"16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
18A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
19Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." 21(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you."
( the International Bible version)
Paul had become a "burning" witness for Jesus in Greece. So when he came to Athens, he came into the Greek center of religion and philosophy. You can say, than Athens had been the cradle of European philosophy.
Sokrates, Platon, Aristoteles and others are also today prominent and honoured in Western world.-
So here you can read, that Paul became distressed by seeing all the Greek idols as Zeus, Athene etc. . May be he had visited the Akropolis, the temple place above the town.
*
When he started preaching in the synagoge and on the market-place, ...
St. Paul preaching in Athens
members of two philososophic schools - Stoa and Epicur - tried to understand him better. They were interested in new ideas in general to discuss about it.-
This is really a good attitude. They had no fear to listen to new ideas. They were educated to beopen-mindedwithout fearing to loose their own position. Paul was not there enemy, only because he talked about something unknown.
***
Paul used the chance of preaching the gospel of Jesus by relating on an altar of "the unknown god"!
St. Paul in Athens, in front of the altar of the unknown God
In other words, he told them, that he knew his name: Jesus!
Very clever! He used something of their culture to explain his message!
Paul in Athens!
"16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
18A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
19Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." 21(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you."
( the International Bible version)
Paul had become a "burning" witness for Jesus in Greece. So when he came to Athens, he came into the Greek center of religion and philosophy. You can say, than Athens had been the cradle of European philosophy.
Sokrates, Platon, Aristoteles and others are also today prominent and honoured in Western world.-
So here you can read, that Paul became distressed by seeing all the Greek idols as Zeus, Athene etc. . May be he had visited the Akropolis, the temple place above the town.
*
When he started preaching in the synagoge and on the market-place, ...
St. Paul preaching in Athens
members of two philososophic schools - Stoa and Epicur - tried to understand him better. They were interested in new ideas in general to discuss about it.-
This is really a good attitude. They had no fear to listen to new ideas. They were educated to be open-minded without fearing to loose their own position. Paul was not there enemy, only because he talked about something unknown.
***
Paul used the chance of preaching the gospel of Jesus by relating on an altar of "the unknown god"!
St. Paul in Athens, in front of the altar of the unknown God
In other words, he told them, that he knew his name: Jesus!
Very clever! He used something of their culture to explain his message!