Acts 17:19 And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
A few days ago I said that the placement of 1 Corinthians 15:33 in context would require another study. In order to understand who Paul is speaking to in context, we should know a little about these people. The people of Corinth are not far from Athens and the significance of Areopagus is not lost on them.
The Roman name for Areopagus is Mars Hill and it served as the meeting place for the Areopagus Court, the highest court in Greece for civil, criminal, and religious matters. Even under Roman rule in the time of the New Testament, Mars Hill remained an important meeting place where philosophy, religion, and law were discussed.
These were Greek thinkers who regularly engaged in lofty conversations which exceeded the boundaries of earthly affairs. Intelligent men came there to flex their intellectual muscles. What Paul had to say in 1st Corinthians 15 would have inspired these thinkers to return to their way of expanding their conversations beyond that of everyday life.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
Paul issues a warning in the middle of these lofty thoughts to bring these great thinkers back down to the reality of the day. Not everyone within earshot participated at Areopagus and it would be bad manners to exclude them from these talks.
1 Corinthians 15:40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
This verse alone is enough to send the intellectual mind off onto a rant of vain imaginations. There are more verses here to spur on vain thoughts if the warning of 1 Cor. 15:33 is not given and heeded.
This is why the quote of the Greek poet Menander was given to men well read.