While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there. He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.” Then they took him to the high council of the city. “Come and tell us about this new teaching,” they said. “You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it’s all about.” (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.) So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about. “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.” When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.” That ended Paul’s discussion with them, but some joined him and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the council, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Acts of the Apostles 17:16-34 NLT
God’s message is for everyone. It is our job to understand how it can make sense to different people. Paul was in Athens with the philosophers. He saw an opportunity to talk about the true God: how idols are not gods at all. His concepts were all biblical, yet he did not quote the Bible but rather a poet whom they would know. He talked about Jesus, not as the Messiah but as the fulfillment of the ideal Human who would judge the world. The philosophers had talked about all these things, and Paul was telling them that Jesus is the fulfillment of what they had been studying – He is the truth for which they had been searching. Many were interested.
The point that tripped them up was not about idols but about the resurrection. Most of the Greek philosophers thought and taught that the flesh was bad; the goal of life was for the soul to escape the body. Paul knew this, but still held onto the truth – Jesus was raised from the dead with His body. He did not compromise the truth to fit his audience, but he did frame the truth in a way his audience could understand and respond to.
Paul knew how to speak to his audience, and we can learn how to as well. The core message of Jesus never changes, but how we frame it can. We can always share our testimony. We can always listen, care, and pray for people.
Are you ready to share the story of Jesus today? Who can you show God’s love to today? How can you trust God enough to give Him everything, holding nothing back?
