Epicureans

How Nave’s arranged it

• (Referring to those who are fastidious in their tastes or enjoyments, connoisseurs)
• Reject John the BaptistMatthew 11:18Luke 7:33
• Doctrines propagated by, familiar to SolomonEcclesiastes 2:1–10
• To Paul1 Corinthians 15:32
• Dispute with PaulActs 17:18

The passages, in Bible order (5)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 5 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Ecclesiastes 2:1–10

   I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good!” But it proved to be futile.

   ›Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:1–102 voices

   "I said to myself: Come, I will experiment with joy and enjoy pleasure. That, too, turned out to be futile." After I detected that pain and labour were in the essence of wisdom and the accumulation of knowledge, and nothing else except vain and endless struggle, I felt joyful that I would overflow with excess, accrue riches, amass great wealth, and take temporary pleasures before I die. But even in this I saw my vanity, for past pleasures do not help the present, and do not fill up what is empty.

   “Solomon’s trial of God’s second gift, namely, riches, and the enjoyment which riches supply; this brought him to the sane result (compare Ecc 1:12). Comparing Solomon’s action with Luk 12:16-21, it must be remembered that Solomon’s object was the acquisition of wisdom, not self-indulgence, and that he did not fail to look forward to the certainty of death overtaking him.

   Everything gathered on Ecclesiastes 2:1–10→

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2. Matthew 11:18

   For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’

   ›Commentary on Matthew 11:182 voices

   “John came neither eating nor drinking - In a rigorous austere way, like Elijah. And they say, He hath a devil - Is melancholy, from the influence of an evil spirit.

   “If fasting then pleases you, why were you not satisfied with John? If fulness, why not with the Son of man? Yet one of these ye said had a dæmon, the other ye called a gluttonous man, and drunkard.

   Everything gathered on Matthew 11:18→

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3. Luke 7:33

   For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’

   ›Commentary on Luke 7:332 voices

   “We learn, in the first place, from these verses — that the hearts of unconverted men are often desperately perverse as well as wicked. Our Lord brings out this lesson in a remarkable comparison — describing the generation of men among whom He lived while He was on earth. He compares them to children . He says, that children at play were not more wayward, perverse, and hard to please — than the Jews of His day. Nothing would satisfy them. They were always finding fault. Whatever ministry God employed among them — they took exception to it.

   “For John the Baptist,.... Who is designed by the children that mourned in the above simile, with whom his character and conduct agree; he preached very mournful doctrine, delivered it in a very solemn and awful manner, and lived a very austere life, and fasted much, as did also his disciples. The word "Baptist" is here added by Luke, which Matthew has not, to distinguish him from others; and it may be, because he had just spoke of his baptism.

   Everything gathered on Luke 7:33→

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4. Acts 17:18

   Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

   ›Commentary on Acts 17:182 voices

   “While therefore the Stoical was in itself superior to the Epicurean system, both were alike hostile to the Gospel. "The two enemies it has ever had to contend with are the two ruling principles of the Epicureans and Stoics--Pleasure and Pride" [HOWSON].

   “Certain philosophers of the Epicureans - These were the followers of Epicurus, who acknowledged no gods except in name, and absolutely denied that they exercised any government over the world or its inhabitants; and that the chief good consisted in the gratification of the appetites of sense. These points the Epicureans certainly held; but it is not clear that Epicurus himself maintained such doctrines. And of the Stoics - These did not deny the existence of the gods; but they held that all human affairs were governed by fate.

   Everything gathered on Acts 17:18→

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5. 1 Corinthians 15:32

   If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

   ›Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:322 voices

   “If all hope of the resurrection is lost, let us eat and drink and lose not the enjoyment of the things present, for we have none to come.… The Epicureans say they are followers of pleasure because death means nothing to them, because that which is dissolved has no feeling, and that which has no feeling means nothing to us. Thus they show that they are living only carnally, not spiritually. They do not discharge the duty of the soul but only of the flesh.

   “If to speak after the manner of men - That is, to use a proverbial phrase, expressive of the most imminent danger I have fought with wild beasts at Ephesus - With the savage fury of a lawless multitude, Acts xix, 29, &c.

   Everything gathered on 1 Corinthians 15:32→

   Verse page →Original language →