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The Ancient World Behind the Text: Ideas

The customs, offices and ideas a first reader knew without being told, what each meant then, and the nearest thing you already know.

Philosophers and their schools

Stoics, Epicureans and other schools taught a whole way of life in lecture halls and marketplaces. A traveling teacher with a message about God would be heard, and judged, as one more philosopher.

Greek and Roman worldCity, trade and civic life

First, in plain English

The new speaker in the park drew a crowd, and the regulars sized him up as one more man with a theory. Philosophy in Paul's world meant a whole way of looking at life, close to what we call a worldview. The Stoics taught that the divine filled everything and that the wise man lived by reason. The Epicureans said the gods, if they existed, took no interest in us, and that a calm, painless life was the goal. Teachers lectured in rented halls and argued in the marketplace, and some were frauds who lived off their hearers. A traveling Jew talking about God and a man raised from the dead would be measured against all of them.

What it meant then

Carson writes that in the ancient world philosophy meant something like a worldview, with teachers offering rival ones. The Epicureans had influence mainly among the educated upper classes. They held that the gods stayed out of human affairs and that life's goal was pleasure, meaning freedom from pain and disturbance. The Stoics were more popular, opposed pleasure and believed God filled all things and needed nothing. Philosophers dealt mainly with ethics, and pagan religion with ritual. Popular opinion counted many philosophers impious for questioning the old gods. The charge of bringing in strange gods recalled Socrates, who was brought before the Areopagus and executed. Sages and orators without schools of their own worked the marketplace, and philosophers lectured in rented halls. Early observers took Christians for a club or a philosophical school. Many sages were charlatans, so honest ones had to deny greed. Philosophers lived on fees, rich patrons or begging, and despised manual work. For three centuries Greek-speaking Jews had borrowed from Greek philosophy to make their faith respectable to Greeks. Stoics and Cynics claimed that only the wise man was truly rich and a king, and that all things were theirs as friends of the gods. Cynics wandered homeless, begged and abused their hearers, and sages listed their hardships to prove their integrity. Philosophers held that the wise needed no law. Stoic-influenced moralists praised contentment with little or much and said the wise man needed no one but himself. Stoics held imprisonment, death and anxiety beyond one's control to be of no account.

The bridge to today

An analogy: a university town where every café has its circle of argument and a newcomer with a big idea is invited to give a talk. Some come to learn, some to mock, and the faculty decide whether he gets a lecture hall.

What it changes in the reading

In Athens, in Acts 17:18, Paul is heard as one more lecturer in the marketplace and his message is sorted against Stoic and Epicurean ideas. The Corinthians' claim to be already rich and reigning in 1 Corinthians 4:8 borrows the sage's boast, and Colossians 2:8 warns against hollow and deceptive philosophy.

Where the analogy breaks

Not salaried scholars debating ideas. University faculty draw a salary and argue theory. Ancient philosophers lived on fees, patrons or begging, taught a whole way of life, and a charge of bringing in strange gods could put a speaker on trial, as it had Socrates.

Where scholars disagree

Whether the philosophy of Colossians 2:8 was a real group. The ESV Study Bible takes the Greek article to show that the teachers called their own teaching the philosophy, and Bird, writing with Wright, thinks a specific group or person is in view. Wright reads the chapter as a general warning in ironic philosophical terms, with no false teachers present, only neighbors to conform to.

