490-491 : Paul Preaches To The Athenians
Now while Paul waited for Silas and Timothy in Athens,
his spirit was stirred within ,him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
Therefore he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons,
and in the market daily with them that met with him.
Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him.
Some said, "'What will this babbler say?"
Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods."
For he preached to them about Jesus and the resurrection.
And they took him and brought him to Areopagus,
saying, "May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?
For you are bringing strange things to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean."
(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else except telling or hearing some new thing.)
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill and said:
"You men of Athens, I see that in all things you are too superstitious.
For as I passed by and beheld your
devotion, I found an altar with this inscription: 'To THE UNKNOWN GOD.'
Whom therefore you worship as unknown, him shall I make known to you.
"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
dwells not in temples made with hands.
Neither is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything,
seeing that he gives to all men life and breath and all things,
and has made from one blood all nations of men.
"For in him we live and move and have our being,
as certain of your own poets have said,for we are his offspring.
Inasmuch then as we are the offspring of God,
we ought not to think that the Godhead is like gold or silver or stone or images of man's devising.
"The times of ignorance God winked at, but now he commands every man everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained.
He has given assurance of that to all men by raising him from the dead."
And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead,
some mocked and others said, "We will hear you again on this matter."
So Paul departed from among them.
However certain men followed him and believed,
among whom were Dionysius the Areopagrte and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
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