John Calvin Commentary Acts 17:16

"Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he beheld the city full of idols." — Acts 17:16 (ASV)

Was sore grieved. Though Paul, wherever he went, resolutely carried out the teaching role that he knew was entrusted to him, Luke shows that he was more angered and moved at Athens, because he saw idolatry reigning there more than in most other places.

The whole world was then full of idols; the pure worship of God could be found nowhere. Innumerable monstrous superstitions were everywhere, but Satan had made the city of Athens more mad than any other, so that its people were driven headlong with greater madness into their wickedness and perverse rites.

This example is worth noting: the city that was the center of wisdom, the fountain of all arts, and the mother of humanity, exceeded all others in blindness and madness. We know with what commendations intelligent and learned men praised it, and it had conceived such a high opinion of itself that it considered uncultured those whom it had not refined.

But the Holy Spirit, condemning the whole world for ignorance and dullness, says that these masters of liberal arts were bewitched with an unusual madness. From this we gather what human intellect can achieve in matters concerning God. Indeed, we need not doubt that the Lord allowed the men of Athens to fall into extreme madness, so that all the world might learn from them. They were to teach all ages that human foresight and intellect, even when helped by learning and instruction, are utterly foolish and pure folly when it comes to the kingdom of God.

They undoubtedly had their pretexts and justifications with which they excused their forms of worship, however absurd and corrupt they were. And yet, it is certain that they not only deceived people with childish and frivolous trifles, but that they themselves were shamefully deluded with gross and vile deceptions, as if they were deprived of common sense and were altogether dull and brutish.

And as we learn what kind of religion proceeds from human understanding, and that human wisdom is nothing but a source of all errors, so we may know that the men of Athens, being drunk with their own pride, erred more shamefully than the rest. The antiquity, pleasantness, and beauty of the city puffed them up with pride, so that they boasted that the gods came from there. Therefore, since they pulled God down from heaven to make Him an inhabitant of their city, it was fitting that they should be thrust down into the lowest hell.

However it may be, the vanity of human wisdom is here marked with eternal infamy by the Spirit of God, because where it primarily resided, the darkness was thicker. Idolatry reigned most of all there, and Satan swayed men’s minds more freely with his deceptions and tricks.

Now, let us turn to Paul. Luke says that because Paul saw the city so given to idolatry, his spirit grew fervent, or was deeply moved. Here Luke does not attribute only indignation to him, nor does he only say that Paul was offended by that spectacle; rather, he conveyed the unusual intensity of holy anger that sharpened Paul's zeal, so that he applied himself more fervently to the work.

And here we must note two things. For by being angry when he saw the name of God wickedly profaned and His pure worship corrupted, he thereby declared how thoroughly he perceived its corruption; indeed, he thereby declared that nothing was more precious to him than the glory of God.

This zeal ought to be very powerful among us, as it is in the Psalm (Psalms 69:9): The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. For it is a common rule for all the godly that as soon as they see their heavenly Father blasphemed, they are greatly troubled, as Peter teaches that the godly man Lot, because he could not remedy their most wicked deeds, troubled his heart (2 Peter 2:8). Teachers, above all others, must be fervent, as Paul says that he is jealous so that he may retain the Church in true chastity (2 Corinthians 11:2). And those who are not affected when they see and hear God blasphemed, and not only overlook it but also carelessly ignore it, are not worthy to be counted children of God, as they do not at least give Him as much honor as they do to an earthly father.

Secondly, we must note that he was not so grieved that, being dejected by despair, he was completely discouraged. This contrasts with most people we observe: when they see the glory of God wickedly profaned, they are far from becoming fervent or being moved. Instead, while professing and expressing sorrow and sighing, they nevertheless tend to become ungodly along with others rather than strive to reform them.

Nevertheless, such people have a fine pretext for their laziness: that they will not cause any disturbance when they are unlikely to achieve any good, thinking that their attempts will be in vain if they strive against the wicked and violent conspiracy of the populace. But Paul is not only not discouraged by weariness, nor does he become so faint because of the difficulty of the matter that he abandons his office of teaching; rather, he is spurred on more intensely to maintain godliness.