria of Egypt, was one of the three great cities of the eastern Mediterranean. The Ephesian temple of Diana (Artemis) was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was one of the largest Hellenic temples in existence, at least 150 feet by 300 feet, and involved both priestesses and eunuch priests in its services.

“Ephesus was indeed a melting pot of superstitions and religions. It must have been a difficult place to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. But that is exactly the task Priscilla and Aquila undertook. Paul remained but a short time, then left them. When Paul returned more than a year later he found a well-organized branch.

“But one small glimpse of their proselyting activity is recorded. A young eloquent Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus to preach. A recent convert, ‘knowing only the baptism of John,’ he began preaching ‘boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly’ (Acts 18:25–26). The success of their labors with the young man who was to become a great missionary is attested in the scripture when, after he had arrived in Achaia (Greece), he ‘helped them much which had believed through grace: For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ’ (Acts 18:27–28).”

— Ann N. Madsen, former professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, in the September 1975 Ensign article, “Cameos: The Women of the New Testament”