Acts 17:1-9 · In Thessalonica

1 When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ, " he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.

5 But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus." 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.

Acts 17:22-31
Acts 17:22-31
Sweet
by Leonard Sweet
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Paul's presence in Athens puts him at the heart of pagan intellectualism. There at the home of Plato, where highbrow philosophical debate is common marketplace chatter, Paul is but one voice among a host of competing ideologies. Two of the more popular philosophical schools of thought there are Epicureanism and Stoicism, whose devotees held very different views of the world.

Aware of his audience's preferences and prejudices, Paul begins his address at the Areopagus by praising his hearers for their spiritual curiosity and their wide-ranging search for religious truth. The closest they have arrived, Paul asserts, is in their altar "to an unknown God" (v.23). Paul connects with pagan culture in order to obtain the crowd's attention. He doesn't denounce their faith journey, but builds on it.…

ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., Collected Works, by Leonard Sweet