Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Athens » A city » A city of greece
Those who were caring for Paul brought him as far as Athens, and there left him, with instructions to Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there. read more.
A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others.
A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others.
And so, when I could no longer bear it, I made up my mind to be left behind at Athens, all alone.
Verse Concepts
Children » Who are the children of God
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Verse Concepts
He who overcomes will inherit these, And I will be his God, And he shall be my son.
Verse Concepts
"But you must love even your enemies and be kind to them, And lend, despairing of no man. Then your reward will be great, And you will be the sons of the Most High; For he is kind even to the ungrateful and to the evil.
Verse Concepts
"Nay, but who are you, O man, that replies to God? Shall the thing formed say unto him who formed it, "Why did you do me like this?" Or has not the potter power over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for noble, and another for ignoble uses? But what if God, while intending to show forth his wrath, and to make known his power, yet endured, with much long-suffering, vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction? read more.
And what if he thus purposed to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory? Now such are we whom he has called, not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles. As he also said in Hosea. Those who were not my people I will call "my people," And her "beloved" who was not beloved; And in that very spot where it was told them, "You are not my people," There they shall be called "Sons of the living God."
And what if he thus purposed to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory? Now such are we whom he has called, not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles. As he also said in Hosea. Those who were not my people I will call "my people," And her "beloved" who was not beloved; And in that very spot where it was told them, "You are not my people," There they shall be called "Sons of the living God."
"For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. read more.
"He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
"He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
For only those are sons of God who are led by God's Spirit. For you have not received a spirit of slavery in order that you should once more be afraid; but you have received a spirit of adoption, in which we cry out, "My Father, my dear Father!" For his Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God; read more.
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; but to share his glory, we must now be sharing his sufferings.
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; but to share his glory, we must now be sharing his sufferings.
Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? what communion has light with darkness? What concord has Christ with Belial? What portion has a believer with an unbeliever? And what compact has God's temple with idols? For we are a temple of the living God, as he has said: I will dwell among them, and walk about among them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. read more.
Therefore, Come out from among them and separate yourselves, saith the Lord, touch not what is unclean; then I will receive you and will be to you a Father, and you shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Therefore, Come out from among them and separate yourselves, saith the Lord, touch not what is unclean; then I will receive you and will be to you a Father, and you shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Do everything without grumbling and disputes, that you may become blameless and innocent, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like stars in a dark world,
Behold what manner of love the Father has given us in allowing us to be called "Children of God!" And that is what we are. For this reason the world does not recognize us, because it did not know him. We are God's children now, beloved; what we shall be has never yet been made manifest. But we know that when he is manifested we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is.
Common delusions » Thinking the deity is represented by idols
"Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
Verse Concepts
God » What the lord God is not
"Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
Verse Concepts
for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. This custom prevails in all the churches of the saints.
Verse Concepts
"But concerning the resurrection of the dead, did you never read what was spoken to you by God, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
But in regard to the rising again of the dead, have you never read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are in grave error."
"But that the dead are raised, even Moses clearly implied in the passage about the Bush, when he calls the Lord. "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. "Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for to him all are alive.'
Idolatry » Described as » Irrational
"Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
Verse Concepts
For although they knew God, yet they did not glorify him as God, nor give him thanks; but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While they professed to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the majesty of the imperishable God for an idol, graven in the likeness of perishable man, or of birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.
Idolatry » Is changing the glory of God into an image
and exchanged the majesty of the imperishable God for an idol, graven in the likeness of perishable man, or of birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.
Verse Concepts
"Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
Verse Concepts
Idols » Vanity of
"Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
Verse Concepts
What then shall we say? that an offering to an idol is anything? or that an idol is really anything?
Verse Concepts
Ignorance of God » Leads to » Idolatry
"Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent;
Mar's hill » Hill » Athens
Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) read more.
So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others.
So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others.
Missionary journeys » Ac 13-14 » Second - with silas
And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let is go back and visit the brothers in every city in which we have proclaimed the word of the Lord. Let us see how they fare." Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John, who was called Mark. But Paul thought it unwise to take with them one who had deserted them to the Pamphylia, and had not gone on with them to the work. read more.
