‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ – Acts 17:28

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 23, 2014): Acts 17

Epimenides of Knossos was a Greek poet who lived in the 7^th or 6^th century B.C.E. We are not positive if Epimenides even really lived. If he did, then he is a person about whom  a legend has grown up. The real Epimenides was a poet and a philosopher, but the legendary Epimenides is said to have been a shepherd who was caring for his father’s sheep on the Island of Crete when he stumbled into a cave that was sacred to the Greek god Zeus. As a result, Epimenides fell asleep in the cave. The legend says that his nap in the cave lasted for fifty-seven years and when he finally did wake up, he had been given the gift of prophecy. And after this point, Epimenides’ poetry seemed to be centered on the idea of an immortal Zeus even though some of his contemporaries seem to have begun to doubt that Zeus was still alive.  

Aratus of Soli was another Greek who lived about 300 years after Epimenides. While Aratus was also a poet, he also appears to have pursued a career in medicine (in fact, this was most likely his profession) as well as having dabbled in grammar and philosophy. Aratus shared Epimenides love for poetry and his belief in an immortal Zeus, but it would seem very little else. Except that both poets are quoted by Paul of Tarsus in Athens almost 400 years after Aratas. At the time Paul was talking to the Athenians about Jesus of Nazareth.

“For in him we live and move and have our being” was written by the sleepy Epimenides. In arguing for the eternal Zeus against other Cretan philosophers who seemed to be arguing that the Greek god was dead, Epimenides wrote –

They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one,
Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.
But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,
For in you we live and move and have our being.

                                                            (Minos, Epimenides)

One can almost understand why Paul read the words of Epimenides and thought of Jesus. This was almost something the Paul could have written about Jesus (except for the line about Cretans being liars.) Epimenides words about Zeus echoed the truth that Paul knew about Jesus. So it was an easy leap in Paul’s mind to jump from Zeus to Jesus as he read Epimenides poem.

Paul’s quote “we are his offspring” was a quote from the good Doctor Aratus of Soli. And again, Aratus, like Epimenides, is actually speaking about Zeus in his poem.     

Let us begin with Zeus, whom we mortals never leave unspoken.
For every street, every market-place is full of Zeus.
Even the sea and the harbor are full of this deity.
Everywhere everyone is indebted to Zeus.
For we are indeed his offspring ...

                                                                                (Phaenomena, Aratus)

While the Epimenides quote probably brought Paul’s mind straight to Jesus, Aratus’ poem probably reminded him of his Jewish upbringing and the idea that God is everywhere and that we are indeed indebted to him. He also would have understood the idea that “we are his offspring.” After all, Israel had always considered itself to be the children of God.

So Paul spoke these words that were written about Zeus, to prove his point about Jesus and his Jewish God. And I am convinced that the story of God comes out in many ways in our lives, and that even our culture is not silent on the issue. And I am sometimes amazed at the ways our culture speaks the truth of God. It was a reality that Paul seemed to understand intimately; he did not hesitate to speak the words borne out of his culture that he felt applied to the truth of the God that he served.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 18