Acts 17:16-21

    While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So 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. A 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. Then 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? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

 

What upset an apostle like Paul? It upset him to see people worshipping things that should not be worshiped. The whole city of Athens was full of idols, and that drove Paul to action.

 

He reasoned with people all over the city. In the synagogue he reasoned with Jews and God-fearers. In the marketplace he reasoned with whoever happened to be there. Even some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to talk with him.

 

These philosophers had different responses to Paul’s good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Some just thought he was a babbler who had nothing worthwhile to say; his philosophy didn’t fit with their way of thinking. Others recognized that his thoughts were strange, but thought that Paul was speaking as an advocate for foreign gods (the actual word here is foreign demons). So they brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus.

 

While there, these were the questions they wanted Paul to answer: What is this new teaching? What do these ideas mean? We are told that the Athenians and those who lived there spent their time listening to and talking about the latest ideas. So they were far from committing themselves to believe what Paul said. They simply wanted some new material for their conversations, for their hobby of philosophizing.

 

Still, they gave Paul the opportunity to proclaim Jesus Christ in the midst of their idol-worshiping people.

 

Father, thank You for people like Paul, people who ache to see You worshiped and known as You should be. Thank You for people who talk about You in places of worship, in the marketplace, and even among the philosophers when invited there. Make me like Paul. Fill me with love for You. Fill me with passion to see You honored. Wherever I go, may the sins that I see drive me to proclaim You and Your goodness, to encourage people that there is hope and restoration and forgiveness and life with You! Even when this world’s wise men think I am just a babbler and my words sound foolish, may I take the opportunities they give me to speak about Jesus Christ and the resurrection that He has both gone through and offered to us.