So there arose a sharp irritation, so that they parted company; Barnabas taking Mark with him, sailed away to Cyprus; while Paul chose Silas, and set forth commended by the brothers to the grace of God. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. And he came also to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a certain disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewess, and of a Greek father. He was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconiun. Now Paul, wishing that this man should accompany him on his journey, took him and circumcised him because of the local Jews, who all knew that his father was a Greek. And as they went on their way through the cities they handed them the resolutions which the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem had ordained for them to keep. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and continued to increase in number daily. Then they went through Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit having forbidden them to proclaim the message in Asia. When they got as far as Mysia, they attempted to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it; and so they passed by Mysia and went on down to Troas. Here a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, entreating him and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us!" So when he had seen the vision, we sought at once to go forth into Macedonia, because we concluded that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So we set sail from Troas and ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we arrived in Neapolis, and thence came to Philippi, a city of Macedonia, the fore most in its district, a Roman colony. There we stayed for some time. On the Sabbath Day we went outside the city gate, to a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered there. Among them was a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, who belonged to the town of Thyatira. She, since she was a worshiper of God, listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said. When she was baptized, and her household, she urged us, saying, "If in your judgment I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she compelled us to come. Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl met us, who had a spirit of divination, and who brought her masters great gain by fortune-telling. She used to follow after Paul and us, crying out again and again, "These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaimed to you the way of salvation." She persisted in this for many days, until Paul, worn out, turned round and said to the spirit, "I charge you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her." In that very hour it came out of her. But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them before the magistrates, into the market-place. Then they brought them before the praetors, saying. "These fellows are Jews, who are making a great disturbance in our city. "They are teaching customs which it is not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or practise." The crowd, too, rose up together against them, and the praetors, after having them stripped, and after ordering them to be flogged, had many lashes inflicted upon them, and put them in prison, with a charge to the jailer to keep them safe. On receiving so strict an order he cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. But at midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison-house were shaken; and instantly all the doors were opened, and every one's chains fell off. The jailer, roused from sleep, and seeing the doors wide open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted loudly to him. "Do yourself no harm; for we are all here!" So he called for lights, and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe on the Lord Jesus," they answered, "and you will be saved, you and all your household." Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him, as well as to all who were in his house. And he took them, the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his. And after bringing them up into his house, he set food before them, overjoyed with all his household in having believed in God. But in the morning the praetors sent their lictors with the order, "Let these men go." The jailer reported the words to Paul, saying. "The praetors have sent to release you; so come out, and go in peace." But Paul said: "They have flogged us publicly, uncondemned, men that are Roman citizens; and have thrown us into prison. Are they now going to get rid of us secretly? No, indeed! Let them come here, themselves and take us out." The lictors reported these words to the praetors, who were frightened when they heard that they were Romans. So they came and conciliated them, and after taking them out of prison, begged them to leave the town. So Paul and Silas came out of the prison, and went to Lydia's house; and after they had seen the brethren and encouraged them, they left Philippi. Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue, and Paul, according to his usual custom, went in to them and, for three Sabbath Days, he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, explaining and quoting passages to prove that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise again from the dead and that "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming unto you is the Messiah." Some were persuaded and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including a number of devout Greeks, and a large number of the leading women. But the Jews, moved with jealousy, called to their aid certain ill-favored and idle fellows, formed a mob, and began to set the town in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. And when they had failed to find Paul and Silas, they began to drag Jason and some of the brethren before the politarchs, shouting. "These fellows who have upset the habitable earth are come hither also. "Jason has received them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." Both the crowd and the politarchs were disturbed when they heard this, but when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Now the brothers sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they got there they betook themselves to the Jewish synagogue. The Jews of Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they very readily received the message with all readiness of mind, and day after day searched the Scriptures to see whether these things were so. So many of them became believers, and so did not a