Paul makes quotations from classical writers in three places: Acts 17:28, 1 Corinthians 15:33, and Titus 1:12.
Acts 17 – at the Areopagus in Athens
Acts 17:28 contains two key quotations. The first is:
“For in him we live and move and have our being” (ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ ζῶμεν καὶ κινούμεθα καὶ ἐσμέν [En autō gar zōmen kai kinoumetha kai esmen])
The first is likely drawn from Epimenides of Crete (6th-century BC, and the same sources as the liar paradox about Cretans which Paul uses in Titus 1). Paul’ citation is from a hymn to Zeus:
“Ζεὺς ἄρχει· Ζεὺς δ’ ἔσχατος, Ζεὺς κεφαλή, Ζεὺς μέσσα, πάντα δὲ Ζεύς· ἐν τῷ γὰρ ζῶμεν, κινούμεθα καὶ ἐσμέν.”
“Zeus is the beginning, Zeus is the end, Zeus is the head, Zeus is the center; all things are Zeus. For in him we live and move and have our being.”
The second quotation is:
“For we are indeed his offspring” (Τοῦ γὰρ καὶ γένος ἐσμέν [Tou gar kai genos esmen]).
The second is from Aratus of Soli (c. 315–240 BCE) from Phaenomena a hymn praising Zeus as the divine principle governing the weather and cosmos.
PHAENOMENA, TRANSLATED BY G. R. MAIR [LOEB]
ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα, τὸν οὐδέποτ᾽ ἄνδρες ἐῶμεν
ἄρρητον: μεσταὶ δέ Διὸς πᾶσαι μὲν ἀγυιαί,
πᾶσαι δ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἀγοραί, μεστὴ δὲ θάλασσα
καὶ λιμένες: πάντη δὲ Διὸς κεχρήμεθα πάντες.
5τοῦ γάρ καὶ γένος εἰμέν: ὁ δ᾽ ἤπιος ἀνθρώποισιν
δεξιὰ σημαίνει, λαοὺς δ᾽ ἐπὶ ἔργον ἐγείρει,
μιμνῄσκων βιότοιο, λέγει δ᾽ ὅτε βῶλος ἀρίστη
βουσί τε καὶ μακέλῃσι, λέγει δ᾽ ὅτε δεξιαὶ ὧραι
καὶ φυτὰ γυρῶσαι καὶ σπέρματα πάντα βαλέσθαι.
10αὐτὸς γὰρ τά γε σήματ᾽ ἐν οὐρανῷ ἐστήριξεν,
ἄστρα διακρίνας, ἐσκέψατο δ᾽ εἰς ἐνιαυτὸν
ἀστέρας οἵ κε μάλιστα τετυγμένα σημαίνοιεν
ἀνδράσιν ὡράων, ὄφρ᾽ ἔμπεδα πάντα φύωνται.
τῶ μιν ἀεὶ πρῶτόν τε καὶ ὕστατον ἱλάσκονται.
15χαῖρε, πάτερ, μέγα θαῦμα, μέγ᾽ ἀνθρώποισιν ὄνειαρ,
αὐτὸς καὶ προτέρη γενεή. Χαίροιτε δὲ Μοῦσαι
μειλίχιαι μάλα πᾶσαι: ἐμοί γε μὲν ἀστέρας εἰπεῖν
ᾗ θέμις εὐχομένῳ τεκμήρατε πᾶσαν ἀοιδήν.From Zeus let us begin; him do we mortals never leave unnamed; full of Zeus are all the streets and all the market-places of men; full is the sea and the havens thereof; always we all have need of Zeus. For we are also his offspring; and he in his kindness unto men giveth favourable signs and wakeneth the people to work, reminding them of livelihood. He tells what time the soil is best for the labour of the ox and for the mattock, and what time the seasons are favourable both for the planting of trees and for casting all manner of seeds. For himself it was who set the signs in heaven, and marked out the constellations, and for the year devised what stars chiefly should give to men right signs of the seasons, to the end that all things might grow unfailingly. Wherefore him do men ever worship first and last. Hail, O Father, mighty marvel, mighty blessing unto men. Hail to thee and to the Elder Race! Hail, ye Muses, right kindly, every one! But for me, too, in answer to my prayer direct all my lay, even as is meet, to tell the stars.
A minority of scholars have proposed instead that Paul could also have been alluding to the Hymn to Zeus of Cleanthes, though the original is ἐκ σοῦ γὰρ γένος ἐσμέν, similar but different. These scholars feel that Cleanthes context is better for Paul’s purpose and audience than that of Aratus.
Menander’s Thais “Bad company corrupts good morals”
In 1 Corinthians 15:33, Paul warns the Corinthian church with famous line from a Greek play:
“Μὴ πλανᾶσθε· Φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί.”
“Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals.”
This line is a direct quotation from the comedy Thais by the playwright Menander (c. 342–291 BCE), unfortunately the play itself is lost, but this line from the comedy had a life of its own as a witty maxim.
Titus in Crete – The liar paradox
In Titus 1:12, Paul quotes a Cretan poet, usually identified as Epimenides, in a strikingly critical statement about the people of Crete:
“Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται, κακὰ θηρία, γαστέρες ἀργαί.”
“Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
Again the context of the saying has not survived,. but the saying circulated as a paradox, and a well known comment on Cretans. Christian commentators have noted that Crete claimed to be the burial place of Zeus, something which Epimenides ridiculed in another work.
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