Acts 17:16-34

17:16 | Paul was upset in his spirit because he witnessed idols of stone receiving the worship that God alone deserved.

17:17-18 | Paul did not wait for people to come to him. He waded into the marketplace of ideas in Athens armed with God’s truth (1 Cor. 15:12). He was in the synagogue on the Sabbath and in the street markets the rest of the week.

17:19-21 | The intellectuals in Athens invited Paul to the Areopagus, or Mars Hill, so he could be interviewed by the leading intellects of the city. They were not spiritually interested in Jesus; they were just intellectually interested in an unfamiliar belief system. Jesus was just another “god” to them, not the one true God.

17:24-29 | Standing in the midst of countless idols created by humans, Paul made the point that humanity does not create God. In fact, the Greeks’ own poets had recognized that God created humans, not vice versa.

17:30-31 | Paul brings Christ into the picture by pointing out that the Resurrection proves Jesus as God’s Man who will one day judge the world in righteousness (Rom. 3:25-26; Titus 2:11-12).

17:32-34 | As far as is known, Paul never returned to Athens. His debates with the intellectuals there did not result in a church being planted.