Act 17 | Comm | STEP | Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

Acts 17

1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and for three weeks he reasoned with them from the scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ." 4 And some of them were persuaded, and joined Paul and Silas; as did a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men from the market place, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; they attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the people. 6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brethren before the city authorities, shouting, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has welcomed them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus." 8 The crowd and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard this. 9 And when they had taken a pledge from Jason and the others, they let them go.

10 The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men. 13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. 14 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul out to go as far as the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 Now those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be there. 18 And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some said, "What would this idle babbler wish to say?" Others, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities,"—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is which you present? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean." 21 (Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

22 So Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by hands; 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being, ‘as even some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given proof to all men by raising him from the dead."

32 Now when they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." 33 So Paul went out from among them. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.