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Acts 17

Acts 17 follows the proclamation of Jesus through opposition, scriptural examination, and debate, ending with resurrection and God’s coming judgment.

Paul and Silas reach Thessalonica, where Paul argues from Scripture that Jesus is the Christ who had to suffer and rise from the dead. Some believe; opponents raise a mob, and the brothers send Paul and Silas to Beroea. There, listeners examine the Scriptures to test their message. Further unrest sends Paul to Athens. While waiting for his companions, he speaks in the synagogue and marketplace, then addresses the Areopagus about the Creator, repentance, and resurrection.

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1Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
2Paul, as was his custom, went in to them; and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
4Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas: of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the chief women.
5But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people.
6When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
7whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!”
8The multitude and the rulers of the city were troubled when they heard these things.
10The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
11Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
12Many of them therefore believed; also of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men.
13But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Beroea also, they came there likewise, agitating the multitudes.
14Then the brothers immediately sent out Paul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas and Timothy still stayed there.
15But those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens. Receiving a commandment to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him very quickly, they departed.
16Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.
17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who met him.
18Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign deities,” because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.
19They took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is, which you are speaking about?
20For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know therefore what these things mean.”
21Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
22Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things.
23For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, I announce to you.
24The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands.
25He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath and all things.
26He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
28‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’
29Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.
30The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,
31because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”
32Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”
34But certain men joined with him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Acts 17:24Paul grounds his address in God’s rule as Creator, challenging the idea that human temples can contain him.
Acts 17:30The address moves from describing human ignorance to declaring God’s command that all people everywhere repent.
Acts 17:31Resurrection grounds Paul’s warning of coming judgment and becomes the point at which his audience divides.
Where this chapter reaches

Genesis and Isaiah share this chapter’s account of God as Creator, the source of human life, who cannot be reduced to objects made by human hands. John and Matthew share its themes of resurrection and judgment entrusted to Jesus.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What stands out to you about the Bereans’ combination of readiness to listen and examination of Scripture?

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Which part of Paul’s address in Athens most challenges your understanding of God, and why?

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Questions people ask about Acts 17

Why were the Bereans called noble in Acts 17?

Verse 11 explains their nobility through their response to Paul’s message: they received it with readiness of mind and examined the Scriptures each day to see whether it was true. Their openness included testing what they heard against Scripture. Verse 12 then records that many believed.

What does the unknown God mean in Acts 17?

Paul finds an Athenian altar inscribed “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” The text does not explain the altar’s origin. Paul uses its acknowledgment of ignorance as a starting point to proclaim the Creator, who gives life to all, cannot be represented by crafted images, and commands repentance.

Who is the man appointed to judge the world in Acts 17:31?

The man is Jesus. Although Paul does not name him within the recorded Areopagus address, verse 18 identifies Jesus and the resurrection as his message. Verse 31 points to God’s raising this appointed man from the dead as assurance that he will judge the world in righteousness.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).