few Greeks, women of honorable estate, and men. As soon as the Jews in Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul in Berea also, they came there, and stirred up and troubled the crowds. Then the brothers at once sent Paul down to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those who were caring for Paul brought him as far as Athens, and there left him, with instructions to Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there. A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. Here he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, and because he was of the same trade with them, he lodged with them, and worked with them??or by trade they were tentmakers. Every Sabbath he used to preach in the synagogue, and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was engrossed in his message, earnestly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But as they opposed him and abused him, he shook out his garments in protest, and said: "Your blood be upon your own hands. I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." So he left the place, and went into the house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house adjoined the synagogue. And Crispus, the warden of the synagogue, believed on the Lord, with all his household; and many of the Corinthians from time to time listened, believed, and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in a vision, by night. "Have no fear; go on speaking, and do not keep silent; "for I am with you, and no one shall set upon you to injure you; for I have very many people in this city." So he lived there a year and six months and continued to teach them the word of God. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose against Paul, and brought him before the tribunal. "This fellow," they said, "is persuading men to offer unlawful worship to God." Paul was about to open his mouth, when Gallio said to the Jews. "If it had been some misdemeanor or wicked villainy, it would have been within reason for me to listen to you Jews; but as these are merely questions about words and names and your own law, you yourselves must see to it. I am not willing to be a judge of these matters." And he drove them from the tribunal. Then they all laid hold of Sosthenes, the warden of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal; but Gallio took no notice. And Paul after remaining in Corinth some time longer, took leave of the brothers, and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. As Paul was under a vow, he had his head shaved at Cenchrea. When they came to Ephesus he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they begged him to stay longer, he would not consent, but said, as he took leave of them, "I will return again to you, if God will." Then, setting sail from Ephesus, he landed at Caesarea; he went up to Jerusalem and saluted the church, and came down to Antioch.
So there arose a sharp irritation, so that they parted company; Barnabas taking Mark with him, sailed away to Cyprus; while Paul chose Silas, and set forth commended by the brothers to the grace of God. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. And he came also to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a certain disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewess, and of a Greek father. He was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconiun. Now Paul, wishing that this man should accompany him on his journey, took him and circumcised him because of the local Jews, who all knew that his father was a Greek. And as they went on their way through the cities they handed them the resolutions which the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem had ordained for them to keep. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and continued to increase in number daily. Then they went through Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit having forbidden them to proclaim the message in Asia. When they got as far as Mysia, they attempted to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it; and so they passed by Mysia and went on down to Troas. Here a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, entreating him and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us!" So when he had seen the vision, we sought at once to go forth into Macedonia, because we concluded that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So we set sail from Troas and ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we arrived in Neapolis, and thence came to Philippi, a city of Macedonia, the fore most in its district, a Roman colony. There we stayed for some time. On the Sabbath Day we went outside the city gate, to a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered there. Among them was a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, who belonged to the town of Thyatira. She, since she was a worshiper of God, listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said. When she was baptized, and her household, she urged us, saying, "If in your judgment I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she compelled us to come. Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl met us, who had a spirit of divination, and who brought her masters great gain by fortune-telling. She used to follow after Paul and us, crying out again and again, "These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaimed to you the way of salvation." She persisted in this for many days, until Paul, worn out, turned round and said to the spirit, "I charge you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her." In that very hour it came out of her. But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them before the magistrates, into the market-place. Then they brought them before the praetors, saying. "These fellows are Jews, who are making a great disturbance in our city. "They are teaching customs which it is not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or practise." The crowd, too, rose up together against them, and the praetors, after having them stripped, and after ordering them to be flogged, had many lashes inflicted upon them, and put them in prison, with a charge to the jailer to keep them safe. On receiving so strict an order he cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. But at midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison-house were shaken; and instantly all the doors were opened, and every one's chains fell off. The jailer, roused from sleep, and seeing the doors wide open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted loudly to him. "Do yourself no harm; for we are all here!" So he called for lights, and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe on the Lord Jesus," they answered, "and you will be saved, you and all your household." Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him, as well as to all who were in his house. And he took them, the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his. And after bringing them up into his house, he set food before them, overjoyed with all his household in having believed in God. But in the morning the praetors sent their lictors with the order, "Let these men go." The jailer reported the words to Paul, saying. "The praetors have sent to release you; so come out, and go in peace." But Paul said: "They have flogged us publicly, uncondemned, men that are Roman citizens; and have thrown us into prison. Are they now going to get rid of us secretly? No, indeed! Let them come here, themselves and take us out." The lictors reported these words to the praetors, who were frightened when they heard that they were Romans. So they came and conciliated them, and after taking them out of prison, begged them to leave the town. So Paul and Silas came out of the prison, and went to Lydia's house; and after they had seen the brethren and encouraged them, they left Philippi. Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue, and Paul, according to his usual custom, went in to them and, for three Sabbath Days, he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, explaining and quoting passages to prove that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise again from the dead and that "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming unto you is the Messiah." Some were persuaded and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including a number of devout Greeks, and a large number of the leading women. But the Jews, moved with jealousy, called to their aid certain ill-favored and idle fellows, formed a mob, and began to set the town in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. And when they had failed to find Paul and Silas, they began to drag Jason and some of the brethren before the politarchs, shouting. "These fellows who have upset the habitable earth are come hither also. "Jason has received them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." Both the crowd and the politarchs were disturbed when they heard this, but when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Now the brothers sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they got there they betook themselves to the Jewish synagogue. The Jews of Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they very readily received the message with all readiness of mind, and day after day searched the Scriptures to see whether these things were so. So many of them became believers, and so did not a few Greeks, women of honorable estate, and men. As soon as the Jews in Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul in Berea also, they came there, and stirred up and troubled the crowds. Then the brothers at once sent Paul down to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those who were caring for Paul brought him as far as Athens, and there left him, with instructions to Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there. A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. Here he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, and because he was of the same trade with them, he lodged with them, and worked with them??or by trade they were tentmakers. Every Sabbath he used to preach in the synagogue, and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was engrossed in his message, earnestly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But as they opposed him and abused him, he shook out his garments in protest, and said: "Your blood be upon your own hands. I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." So he left the place, and went into the house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house adjoined the synagogue. And Crispus, the warden of the synagogue, believed on the Lord, with all his household; and many of the Corinthians from time to time listened, believed, and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in a vision, by night. "Have no fear; go on speaking, and do not keep silent; "for I am with you, and no one shall set upon you to injure you; for I have very many people in this city." So he lived there a year and six months and continued to teach them the word of God. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose against Paul, and brought him before the tribunal. "This fellow," they said, "is persuading men to offer unlawful worship to God." Paul was about to open his mouth, when Gallio said to the Jews. "If it had been some misdemeanor or wicked villainy, it would have been within reason for me to listen to you Jews; but as these are merely questions about words and names and your own law, you yourselves must see to it. I am not willing to be a judge of these matters." And he drove them from the tribunal. Then they all laid hold of Sosthenes, the warden of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal; but Gallio took no notice. And Paul after remaining in Corinth some time longer, took leave of the brothers, and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. As Paul was under a vow, he had his head shaved at Cenchrea. When they came to Ephesus he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they begged him to stay longer, he would not consent, but said, as he took leave of them, "I will return again to you, if God will." Then, setting sail from Ephesus, he landed at Caesarea; he went up to Jerusalem and saluted the church, and came down to Antioch.
Paul » Debates » Mar's hill
While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there. A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. read more.
Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others.
Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others.
Paul's » First - with barnabas and john mark ac 13-14 » Second - with silas
And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let is go back and visit the brothers in every city in which we have proclaimed the word of the Lord. Let us see how they fare." Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John, who was called Mark. But Paul thought it unwise to take with them one who had deserted them to the Pamphylia, and had not gone on with them to the work. read more.