Passages where it appears

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{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-17-22-34\/","n":"Acts 17:22-34, Paul before the Areopagus","s":"Before the Areopagus, Paul starts from an altar to an unknown god and from the Athenians' own poets, speaks of the one Creator who made every nation from one man, and ends with a coming judgment and a man raised from the dead. Some mock; a few believe.","r":"Acts 17:22-34"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-19-8-20\/","n":"Acts 19:8-20, The lecture hall and the burned books","s":"In Ephesus Paul teaches daily in the hall of Tyrannus for two years, and even cloths that touched him bring healing. When the sons of Sceva try to use Jesus' name as a spell, the spirit overpowers them, and believers burn their magic books in public.","r":"Acts 19:8-20"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-20-17-38\/","n":"Acts 20:17-38, Farewell to the Ephesian elders","s":"Hurrying to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost, Paul calls the elders of Ephesus to Miletus. He reminds them how he lived among them, warns of wolves who will attack the flock, charges them as overseers to shepherd God's church, and leaves them in tears.","r":"Acts 20:17-38"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-25-13-26-32\/","n":"Acts 25:13-26:32, Agrippa and Bernice hear Paul","s":"King Agrippa II and his sister Bernice visit Festus, who asks them to hear Paul so that he will have something to write to the emperor. Paul tells his story; Festus calls him mad, Agrippa turns the question aside, and all agree he could have been set free had he not appealed to Caesar.","r":"Acts 25:13-26:32"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-1-18-32\/","n":"Romans 1:18-32, Images of the immortal God","s":"Paul describes God's anger against people who knew him from creation yet traded his glory for images of humans and animals, and the disorder that followed.","r":"Romans 1:18-32"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-7-1-25\/","n":"Romans 7:1-25, Bound while the husband lives","s":"A wife is bound to her husband only while he lives, and believers have died to the law to belong to Christ. Then Paul describes a divided self that knows the good and cannot do it.","r":"Romans 7:1-25"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-3-1-23\/","n":"1 Corinthians 3:1-23, Milk, builders and God's temple","s":"Paul calls the Corinthians infants still on milk, says he and Apollos are only servants, warns builders that fire will test their work, and reminds the church that it is God's temple and that all things are theirs.","r":"1 Corinthians 3:1-23"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-4-6-13\/","n":"1 Corinthians 4:6-13, Apostles on display","s":"With biting irony Paul sets the Corinthians, already full, rich and reigning, beside the apostles, put on show last of all like men condemned to die, hungry, ragged, homeless and treated as the world's scum.","r":"1 Corinthians 4:6-13"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-7-1-16\/","n":"1 Corinthians 7:1-16, Married couples and unbelieving spouses","s":"Replying to the Corinthians' letter, Paul tells married couples not to deprive each other, advises the unmarried and widows, repeats the Lord's word against divorce, and says a believer deserted by an unbelieving spouse is not bound.","r":"1 Corinthians 7:1-16"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-9-1-27\/","n":"1 Corinthians 9:1-27, Free, unpaid and in training","s":"Paul defends his right as an apostle to be supported and explains why he has never used it, makes himself a slave to all to win more, and pictures his discipline as an athlete's training for a wreath that will not wither.","r":"1 Corinthians 9:1-27"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2corinthians-2-14-17\/","n":"2 Corinthians 2:14-17, Led in God's triumph","s":"Paul thanks God, who leads him in triumphal procession and spreads the fragrance of Christ through him, a smell of death to some and of life to others, and denies that he peddles God's word for profit.","r":"2 Corinthians 2:14-17"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2corinthians-4-7-18\/","n":"2 Corinthians 4:7-18, Treasure in clay jars","s":"Paul carries God's treasure in a clay jar, hard pressed but not crushed, carrying Jesus' dying in his body so that Jesus' life may show, while the outer self wastes away and the inner self is renewed day by day.","r":"2 Corinthians 4:7-18"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2corinthians-5-11-6-13\/","n":"2 Corinthians 5:11-6:13, New creation, Christ's ambassadors and a list of hardships","s":"Because