ACC ~ Acts 17 v29 - 34

OVERVIEW:

God, coming to us as the man Jesus of Nazareth and through the apostolic preaching, refashions our understanding of God as not dependent on our human fashionings. He corrects our misunderstanding by offering in the resurrection his love and forgiveness to our rejections of him based in ignorance (AMMONIUS). Chrysostom affirms that this error of the Athenians is not culpable but that they are being invited, through the risen Christ, into the abundant mercy of God through this change of mind and heart from their previous conceptions of divinity. This offer, however, points to a day awaiting all, a day of resurrection when Christ will pass judgment on all. Paul teaches as did Christ, gradually revealing the deeper truths that lie behind these actions, namely, that Jesus is not just a man but even God (CHRYSOSTOM). It is worth noting that Luke makes a distinction between those who “mock” and those who seem genuinely interested in hearing more (“but others said”). This is not often adverted to either in antiquity or now.

17:29 | The Deity Is Not Like Gold

UNLIKE ANY HUMAN FASHIONING. AMMONIUS: He teaches that the human mind cannot comprehend God as he is according to nature. Their mouths, which say the deity is of human form, are closed with these words. Indeed, one can mold or sculpt or draw people and images of people, or one can paint the likeness of any earthly thing. God, however, is similar to no human work. According to the word of the apostle, the deity is absolutely undetermined, incomprehensible, without image, incorporeal, not similar to human form or any other thing. CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 17.29.

17:31 | The Resurrection Gives Assurance

THE RESURRECTION: AN OFFER OF FORGIVENESS. AMMONIUS: Surely if God overlooked from the foundation of the world the transgressions committed by people out of ignorance, and he gives to each the forgiveness of transgressions, fittingly did he come among us at the end of the ages, in order that his boundless love of humankind might be received in accord with the measure that he reveals his presence. CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 17.30.

THE RESURRECTION: UNIVERSAL CALL TO REPENTANCE. CHRYSOSTOM: What? Is none of these to be punished? No, not if they are willing to repent. [Paul] says this not of the departed but of those whom he is addressing. He does not [yet] call you to account, Paul says. He does not say, “He neglected” or “He permitted,” but “You were ignorant. He overlooked.” That is, he does not exact punishment from you as from people deserving punishment. You were ignorant. And he does not say, “You willfully did wrong,” which is what he showed above when he said, “everywhere to repent.” Here he hints at the whole world. See how he leads them away from the partial deities. “Because he has fixed a day,” he says, “on which he will judge the world in righteousness.” Look, again he uses the expression world, referring thus to humans. “By a man whom he has appointed, by raising him from the dead.” See how he again declares the passion by pointing to the resurrection. That the judgment is true is clear from the resurrection, for the latter helps to establish the former. That everything he said was spoken with truth is clear from the fact that he rose again. That they gave to all people this assurance, that he rose from the dead, this is clear hereafter. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 38.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. CHRYSOSTOM: Look, he even introduced the subject of the resurrection of all. For in no other way can the world be judged. The words “by raising him from the dead” are spoken in regard to the body. For this is what was dead, what had fallen. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 38.

TEACHING AS CHRIST TAUGHT. CHRYSOSTOM: What do you do, Paul? You say nothing about the form of God nor that he is equal to God or anything concerning the splendor of his glory. Indeed the time to say these things had not yet come, but it was enough that they admitted that he was a man. And Christ did the same, and Paul actually learned these things from him. In fact, Christ did not reveal his divinity immediately, but first Christ was believed to be simply a man and a prophet; then he appeared to be what he really was. CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 17.31.