Atos 17

Atos 17

Gill wrote that Paul's "soul was troubled and his heart was grieved…he was exasperated and provoked to the last degree: he was in a paroxysm; his heart was hot within him; he had a burning fire in his bones, and was weary with forbearing (cf Jer 20:9), and could not stay; his zeal wanted vent, and he gave it." Being provoked (3947)(paroxuno from pará = at point of, implying movement toward a certain point + oxúno = sharpen, incite, irritate) literally means to sharpen but both NT uses are figurative. Figuratively paroxuno means to be stimulated, excited or aroused. "To cause a state of inward arousal, urge on, stimulate, esp. provoke to wrath, irritate" (BDAG) Paroxuno gives us our English word paroxysm, which describes a convulsion or sudden outburst of emotion or action. The only other NT use of paroxuno is in 1 Cor 13:5+ where Paul writes that love is not continually provoked. In the current context Paul's holy hatred of the countless abominable idols stirred him deeply. Holy hatred is provoked by evil! Are you ever provoked by the evil that is beginning to dominate the airways, the blogs, the movies, the politics, etc? Movies that used to be just R-rated (which was bad enough) but now have advanced to MA-rated because of the plethora of sex and cursing! At least they are still rating them! THOUGHT - America may not have statues of mythological gods but idols are rampant throughout the land (money, sex, power, prestige, etc) and are in effect being worshiped in place of God. Augustine was right that God has created man in such a way that his (her) spirit abhors a spiritual vacuum and if it is not filled by the only thing that truly satisfies (God/Jesus/Spirit), it will be filled with all manner of spiritual counterfeits, none of which will bring temporal contentment and all of which will bring eternal discontent! Jack Arnold asks "Christian, does your spirit have righteous indignation and compassion for people all around you who have made their own idols in their minds--money, power, prestige, pleasure or whatever? Are you disturbed as you see unsaved men sold out to materialism and godlessness? Are you angered when men laugh and mock Christ and the Bible? You should be for each Christian must hold forth the true God to this Christ-rejecting world. It is interesting to note that in this city of philosophy there was the most rampant idolatry. Humanistic philosophy always causes men to set up their own idols and these idols ultimately bring despair to the human soul. This shows the vanity of learning apart from God." (Sermon) John