one died for all, anyone in Christ is a new creation; Paul, God's ambassador, appeals to the Corinthians to be reconciled to God and commends his ministry with a long list of hardships and paradoxes.","r":"2 Corinthians 5:11-6:13"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/galatians-5-13-6-10\/","n":"Galatians 5:13-6:10, Flesh and Spirit, burdens and teachers","s":"Called to freedom, the Galatians are to serve one another in love, which fulfills the law; Paul sets the works of the flesh against the fruit of the Spirit and urges them to restore the fallen gently, carry each other's burdens, share with their teachers and keep doing good.","r":"Galatians 5:13-6:10"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philippians-1-12-26\/","n":"Philippians 1:12-26, Chains known to the whole palace guard","s":"Paul tells how his imprisonment has carried the gospel through the palace guard and made other preachers bolder, some from rivalry, then weighs living against dying and expects to stay on for their sake.","r":"Philippians 1:12-26"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philippians-3-12-4-1\/","n":"Philippians 3:12-4:1, The race, citizens of heaven, and a Savior from there","s":"Paul pictures himself as a runner straining toward the prize, warns against those whose god is their stomach, and reminds a Roman colony that its citizenship is in heaven, from where it awaits a Savior who will transform its lowly bodies.","r":"Philippians 3:12-4:1"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philippians-4-2-9\/","n":"Philippians 4:2-9, Two women at odds, names in the book of life, and whatever is true","s":"Paul pleads with two women who worked beside him to agree, asks a companion to help them, notes that their names are in the book of life, and urges joy, prayer instead of worry, and thoughts fixed on whatever is true and excellent.","r":"Philippians 4:2-9"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philippians-4-10-23\/","n":"Philippians 4:10-23, A thank-you without a thank you, and Caesar's household","s":"Paul acknowledges the Philippians' gift in the language of contentment and of business receipts and sacrifice, without a direct thank you, and closes with greetings from the saints of Caesar's household.","r":"Philippians 4:10-23"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/colossians-2-8-15\/","n":"Colossians 2:8-15, The philosophy, a cancelled IOU and a triumph","s":"Paul warns against a philosophy built on human tradition and the elements of the world, tells Gentile believers they have already been circumcised in Christ, and pictures God cancelling their debt at the cross and leading the powers captive.","r":"Colossians 2:8-15"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1thessalonians-2-1-12\/","n":"1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, Gentle as a nurse, firm as a father","s":"Paul reminds the church how he and his companions came to them after being mistreated in Philippi: no deceit, flattery or greed, gentle among them like a nursing mother, working night and day so as not to burden anyone, and urging each of them like a father.","r":"1 Thessalonians 2:1-12"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2thessalonians-3-6-18\/","n":"2 Thessalonians 3:6-18, The idle, the busybodies, and a greeting in Paul's own hand","s":"Paul tells the church to keep away from believers who are idle and will not work, recalls how he worked night and day to set an example, lays down that anyone unwilling to work should not eat, and signs the letter in his own hand.","r":"2 Thessalonians 3:6-18"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1timothy-1-1-11\/","n":"1 Timothy 1:1-11, Myths, endless genealogies and would-be teachers of the law","s":"Paul greets Timothy, whom he left in Ephesus, and tells him to stop certain people teaching strange doctrines and spending themselves on myths and endless genealogies; they want to be teachers of the law without understanding it, while the law is meant for the lawless.","r":"1 Timothy 1:1-11"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1timothy-6-1-10\/","n":"1 Timothy 6:1-10, Slaves under the yoke, and godliness as gain","s":"Slaves are to respect their masters so that the faith is not slandered, and those with believing masters are to serve them all the more; then Paul turns on teachers who treat godliness as a way to get rich, and warns that the craving for money breeds every kind of harm.","r":"1 Timothy 6:1-10"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2timothy-3-1-9\/","n":"2 Timothy 3:1-9, Terrible times, homes entered, and Jannes and Jambres","s":"Paul warns that the last days will bring terrible times and