Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
Comment: Rome was the military power of the day, but Greece still was in many, if not most, ways the most educated and scholarly. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, you don’t get right with God by wise arguments, but bringing the gospel to schools of philosophy requires a different technique than when presenting to simple country folk and manual workers. When reaching the Jewish community there was always the background of the Old Testament as a starting point – Jesus is the promised Messiah of the OT. Paul was distressed by the multitude of idols and false worship. He was prepared to go into the arena open for discussions and to share the gospel with anyone who would listen.
Prayer: Help me to be free and prepared to share the gospel whenever I get a chance, O Lord.
As I read it! 