So there arose a sharp irritation, so that they parted company; Barnabas taking Mark with him, sailed away to Cyprus; while Paul chose Silas, and set forth commended by the brothers to the grace of God. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. And he came also to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a certain disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewess, and of a Greek father. He was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconiun. Now Paul, wishing that this man should accompany him on his journey, took him and circumcised him because of the local Jews, who all knew that his father was a Greek. And as they went on their way through the cities they handed them the resolutions which the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem had ordained for them to keep. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and continued to increase in number daily. Then they went through Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit having forbidden them to proclaim the message in Asia. When they got as far as Mysia, they attempted to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it; and so they passed by Mysia and went on down to Troas. Here a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, entreating him and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us!" So when he had seen the vision, we sought at once to go forth into Macedonia, because we concluded that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So we set sail from Troas and ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we arrived in Neapolis, and thence came to Philippi, a city of Macedonia, the fore most in its district, a Roman colony. There we stayed for some time. On the Sabbath Day we went outside the city gate, to a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered there. Among them was a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, who belonged to the town of Thyatira. She, since she was a worshiper of God, listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said. When she was baptized, and her household, she urged us, saying, "If in your judgment I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she compelled us to come. Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl met us, who had a spirit of divination, and who brought her masters great gain by fortune-telling. She used to follow after Paul and us, crying out again and again, "These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaimed to you the way of salvation." She persisted in this for many days, until Paul, worn out, turned round and said to the spirit, "I charge you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her." In that very hour it came out of her. But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them before the magistrates, into the market-place. Then they brought them before the praetors, saying. "These fellows are Jews, who are making a great disturbance in our city. "They are teaching customs which it is not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or practise." The crowd, too, rose up together against them, and the praetors, after having them stripped, and after ordering them to be flogged, had many lashes inflicted upon them, and put them in prison, with a charge to the jailer to keep them safe. On receiving so strict an order he cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. But at midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison-house were shaken; and instantly all the doors were opened, and every one's chains fell off. The jailer, roused from sleep, and seeing the doors wide open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted loudly to him. "Do yourself no harm; for we are all here!" So he called for lights, and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe on the Lord Jesus," they answered, "and you will be saved, you and all your household." Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him, as well as to all who were in his house. And he took them, the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his. And after bringing them up into his house, he set food before them, overjoyed with all his household in having believed in God. But in the morning the praetors sent their lictors with the order, "Let these men go." The jailer reported the words to Paul, saying. "The praetors have sent to release you; so come out, and go in peace." But Paul said: "They have flogged us publicly, uncondemned, men that are Roman citizens; and have thrown us into prison. Are they now going to get rid of us secretly? No, indeed! Let them come here, themselves and take us out." The lictors reported these words to the praetors, who were frightened when they heard that they were Romans. So they came and conciliated them, and after taking them out of prison, begged them to leave the town. So Paul and Silas came out of the prison, and went to Lydia's house; and after they had seen the brethren and encouraged them, they left Philippi. Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue, and Paul, according to his usual custom, went in to them and, for three Sabbath Days, he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, explaining and quoting passages to prove that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise again from the dead and that "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming unto you is the Messiah." Some were persuaded and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including a number of devout Greeks, and a large number of the leading women. But the Jews, moved with jealousy, called to their aid certain ill-favored and idle fellows, formed a mob, and began to set the town in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. And when they had failed to find Paul and Silas, they began to drag Jason and some of the brethren before the politarchs, shouting. "These fellows who have upset the habitable earth are come hither also. "Jason has received them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." Both the crowd and the politarchs were disturbed when they heard this, but when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Now the brothers sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they got there they betook themselves to the Jewish synagogue. The Jews of Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they very readily received the message with all readiness of mind, and day after day searched the Scriptures to see whether these things were so. So many of them became believers, and so did not a few Greeks, women of honorable estate, and men. As soon as the Jews in Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul in Berea also, they came there, and stirred up and troubled the crowds. Then the brothers at once sent Paul down to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those who were caring for Paul brought him as far as Athens, and there left him, with instructions to Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there. A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. Here he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, and because he was of the same trade with them, he lodged with them, and worked with them??or by trade they were tentmakers. Every Sabbath he used to preach in the synagogue, and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was engrossed in his message, earnestly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But as they opposed him and abused him, he shook out his garments in protest, and said: "Your blood be upon your own hands. I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." So he left the place, and went into the house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house adjoined the synagogue. And Crispus, the warden of the synagogue, believed on the Lord, with all his household; and many of the Corinthians from time to time listened, believed, and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in a vision, by night. "Have no fear; go on speaking, and do not keep silent; "for I am with you, and no one shall set upon you to injure you; for I have very many people in this city." So he lived there a year and six months and continued to teach them the word of God. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose against Paul, and brought him before the tribunal. "This fellow," they said, "is persuading men to offer unlawful worship to God." Paul was about to open his mouth, when Gallio said to the Jews. "If it had been some misdemeanor or wicked villainy, it would have been within reason for me to listen to you Jews; but as these are merely questions about words and names and your own law, you yourselves must see to it. I am not willing to be a judge of these matters." And he drove them from the tribunal. Then they all laid hold of Sosthenes, the warden of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal; but Gallio took no notice. And Paul after remaining in Corinth some time longer, took leave of the brothers, and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. As Paul was under a vow, he had his head shaved at Cenchrea. When they came to Ephesus he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they begged him to stay longer, he would not consent, but said, as he took leave of them, "I will return again to you, if God will." Then, setting sail from Ephesus, he landed at Caesarea; he went up to Jerusalem and saluted the church, and came down to Antioch.
