Paul’s Provoked Spirit

Timothy ministered alongside Paul and Silas in Berea, according to Acts 17:14. Luke did not mention Timothy when he talked about Paul and Silas’ work in Philippi and Thessalo­nica (16:11–17:9), so it may be that Timothy did not accompany them there, but we cannot be sure. We do know that when Paul left Berea, Silas and Timothy did not minister along with him in the city of Athens, the next stop on his second missionary journey (17:14–15).  Luke says that Silas and Timothy remained in Berea, but it appears that he is just offering a very short summary of their travels at that time. That is because Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 3:1–3 that while he was in Athens, he remained behind while sending Timothy to visit the church in Thessalonica. Apparently, Luke’s statement that Timothy remained in Berea means that Timothy went with Paul to Athens but then was immediately sent back to Thessalonica by way of Berea, where he would have lodged for a time.

Acts 17:16 begins the story of Paul’s ministry in Athens, perhaps the most famous of all the cities of Greece. It was the intellectual and religious center of the Greek world, and it had been under the control of the Roman Empire for centuries. Ancient writers describe the city as being filled with statues of men and gods. People would gather there to discuss their ideas about metaphysics—ultimate reality—ethics, and aesthetics. It was a marketplace of ideas, religious and otherwise.

Luke’s description of the city as “full of idols,” therefore, matches well what other sources tell us about Athens. Note Paul’s response to what he saw—“his spirit was provoked within him” (v. 16). The Greek word translated as “provoked” refers to a deep vexation. It is used in the Greek Septuagint translation of Isaiah 65:3 and Hosea 8:5 for God’s anger at idolatry. Paul could not merely tolerate idolatry in a passive manner; rather, it deeply upset him. He was filled with righteous anger, the kind of anger that is motivated by both the horror of seeing the glory of the one true God compromised by false worship and the compassionate pity that one should have for those trapped in soul-damning religion.

As we will see as we continue our study of Acts 17, this vexation would move Paul to proclaim the gospel so that people could be set free by the truth. For now, we will conclude with a simple question: Does seeing false religion anger us as much as it angered Paul?