CHAPTER 17
When
they had passed through
Amphipolis
and
Apollonia,
they came
to
Thessalonica,
where
there was
a Jewish
synagogue.
As was
his
custom,
Paul
went into
the synagogue,
and
on
three
Sabbaths
he reasoned
with them
from
the
Scriptures,
explaining
and
proving
that
the
Christ
had to
suffer
and
rise
from
the dead.
“This
Jesus
I
am proclaiming
to you
is
the
Christ,”
he declared .
Some
of
the Jews
were persuaded
and
joined
Paul
and
Silas,
along with
a large
number
of
God-fearing
Greeks
and
quite
a few
leading
women.
The
Jews,
however,
became jealous.
So
they brought in
some
troublemakers
from the
marketplace,
formed a mob,
and sent the city into an uproar.
They raided
Jason’s
house
in search of
Paul and Silas,
hoping to bring them out
to
the
people.
But when
they could not find
them,
they dragged
Jason
and
some other
brothers
before
the
city officials,
shouting,
“These men
who
have turned
the world upside down
have now come
here,
and Jason
has welcomed them into his home.
They
are all
defying
Caesar’s
decrees,
saying
there is
another
king,
named Jesus!”
As soon as
night had fallen,
the
brothers
sent
Paul
and
Silas
away to
Berea.
On arriving there,
they went
into
the
Jewish
synagogue.
Now
the Bereans
were
more noble-minded
than the
Thessalonians,
for
they received
the
message
with
great
eagerness
and examined
the
Scriptures
every
day
to see if
these teachings
were
true.
But
when
the
Jews
from
Thessalonica
learned
that
Paul
was also proclaiming
the
word
of God
in
Berea,
they went
there themselves
to incite
and
agitate
the
crowds.
Those who
escorted
Paul
brought him
to
Athens
and then
returned
with
instructions
for
Silas
and
Timothy
to
join
him
as
soon as possible.
While
Paul
was waiting for
them
in
Athens,
he was deeply disturbed
in
his
spirit
to see that
the
city
was
full of idols.
So
he reasoned
in
the
synagogue
with the
Jews
and
God-fearing Gentiles,
and
in
the
marketplace
with
those
he met
each
day.
Some
Epicurean
and
Stoic
philosophers
also
began to debate
with him.
Some of them
asked,
“What
is this
babbler
trying
to say?”
while
others said,
“He seems
to be
advocating
foreign
gods.”
They said this because
Paul was proclaiming the good news
of Jesus
and
the
resurrection.
So
they took
Paul
and brought him
to
the
Areopagus,
where they asked him,
“May we
know
what
this
new
teaching is
that you
are presenting?
Now
all
the Athenians
and
foreigners
who lived there
spent their time
doing
nothing
more
than
hearing
and
articulating
new ideas.
Then
Paul
stood up
before
the
Areopagus
and said,
“Men
of Athens,
I see
that
in
every way
you are
very religious.
For
as I walked around
and
examined
your
objects of worship,
I even found
an altar
with
the inscription:
To an unknown
God.
Therefore
what
you worship
as something unknown,
I
now proclaim
to you.
The
God
who
made
the
world
and
everything
in
it
is
the Lord
of heaven
and
earth
and does not
live
in
temples
made by human hands.
Nor
is He served
by
human
hands,
as if He needed
anything,
because He Himself
gives
all men
life
and
breath
and
everything else.
From
one man
He made
every
nation
of men,
to inhabit
the whole
earth;
and He determined
their appointed
times
and
the
boundaries
of their
lands.
God intended that they would seek
Him
and perhaps
reach out for
Him
and
find Him,
though
He is
not
far
from
each
one
of us.
‘For
in
Him
we live
and
move
and
have our being.’
As
some
of your
own
poets
have said,
‘We are
His
offspring.’
Therefore,
being
offspring
of God,
we should
not
think
that the
Divine Being
is
like
gold
or
silver
or
stone,
an image formed
by man’s
skill
and
imagination.
Although
God
overlooked
the
ignorance
of
earlier times,
He now commands
all
men
everywhere
to repent.
For
He has set
a day
when
He will
judge
the
world
with
justice
by
the Man
He has appointed.
He has given
proof of this
to all men
by raising
Him
from
the dead.”
When
they heard about
the resurrection
of the dead,
some
began to mock him,
but
others
said,
“We want to hear
you
again
on
this topic.”
But
some
people
joined
him
and believed,
including
Dionysius
the
Areopagite,
a woman
named
Damaris,
and
others
who were with
them.