Acts 17
17
Preaching Christ at Thessalonica
1Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to #Acts 17:11, 13; 20:4; 27:2; Phil. 4:16; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1; 2 Tim. 4:10Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2Then Paul, as his custom was, #Luke 4:16; Acts 9:20; 13:5, 14; 14:1; 16:13; 19:8went in to them, and for three Sabbaths #1 Thess. 2:1–16reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3explaining and demonstrating #Luke 24:26, 46; Acts 18:5, 28; Gal. 3:1that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” 4#Acts 28:24And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and #Acts 15:22, 27, 32, 40Silas.
Assault on Jason’s House
5But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming #Acts 13:45envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of #Acts 17:6, 7, 9; Rom. 16:21Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. 6But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, #(Acts 16:20)“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. 7Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, #Luke 23:2; John 19:12; 1 Pet. 2:13saying there is another king—Jesus.” 8And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. 9So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
Ministering at Berea
10Then #Acts 9:25; 17:14the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and #Is. 34:16; Luke 16:29; John 5:39searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. 12Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. 13But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. 14#Matt. 10:23Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there. 15So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and #Acts 18:5receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.
The Philosophers at Athens
16Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, #2 Pet. 2:8his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 17Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. 18Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?”
Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them #1 Cor. 15:12Jesus and the resurrection.
19And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 20For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” 21For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
Addressing the Areopagus
22Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24#Is. 42:5; Acts 14:15“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is #Deut. 10:14; Ps. 115:16; Matt. 11:25Lord of heaven and earth, #1 Kin. 8:27; Acts 7:48–50does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He #Gen. 2:7; Is. 42:5; Dan. 5:23gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and #Deut. 32:8; Job 12:23; Dan. 4:35the boundaries of their dwellings, 27#(Rom. 1:20)so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, #Deut. 4:7; Ps. 139:7, 10; Jer. 23:23, 24; (Acts 14:17)though He is not far from each one of us; 28for #(Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3)in Him we live and move and have our being, #Titus 1:12as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, #Ps. 115:4–7; Is. 40:18, 19; Rom. 1:23we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30Truly, #Acts 14:16; (Rom. 3:25)these times of ignorance God overlooked, but #Luke 24:47; Acts 26:20; (Titus 2:11, 12); 1 Pet. 1:14; 4:3now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31because He has appointed a day on which #Ps. 9:8; 96:13; 98:9; John 5:22, 27; Acts 10:42; Rom. 2:16He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by #Acts 2:24raising Him from the dead.”
32And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33So Paul departed from among them. 34However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
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Acts 17: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.