New Testament

Week 13: The Acts of the Apostles, Part 2

Acts 10:1–18:22

19 January 2023

• The Jewish historian Josephus recorded a version of the story found in Acts 12:20–24 in which Herod Agrippa I was stricken by a fatal disease after his flatterers addressed him as a god. He died after five days of excruciating pain, acknowledging before his death that the acclamation was false and accepting his fate. See Antiquities of the Jews 19:8:2.

• While testifying before the Areopagus in Athens, Paul quoted the Greek poet Aratus (310–245 ʙ.ᴄ.) and affirmed that “we are also [God’s] offspring.” (Acts 17:28–29) Read Phaenomena, the poem from which Paul quoted.