Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign deities,” because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 18. Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. The former of these philosophers held as their doctrine, that the Almighty did not interfere by his providence in the government of the world; that the soul did not subsist after the body; and consequently, that there was no future state of retribution. The latter denied that man had liberty of action, and maintained, that all things happened by destiny and fatal necessity. These were the two opposite sects Saint Paul had to contend with. Calmet.—The Stoics believed in the immortality of the soul, and came the nearest to the Christian religion: but both Stoics and Epicureans, with all pagan philosophers, denied the resurrection of bodies; hence S. Augustin says, the faith of a resurrection is peculiar to Christians. Estius.—What is it that this babbler [3] would say? A word of contempt, which some translate, this prattler. It is thought to be a metaphor from birds picking up little seeds, or the like, for their food; and to signify, that Saint Paul had picked up words and sentences without any solid meaning. Witham.
TR omits “also”