House Divided

Bridging the Gap in Reformed Eschatology A Preterist Response to

When Shall These Things Be?

Chapter Seven

The Resurrection of the Dead 

Part 7 The Mocking of the Greeks in Acts 17:32

David A. Green

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Strimple Argument #7: The Greeks tended to believe in soul-immortality

and had a low view of the body. This is why the Greek philosophers

in Athens mocked Paul, because he was teaching a physical

resurrection of the dead as opposed to an immaterial concept of the

afterlife like that of the Greeks (Acts 17:32) (300, 311).

Answer: “And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead,

some mocked: and others said, ‘We will hear you again on this matter’”

(Acts 17:32).

From the futurist perspective, it is plausible that the philosophers

were rejecting the idea of a physical resurrection. However, it is also

plausible (even from the futurist perspective) that they were rejecting

the idea of personal existence of any kind after death, whether material

or non-material.

Though many of the Greeks believed in soul-immortality, the Stoics

(Acts 17:18) did not believe in a personal existence of the soul after

death, such as would allow for the dead to stand in judgment for their

works (Acts 17:31). And the Epicureans (Acts 17:18) tended to reject

the very existence of the soul after death.

We cannot infer from the mockery of the philosophers at Athens

what kind of resurrection of the dead Paul was teaching or what kind

of resurrection of the dead they were rejecting. We cannot infer from

the passage whether the philosophers were rejecting the idea of a biological

resurrection, or the idea of a non-biological resurrection, or the

idea of a personal resurrection (whether it be biological or not), or the

idea of any kind of resurrection whatsoever (whether personal, impersonal,

biological, or non-biological). All we know is that “some” of the

philosophers sneered when they heard Paul’s teaching concerning the

resurrection of the dead (Acts 17:31-32).