Acts 17
Paul travels through three cities in Acts 17, and each city becomes a lesson in how the gospel meets different kinds of resistance. In Thessalonica, the Jews oppose him and drag him before the rulers. In Berea, believers search the scriptures daily to verify what Paul proclaims. In Athens, philosophers mock him in the marketplace, and he stands on Mars Hill1 to speak to a city built on human wisdom.
The pattern is consistent: the gospel is preached, opposition arises, some believe. But what changes from city to city is the nature of the opposition and the kind of belief that follows. Thessalonica sees theological sedition. Berea sees noble discernment. Athens sees philosophers torn between mockery and genuine inquiry. By the end of the chapter, the unknown God is known, at least to some - Dionysius, Damaris, and others who heard and believed.
This is Paul's strategy at work: meet people where they are. At the synagogue, he argues from Scripture. At Berea, he welcomes investigation. On Mars Hill, he quotes pagan poets and speaks of an altar to an unknown god. The message is constant - Jesus and the resurrection - but the door through which he enters each city changes. The gospel speaks every language.
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People in this chapter
A Roman citizen, a Pharisee trained under Gamaliel, and a hunter of the early church. Confronted by the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, he became the missionary who carried the gospel across the Mediterranean and wrote thirteen of the New Testament’s twenty-seven books.
A leader in the Jerusalem church chosen to deliver its letter to the Gentile believers. Joined Paul after the split with Barnabas, and walked beside him from Antioch through Asia Minor into Macedonia and Greece.
Acts 17:1-9Thessalonica: Uproar and Opposition
1Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: 2And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, 3Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. 4And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
Paul walks among the altars. He sees an altar to the Unknown God. In Athens, wisdom talks of everything except what matters most. Paul will name the One they all forgot.
5But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathering a company, set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. 6And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; 7Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. 8And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. 9And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.
Paul follows a pattern: when he enters a city, he goes first to the synagogue. He argues from Scripture, using the texts his listeners already hold sacred. The gospel is not foreign doctrine dropped from the sky; it is the fulfillment of what Scripture has been preparing.
The phrase "turned the world upside down" is a stunning indictment and a compliment both at once. The accusers mean it as slander - these are troublemakers, seditionists. But the phrase is true. The gospel does turn things upside down: the last are first, the weak are strong, the death of God on a cross redeems the world. The kingdom of Jesus inverts every kingdom built on power and wealth.
Acts 17:10-14Sent Away by Night
10And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. 12Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. 13But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, stirring up the people. 14And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.
Paul's pattern persists: he goes to the synagogue first. Even when he is fleeing persecution, even when safety matters, he seeks out the place where Scripture is read and taught. This is not stubbornness. It is the conviction that the gospel is written into the texts the Jews themselves hold sacred.
The Bereans did something remarkable: they received Paul's word "with all readiness" but also "searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Faith and discernment walked together. They were not gullible. They were not skeptical. They were willing to believe, and willing to investigate. Many of them believed - because the evidence held.
Even in Berea, opposition catches up. The enemies from Thessalonica pursue Paul, intent on stopping him. But by this time the seed is planted. The Bereans have investigated, believed, and their faith will not be easily shaken. Opposition that comes after belief is simply confirmation that the gospel matters.
Acts 17:15-17Paul Alone in Athens
15And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed. 16Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. 17Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.
Athens in Paul's day was a city of temples and statues2. Nearly every street corner held a shrine, an altar, a god. For a man whose conviction was that "an idol is nothing in the world" (1 Corinthians 8:4) and that all such worship is misdirected devotion to demons, Athens must have been overwhelming - a sprawl of religious confusion, spiritual energy aimed at countless false gods.
Acts 17:18-21In the Marketplace: Philosophers and Babbler
18Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. 19And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? 20For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. 21(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
The philosophers call Jesus and the resurrection "strange gods" - xenoi daimones in the Greek. From their perspective, Paul is introducing foreign deities, which was technically against Athenian law. They are not wrong that the gospel is foreign to their philosophy. But what they dismiss as strangeness is actually liberation.
Acts 17:22-28Mars Hill: "The Unknown God"
22Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 24God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Paul proclaims Jesus to the Areopagus as the unknown God whom they ignorantly worship; he names the one they seek without knowing. The message is clear; some mock, some believe.
25Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
The altar to "the unknown God" is likely a real artifact - a safeguard in case some divinity was overlooked. But for Paul it becomes a door. The Athenians worship without knowing; Paul comes to make the unknown known4. The line he quotes a few verses later - "we are also his offspring" - is taken straight from the opening of Aratus3, a Stoic poet whose work would have been on the lips of any educated Athenian. Paul plants the gospel in soil their own poets had already turned. This is the entire gospel in one image: the God humanity seeks without seeing, now revealed in Christ.
Acts 17:29-31The Resurrection: Mocked and Believed
29Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 30And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31Because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Paul calls for metanoia - a turning around, a complete reorientation of mind. It is not emotion or sentiment. It is a deliberate act of turning from false worship to the true God. The Athenians have been ignorant; now they are summoned to know.
The resurrection is Paul's evidence. God has "given assurance unto all men" of the coming judgment by raising Jesus from the dead. It is not merely a sign; it is proof that God's word is true, that His authority is absolute, and that the future He promises is certain.
Acts 17:32-34Some Mocked; Some Believed
32And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. 33So Paul departed from among them. 34Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Dionysius the Areopagite is named - a member of the highest court of Athens. Damaris is named - a woman of standing. These are not marginal people. They are people of authority and respect who heard Paul, questioned him, and believed. The gospel reaches into every level of Athenian society. Some mock. Some hear him again. Some cling to him and believe.
Further study
- AreopagusBible Odyssey (SBL)Open-access SBL entry on the limestone outcrop where Paul addressed the philosophers, covering both the site and the council.
- Continuous excavation of the marketplace below the Areopagus since 1931 - the temples, altars and shrines Acts describes.
- Aratus, PhaenomenaTheoi Classical TextsFull Greek + English of the Stoic poem Paul quotes at Acts 17:28 - line 5 of the proem.
- Aratus Phaenomena 5 ↔ Acts 17:28Intertextual BibleSide-by-side comparison of Aratus's Greek and Paul's Greek, showing how the citation works.