Acts 17: 19-34

(Acts 17: 19-34)

And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?  For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.  (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.) Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.  For 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.  God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;  Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;  And 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;  That 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: For 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.  Forasmuch 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.  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:  Because he hath appointed a day, in the 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.  And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.  So Paul departed from among them.  Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

This is Paul's words about evangelism in Athens (Athens) during his second evangelistic journey. Waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens, Paul saw that Athens was full of idols. And when Paul saw the scene, intense anger arose. He argued with Jews and godly people in the synagogue and with those he met daily in the marketplace. Among them were the hedonists, the Epicurists, and the Stoic philosophers who were absolute reason, some of them swearing at Paul as a trash talk, while others referred to Paul as a preacher of foreign gods. . Then, they took Paul to the Areobago, an independent space away from the crowded marketplace, to hear Paul's words in more detail.

Paul said that the Athenians were very religious. He pointed out that he was serving a god he did not know. Paul introduced the true God and told him to repent.『 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;  Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;  And 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;  That 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:  For 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. Forasmuch 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.  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the 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..』

What Paul conveyed in the Areobago of Athens was that God alone is the true God of the living creation and the resurrection of Jesus.『 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.  So Paul departed from among them.  Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them..』 Among those who heard Paul's preaching, some mocked Paul's preaching as absurd words, some came to think about it, and some believed.

The Apostle Paul said in the previous chapter about God the Creator, saying, "There are some things that have been created that anyone can know God." And he told the Athenians "repent." The beginning of the gospel that saves us is repentance. Belief is when you don't believe in Jesus, but a lot of what is preached in many churches today is placebo that cannot be saved. The Lord said negative words to Nicodemus, who could not be saved, "You cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you are regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit." The apostle Paul said to Titus, "Because of the faith of the chosen one of God, the knowledge of truth that belongs to godliness, and the hope of eternal life. Today, however, most churches say, "If you are called, you will be saved." However, many are called, but few are chosen. The faith of salvation is the faith of the elect.