John Calvin Commentary Acts 17:19

"And they took hold of him, and brought him unto the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is, which is spoken by thee?" — Acts 17:19 (ASV)

They brought him to Mars’ Street. Although this was a place appointed for judgment, Luke does not mean that Paul was brought before the seat of the judges, so that he might plead his cause before the judges of Mars’ Street. Instead, he was brought there, where there was most commonly a great assembly of people, so that the serious disputation could be held before a large and famous audience.

And even if we grant that he was brought before the judgment-seat, the outcome shows that he was not presented to the judges, but rather had free liberty to speak as if before an audience. What follows shortly after, concerning the nature and customs of the men of Athens, sufficiently declares that their curiosity was the reason Paul was given such an audience, was granted such a famous place to preach Christ in, and that so many gathered.

For in any other place it would have been a crime punishable by death to speak in the market or in any other public place after gathering a crowd. But there, because those who dealt in trivialities were allowed to chatter, due to their excessive desire to hear news, Paul was permitted, upon request, to speak about the mysteries of faith.

Gave themselves to nothing else. The two vices Luke recounts almost always go together, for it rarely happens that those who are eager for novelties are not also babblers. For that saying of Horace is very true: “Fly a demander of questions, for the same is also a blab.” And surely we see that curious men are like leaky barrels.

Furthermore, both vices arose from idleness—not only because the philosophers spent whole days in disputation, but also because the common people were too focused on novelty. Nor was there any craftsman so humble there who would not insert himself to set in order the state of Greece.

Indeed, what Luke says here is attested to by all writers, both Greek and Latin: that there was no people more fickle, covetous, or perverse than the Athenians. For this reason, no stable government could ever be established in that city, even though it was preeminent in the sciences.

Therefore, despite being a principal power, they nevertheless had no lasting liberty. Nor did they ever cease from attempting new ventures and causing much turmoil, until they brought themselves and all of Greece to utter ruin. For when their state had decayed, they still did not forsake their boldness. Cicero, therefore, laughs at their folly, because they issued their decrees no less fiercely then than when they were lords over Greece.

Now, although there was little hope of doing any good among such curious men, Paul did not neglect the opportunity, if perhaps he might win some from a large company to Christ. And this was no small credit to the gospel: that in the most noble place of the city and, so to speak, in a public theater, he could refute and openly rebuke all fabricated and false forms of worship, which had reigned there until that very day.