The Early Church · c. AD 50–52
Chapter 14
Athens and Corinth
The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands.He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath and all things.
For parents
In Thessalonica the Jews who weren’t persuaded gather a mob, which attacks Jason’s house and drags him and some of the believers before the city rulers (Acts 17:5–9). In Corinth all the Greeks seize Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the judgment seat (18:17). Neither is described in detail.
and went on through and to , a city where the Jews had a .
As he usually did, Paul went into the synagogue to meet them. For three days he talked with them, reasoning from the Scriptures. He explained and showed that the had to suffer and to rise again from the dead. “This I’m proclaiming to you,” he said, “is the Christ.”
Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas. So did a great number of the Greeks who worshiped God, and quite a few of the leading women.
But the Jews who weren’t persuaded brought along some wicked men from the marketplace, gathered a mob, and threw the city into an uproar. They attacked the house of , trying to bring Paul and Silas out to the people.
When they didn’t find Paul and Silas, they hauled Jason and some of the brothers and sisters before the city rulers. “These people have turned the world upside down, and now they’ve come here too,” they shouted, “and Jason has taken them in! They all go against ’s orders, saying there is another king, Jesus!”
The crowd and the city rulers were troubled when they heard this. They took a pledge from Jason and the others, and then they let them go.
The brothers and sisters lost no time. That night they sent Paul and Silas away to , and when Paul and Silas got there, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
The people there were nobler than those in Thessalonica. They took in the message eagerly, and every day they searched the Scriptures to see whether these things were true. Because of this, many of them believed, and so did some important Greek women, and quite a few men.
But the Jews of Thessalonica found out that Paul was proclaiming the word of God in Beroea too, and they came there as well, stirring up the crowds.
At once the brothers and sisters sent Paul away, to go as far as the sea. Silas and stayed where they were.
Those who went with Paul brought him as far as . Then they left, with orders for Silas and Timothy to come to him as fast as they could.
While Paul waited for them in Athens, it stirred him up inside to see the city full of .
So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the others who worshiped God, and every day in the marketplace with whoever met him there.
Some and philosophers were talking with him too. “What is this babbler getting at?” some of them asked.
“He seems to be promoting foreign gods,” others said, because Paul preached Jesus and the .
They took hold of him and brought him to the . “May we know what this new teaching of yours is?” they asked. “You’re telling us some strange things, so we want to know what they mean.”
All the Athenians, and the foreigners who lived there, did nothing with their time but tell or hear something new.
Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I can see that you are very religious in everything. As I went along looking at the things you worship, I also came across an with this written on it: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ So I’m announcing to you what you worship without knowing it.
“The God who made the world and all things in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t live in temples made by hands. Human hands don’t serve him as though he needed anything, because he himself gives all people life and breath and all things.
“From one blood he made every nation of people, to live all over the earth. He set the seasons ahead of time, and the borders of the places where they would live. He meant for them to seek the Lord, and perhaps they would reach out for him and find him. And yet he is not far from each one of us.
“‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his .’ As God’s offspring, then, we shouldn’t think of the divine nature as being like gold or silver or stone, carved by human art and design.
“So God overlooked the times of ignorance. But now he commands everyone, everywhere, to , because he has appointed a day when he will judge the world rightly, through the man he has chosen. He has made this certain to all people: he has raised him from the dead.”
Some of them mocked when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, but others said, “We want to hear you talk about this again.”
So Paul went away from them. Some men, though, joined him and believed: and a woman named , and others with them.
After this Paul left Athens and came to , where he met a Jew named , a man born in . He and his wife had come from Italy not long before, because had ordered all the Jews out of . Paul went to them. They made tents for a living, and because Paul made tents too, he lived with them and worked.
He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded Jews and Greeks.
When Silas and Timothy came down from , Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and he testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
When they opposed him and , he shook out his clothing. “Your blood is on your own heads!” he told them. “I am free of blame. From now on, I will go to the !”
He left there and went into the house of a man named , who worshiped God. His house stood right beside the synagogue.
, who led the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and all his household with him. Many of the Corinthians heard, believed and were .
In a vision one night the Lord said to Paul, “Don’t be afraid, but speak, and don’t be silent, because I am with you. No one will attack you to harm you, since I have many people in this city.”
Paul lived there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
But when was of , the Jews rose up together against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, where the proconsul sat to judge. “This man talks people into worshiping God against the law,” they said.
Paul was about to answer, but Gallio spoke first. “You Jews,” he said, “if this were some wrongdoing or wicked crime, it would be right for me to hear you out. But if these are questions about words and names and your own law, then deal with it yourselves, because I don’t want to be a judge of these matters.”
And he drove them away from the judgment seat.
Then all the Greeks seized , who led the synagogue, and beat him in front of the judgment seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things.
Paul stayed on many more days after this. Then he said goodbye to the brothers and sisters and sailed from there for , with Priscilla and Aquila. In he shaved his head, because he had made a .
He came to , where he left them. But he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
When they asked him to stay with them a longer time, he said no. But as he said goodbye, he told them, “No matter what, I must celebrate this coming feast in . But I will come back to you, God willing.” Then he sailed from Ephesus.
He landed at , went up and greeted the , and then went down to .