people who love themselves, money and pleasure, having a form of godliness but denying its power; some worm their way into homes and win over gullible women, opposing the truth as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses.","r":"2 Timothy 3:1-9"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/titus-1-10-16\/","n":"Titus 1:10-16, The circumcision group, and Cretans always liars","s":"Many rebellious talkers and deceivers, especially of the circumcision group, are upsetting whole households for dishonest gain; Paul quotes a Cretan prophet who called Cretans always liars, and warns against Jewish myths and human commands, for to the pure all things are pure.","r":"Titus 1:10-16"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2peter-1-1-21\/","n":"2 Peter 1:1-21, A reminder before the tent is folded","s":"Simeon Peter writes to those who share a faith as precious as his, through whom they may share in the divine nature, and urges them to add virtue to virtue. Knowing his death is near, he means to remind them, for he was an eyewitness of Christ's majesty on the holy mountain, and the prophetic word is a lamp in a dark place until the morning star rises.","r":"2 Peter 1:1-21"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2peter-2-1-10\/","n":"2 Peter 2:1-10, Angels in Tartarus, Noah, Sodom and Lot","s":"As there were false prophets in Israel, so false teachers will come, greedy and denying the Master who bought them. God punished the angels who sinned, keeping them bound in darkness in Tartarus for judgment; he swept away the ancient world but kept Noah; he burned Sodom and Gomorrah but rescued righteous Lot. So the Lord knows how to rescue the godly and keep the unrighteous for judgment.","r":"2 Peter 2:1-10"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2peter-2-10-22\/","n":"2 Peter 2:10-22, The glorious ones, the way of Balaam, a dog and a sow","s":"The false teachers slander the glorious ones, which even angels do not dare to do. Like unreasoning animals they carouse in daylight, with eyes full of adultery; they have followed Balaam, who loved profit gained by wrongdoing and was rebuked by a donkey. They promise freedom while slaves of corruption, and they are like a dog returning to its vomit and a washed sow to the mud.","r":"2 Peter 2:10-22"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2peter-3-1-18\/","n":"2 Peter 3:1-18, Scoffers, the flood and the day of fire","s":"Scoffers will ask where the promised coming is, since everything goes on as it has since creation. Peter answers that the world once made by God's word was destroyed by water and is now kept for fire on the day of judgment; the Lord does not count time as people do, and he delays out of patience. The day will come like a thief, and the readers wait for new heavens and a new earth, as Paul too wrote in letters some twist like the other Scriptures.","r":"2 Peter 3:1-18"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1john-2-28-3-24\/","n":"1 John 2:28-3:24, Children of God, Cain, and love in deed","s":"Those who do right are born of God, whose love makes them his children, and when he appears they will be like him. Whoever keeps on sinning belongs to the devil, who has sinned from the beginning, and the Son came to undo his work. The readers are not to be like Cain, who murdered his brother, but to love in deed and in truth, as Christ laid down his life.","r":"1 John 2:28-3:24"}

Sources

D. A. Carson, A Quick Introduction to the New Testament, Longstanding Interpretive Traditions
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 17:16-21, 17:18, 17:19-20, 17:22, 17:24, 17:25, 19:8-9, 20:33, 20:34-35, 26:24, 26:26 and 27:21-22
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 17:15, 17:17, 17:18, 17:19, 17:22-31, 17:24, 17:25, 20:33, 26:24 and 26:26, and on Colossians 2:8
CSB Study Bible, note on Acts 17:18
N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography, Introduction, and ch. 8, Athens
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, 4:8, 4:11, 4:13 and 9:6
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Corinthians 3:21, 4:8, 4:11-13 and 9:6
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Galatians 5:18, 5:19-21 and 5:23
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Galatians 5:18, 5:19-23 and 5:24
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to Philippians 1:12-26, and on Philippians 3:12-13, 4:8 and 4:11-13
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Philippians 1:12-26, 4:6, 4:8 and 4:11-13
ESV Study Bible, study note on Colossians 2:8
N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 20, A Colossian heresy?
N. T. Wright, Galatians, Commentary, The New Exodus (4:1-7)

All ideas