Phil D.
ὁ βαπτιστὴς
In Acts 17:27-28, Paul quotes from two pagan philosopher-poets when addressing an audience in front of the Areopagus in Athens:
"In him we live and move and have our being"
No text containing these words has survived from antiquity, but Clement of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, and other authorities attributed the line to Epimenides, a 7th or 6th Century BC Greek philosopher-poet.
In the early 20th Century, a 9th Century Syriac commentary on the book of Acts was discovered that contained the full quote from the text of Epimenides, which apparently was available to the author of that work at that time. The context seems to be a mistake (or "lie") on the part of Cretans who, by building a tomb for Zeus, failed to recognize that the god was immortal.
“Cretans are always liars”
The above stanza of Epimenides is actually quoted twice by Paul: the concluding line in Acts17:28, and the second line in Titus 1:12:
"For we too are his offspring"
Interestingly, Paul indicates that this line is something that more than one Greek poet has said (“poets”), and there are in fact two known texts that contain essentially the same line:
Both Aratus and Cleanthes were Stoic philosophers, 4th to 3rd Centuries BC.
{derived from: Mark Allen Powell, Introducing the New Testament, 2nd ed., (Baker, 2018)}
Yet [God] is not far from each one of us. For,
"In him we live and move and have our being";
as even some of your own poets have said,
"For we too are his offspring."
"In him we live and move and have our being"
No text containing these words has survived from antiquity, but Clement of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, and other authorities attributed the line to Epimenides, a 7th or 6th Century BC Greek philosopher-poet.
In the early 20th Century, a 9th Century Syriac commentary on the book of Acts was discovered that contained the full quote from the text of Epimenides, which apparently was available to the author of that work at that time. The context seems to be a mistake (or "lie") on the part of Cretans who, by building a tomb for Zeus, failed to recognize that the god was immortal.
They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one,
Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.
But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,
For in you we live and move and have our being.
“Cretans are always liars”
The above stanza of Epimenides is actually quoted twice by Paul: the concluding line in Acts17:28, and the second line in Titus 1:12:
It was one of them, their very own prophets, who said,
"Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."
"For we too are his offspring"
Interestingly, Paul indicates that this line is something that more than one Greek poet has said (“poets”), and there are in fact two known texts that contain essentially the same line:
All the streets and all the market places of humanity are full of Zeus.
Also full of him are the sea and the harbors,
and everywhere we all have need of Zeus.
For we are also his offspring.
(Aratus of Soli in Cilicia, Phaenomena, 2.5)
The beginning of the world was from you,
and with law you rule over all things.
To you all flesh may speak, for we are your offspring.
Therefore I will lift a hymn to you and will sing of your power.
(Cleanthes, Fragment 537, Hymn to Zeus)
Both Aratus and Cleanthes were Stoic philosophers, 4th to 3rd Centuries BC.
{derived from: Mark Allen Powell, Introducing the New Testament, 2nd ed., (Baker, 2018)}
