What did the Athenian philosophers call Paul when he confronted them?
At Athens, the Athenian philosophers subscribed to him the term 'babbler,' asking what this babbler would have to say. The context explains that the comparison was actually reversed: Paul had the heavy substance, while the philosophers had the babble.
Les teaches that just before Paul came to Corinth, he had been at Athens, the seat of philosophical thinking, where he confronted the Athenian philosophers. They called him a 'babbler' and asked, 'What would this babbler have to say?' Les explains that compared to the philosophers of Paul's day, the situation was really reversed: Paul had the heavy stuff, while the philosophers had the babble. He adds that it is not much different today; the world's heavy thinkers and think tanks are nothing but babble compared to the word of God, because the writers of Scripture knew thousands of years ago what would happen. Paul then came to Corinth, a city beset with idolatry, steeped in mythological worship of gods and goddesses, and gross immorality, and into that midst came the apostle.