Acts 16:17 According to Whose Ears?

[Jon777]

While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation." (Act 16:17 NRSV)
In the new
While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” (Act 16:17 NRSVue)

Consider the following about “Most High God” in the minds of Gentiles of Paul’s day:

During Paul's era (mid-1st century CE), there was a recognizable Gentile cult worshipping a deity called "Hypsistos" (Greek: Ὕψιστος, meaning "the Highest" or "Most High"). This appears in inscriptions as:

• Zeus Hypsistos (Zeus the Most High)
• Theos Hypsistos (God the Most High)

Historical Context
The epithet first emerged in the Hellenistic period (around the 2nd century BCE) but saw a significant surge in popularity between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD—precisely Paul's timeframe. Inscriptions from this period document practices such as dawn prayers and dedication of votive lanterns to this "Most High God."

Important Distinction
While this Gentile usage shared terminology with Jewish tradition (where "El Elyon" or "Most High God" was used), scholarly sources indicate the Hypsistos cult developed independently of Jewish influence. It existed alongside Jewish communities but represented a separate religious phenomenon within the broader Greco-Roman religious landscape.

Connection to Paul's Ministry
This background helps explain passages like Acts 16:16-18, where Paul encounters a slave girl who has "a spirit of divination" and refers to Paul and Silas as "servants of the Most High God." The term would have been recognizable to Gentile audiences in the Roman world, though Paul was clearly referring to the God of Israel rather than the pagan Hypsistos cult.

So yes—the terminology was familiar to Gentiles of Paul's day, though it carried different theological meanings depending on whether it was used in Jewish, Christian, or pagan contexts.

*** Most literal translations of Acts 16:17 note the definite article is missing, so translate as “a way”, while most translations read “the way”. To believers in the One True God of the Bible “the Most High God” has a definite meaning applicable to no other. Yet, is that how those around Paul understood it? Was the demon actually proclaiming a way, among other ways? I always found Acts 16:17 puzzling, and in research I found what I posted here as I consider the verse.

 

[Jon777]

While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation." (Act 16:17 NRSV)
In the new
While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” (Act 16:17 NRSVue)

Consider the following about “Most High God” in the minds of Gentiles of Paul’s day:

During Paul's era (mid-1st century CE), there was a recognizable Gentile cult worshipping a deity called "Hypsistos" (Greek: Ὕψιστος, meaning "the Highest" or "Most High"). This appears in inscriptions as:

• Zeus Hypsistos (Zeus the Most High)
• Theos Hypsistos (God the Most High)

Historical Context
The epithet first emerged in the Hellenistic period (around the 2nd century BCE) but saw a significant surge in popularity between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD—precisely Paul's timeframe. Inscriptions from this period document practices such as dawn prayers and dedication of votive lanterns to this "Most High God."

Important Distinction
While this Gentile usage shared terminology with Jewish tradition (where "El Elyon" or "Most High God" was used), scholarly sources indicate the Hypsistos cult developed independently of Jewish influence. It existed alongside Jewish communities but represented a separate religious phenomenon within the broader Greco-Roman religious landscape.

Connection to Paul's Ministry
This background helps explain passages like Acts 16:16-18, where Paul encounters a slave girl who has "a spirit of divination" and refers to Paul and Silas as "servants of the Most High God." The term would have been recognizable to Gentile audiences in the Roman world, though Paul was clearly referring to the God of Israel rather than the pagan Hypsistos cult.

So yes—the terminology was familiar to Gentiles of Paul's day, though it carried different theological meanings depending on whether it was used in Jewish, Christian, or pagan contexts.

*** Most literal translations of Acts 16:17 note the definite article is missing, so translate as “a way”, while most translations read “the way”. To believers in the One True God of the Bible “the Most High God” has a definite meaning applicable to no other. Yet, is that how those around Paul understood it? Was the demon actually proclaiming a way, among other ways? I always found Acts 16:17 puzzling, and in research I found what I posted here as I consider the verse.

I thought I had stated this is from research I did online. The main section on "the Most High God" I found the best presentation in agreement with several AI search engines. I quoted from Proton's LUMO search engine.

