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Epicurean (follower of Epicurus)
A proper adjective denoting followers of the philosopher Epicurus, who taught that pleasure (understood as tranquility and absence of pain) is the highest good. Acts 17:18 describes Epicurean philosophers encountering Paul in Athens. They, along with Stoics, debate with him and bring him to the Areopagus. Epicureans were materialists who denied divine providence and an afterlife, positions fundamentally opposed to Paul's message of resurrection and divine judgment.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Luke sets Paul's Mars Hill sermon in philosophical context. The Epicureans, named for their founder, would have found Paul's resurrection proclamation absurd and his call to repentance irrelevant to their pursuit of ataraxia (undisturbedness). The multilingual glosses preserve the Greek-based term. Paul's message of a Creator who judges humanity through a risen man challenged Epicurean atomism and denial of personal immortality head-on. 1×
AR["أَبيقورِيّينَ"]·ben["এপিকুরীয়"]·DE["Ἐπικουρείων"]·EN["Epicurean"]·FR["Épicurien"]·heb["הָאֶפִּיקוּרִים"]·HI["इपिकूरियन"]·ID["Epikurean"]·IT["Epicureo"]·jav["Epikuros"]·KO["에피쿠로스학파의"]·RU["Эпикурейцев"]·ES["epicúreos"]·SW["Waepikureo"]·TR["Epikürcülerin"]·urd["ایپیکوری"]
Related Senses
H0559 1. say, speak, tell (5297×)G3004 1. say, tell, speak (2226×)H1696 1. speak, say, tell (Piel) (1105×)H7121 1. call, summon, name (575×)H6680 1. command, order, charge (483×)H6030b 1. answer, respond, reply (289×)G2980 1. speak, talk (277×)H5046 1. Hifil: to tell, report (237×)G0611 1. answer or respond verbally (232×)H1288 1. Piel: bless, invoke blessing (227×)H7650 1. swear, take an oath (Niphal) (154×)H3789 1. Qal passive participle: written, recorded (112×)H1984b 1. praise, laud (Piel) (111×)H7592 1. ask, inquire, question (96×)H3034 1. give thanks, praise (Hifil) (94×)G1321 1. teach, instruct actively (92×)H3789 2. Qal active: write, compose (89×)G1125 1. to write, compose (a letter or document) (84×)H5046 2. Hifil: to declare, proclaim (79×)H7892a 1. song, musical composition (78×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
Epicurean , [variant datesAnthology Palantina; οἱ Ἐπ. the Epicureans , Refs 2nd c.AD (Middle Liddel)