Acts 17:16-21--Paul in Athens

Acts 17:16-21
English Standard Version
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Paul in Athens
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 reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

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Paul has gone on ahead of Silas and Timothy as the Jews from Thessalonica went to Berea to threaten his life.  Once safely conducted by friends to Athens, he has called for Silas and Timothy to join him there.  While there, he saw the city full of idols to every god and goddess imaginable even to the point of making an altar to "The Unknown God."  (We'll get to this later in Paul's speech to them).

Paul was so provoked by this idolatry that spoke both to the Jews and devout persons in the synagogues and the Gentiles in the marketplace (where they met not only to do business, but to discuss philosophy) on a daily basis.  The particular philosophers that took interest in Paul's message were the Epicureans and Stoics--Paul will argue against these philosophies in his epistles to the churches in this region.  Some were dismissive of Paul and his message calling him a "babbler."  Others simply saw him as a preacher of foreign deities because he was preaching in the name of Jesus and preaching about the resurrection.

It was this second group that wanted to hear more about what Paul had to say, for they were concerned that perhaps there was another god they didn't know about that they needed to make an idol to and worship so as not to upset that deity.  They tried to be inclusive of everyone and their beliefs there in Athens--that is up until someone told them that there was only one true God and all the other gods and goddesses they worshiped were false.  We'll see this next time when we see Paul preach the gospel to them.  Some will believe and some will get angered by the exclusivity claims of the gospel message.  Paul's concern (and Luke seems to hint at it here) is that the Athenians loved to hear new things, but there was no indication that they would do anything other than hear.  Hearing the argument and considering it was their end goal, not hearing, understanding and then applying.  We'll see next time there will be those who ask Paul to come back to speak again because they found his message to be entertaining, but they had no intent of repenting and believing the gospel.  Some will repent and believe and as mentioned before there will be still others that will be angered that Paul will claim that Jesus alone is the Creator and Judge and He alone should be worshiped.  We'll see this next time we study the book of Acts together.