 

[timf]

If AI leads to to abandon BC/AD in favor of BCE/CE, you might want to consider what else is embraced and at what expense.

 

[rewriter]

I would use caution in using AI. At least one scholar I know has found a quote ascribed to him that he never wrote, in an article that does not exist. AI is becoming more and more inaccurate as it was created to answer questions, and will create answers when it cannot find any, but now if finding answers that it created earlier and citing those.

But you are quite right about this passage being difficult. If I remember correctly, the "python spirit", that the slave girl was associated with was from Apollos, and to deny that various Greek deities had different means of supposedly attaining salvation would be a major affront to the deities of Olympus and not something that Apollos would want to do.

Catching where the definite article is and is not, is a good habit to follow in biblical studies, although it can cause some problems. The definite article is sometimes missing when referring to God for instance, but what I find even more interesting is when translations omit the definite article. Romans 1:25 has the definite article before both "truth" and "lie", but most translations have "the truth" and "a lie"

 

[Jon777]

I would use caution in using AI. At least one scholar I know has found a quote ascribed to him that he never wrote, in an article that does not exist. AI is becoming more and more inaccurate as it was created to answer questions, and will create answers when it cannot find any, but now if finding answers that it created earlier and citing those.

But you are quite right about this passage being difficult. If I remember correctly, the "python spirit", that the slave girl was associated with was from Apollos, and to deny that various Greek deities had different means of supposedly attaining salvation would be a major affront to the deities of Olympus and not something that Apollos would want to do.

Catching where the definite article is and is not, is a good habit to follow in biblical studies, although it can cause some problems. The definite article is sometimes missing when referring to God for instance, but what I find even more interesting is when translations omit the definite article. Romans 1:25 has the definite article before both "truth" and "lie", but most translations have "the truth" and "a lie"

I agree with you in your recommending caution when using AI search engines. It pays to know something about the topic you are researching to help evaluate responses from the AI. I use eight different AI search engines and compare answers, and most give you the sources from where they obtain their information. You can’t use the AI blindly, you must as you say, be careful. I find that on theological questions, especially about eschatology, you’ll find the answers from the various AI is overwhelmingly dispensational, of course the Internet is flooded with that evangelical position in prophecy.

On this question I actually used all eight of my bookmarked AI search engines and they all came up with quite similar answers. I quoted from the LUMO because it was written in a way that seemed more beneficial to us as Christians.

Another matter in this passage that puzzles me, why did Paul put up with the demon possessed slave girl for many days, rather than casting out the evil spirit at the first. One possibility came to my mind, something similar to the Proverb:

Proverbs 26.
"4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes."

Don’t answer the fool at the first, but after a time, his folly must be rebuked. Would this be a possible reason, something similar to this? The old Baptist John Gill writes:

“This she was suffered to do, time after time; not that the apostle and his friends wanted such a testimony, or that it was of any use to them; but that the expulsion of the evil spirit might be more manifest, and more taken notice of”

The confessional Lutheran Paul Kretzmann 100 years ago wrote a helpful thought on v18:

“The Lord does not want to be preached by evil spirits, as His conduct in the gospels shows. Besides, according to the meaning associated with the girl's words by the multitude, they might believe the missionaries to be ministers of superstition or of magic. Therefore Paul spoke, not to the slave, but to the evil spirit that possessed her, charging him in the name of Jesus Christ to come out from her. And in that same hour, according to the Greek way of speaking, in the same moment, according to ours, the spirit and her power left her. Note: The diviners, soothsayers, and fortunetellers of our days also make use of the name and the Word of God, but only for the purpose of deceiving the poor misguided souls that consult them, and thus of holding the souls all the more firmly in their doctrine and devilish tricks. It is our duty, therefore, to expose the evil intention and the deceit of the devil. For even if he makes predictions and performs acts which seem to be miraculous, they are-never done with the command and promise of the Lord and are always detrimental to the salvation of souls.” He wrote that before TV and the WWW existed, so what would he think of today??