So there arose a sharp irritation, so that they parted company; Barnabas taking Mark with him, sailed away to Cyprus; while Paul chose Silas, and set forth commended by the brothers to the grace of God. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. And he came also to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a certain disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewess, and of a Greek father. He was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconiun. Now Paul, wishing that this man should accompany him on his journey, took him and circumcised him because of the local Jews, who all knew that his father was a Greek. And as they went on their way through the cities they handed them the resolutions which the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem had ordained for them to keep. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and continued to increase in number daily. Then they went through Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit having forbidden them to proclaim the message in Asia. When they got as far as Mysia, they attempted to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it; and so they passed by Mysia and went on down to Troas. Here a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, entreating him and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us!" So when he had seen the vision, we sought at once to go forth into Macedonia, because we concluded that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So we set sail from Troas and ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we arrived in Neapolis, and thence came to Philippi, a city of Macedonia, the fore most in its district, a Roman colony. There we stayed for some time. On the Sabbath Day we went outside the city gate, to a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered there. Among them was a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, who belonged to the town of Thyatira. She, since she was a worshiper of God, listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said. When she was baptized, and her household, she urged us, saying, "If in your judgment I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she compelled us to come. Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl met us, who had a spirit of divination, and who brought her masters great gain by fortune-telling. She used to follow after Paul and us, crying out again and again, "These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaimed to you the way of salvation." She persisted in this for many days, until Paul, worn out, turned round and said to the spirit, "I charge you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her." In that very hour it came out of her. But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them before the magistrates, into the market-place. Then they brought them before the praetors, saying. "These fellows are Jews, who are making a great disturbance in our city. "They are teaching customs which it is not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or practise." The crowd, too, rose up together against them, and the praetors, after having them stripped, and after ordering them to be flogged, had many lashes inflicted upon them, and put them in prison, with a charge to the jailer to keep them safe. On receiving so strict an order he cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. But at midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison-house were shaken; and instantly all the doors were opened, and every one's chains fell off. The jailer, roused from sleep, and seeing the doors wide open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted loudly to him. "Do yourself no harm; for we are all here!" So he called for lights, and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe on the Lord Jesus," they answered, "and you will be saved, you and all your household." Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him, as well as to all who were in his house. And he took them, the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his. And after bringing them up into his house, he set food before them, overjoyed with all his household in having believed in God. But in the morning the praetors sent their lictors with the order, "Let these men go." The jailer reported the words to Paul, saying. "The praetors have sent to release you; so come out, and go in peace." But Paul said: "They have flogged us publicly, uncondemned, men that are Roman citizens; and have thrown us into prison. Are they now going to get rid of us secretly? No, indeed! Let them come here, themselves and take us out." The lictors reported these words to the praetors, who were frightened when they heard that they were Romans. So they came and conciliated them, and after taking them out of prison, begged them to leave the town. So Paul and Silas came out of the prison, and went to Lydia's house; and after they had seen the brethren and encouraged them, they left Philippi. Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue, and Paul, according to his usual custom, went in to them and, for three Sabbath Days, he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, explaining and quoting passages to prove that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise again from the dead and that "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming unto you is the Messiah." Some were persuaded and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including a number of devout Greeks, and a large number of the leading women. But the Jews, moved with jealousy, called to their aid certain ill-favored and idle fellows, formed a mob, and began to set the town in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. And when they had failed to find Paul and Silas, they began to drag Jason and some of the brethren before the politarchs, shouting. "These fellows who have upset the habitable earth are come hither also. "Jason has received them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." Both the crowd and the politarchs were disturbed when they heard this, but when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Now the brothers sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they got there they betook themselves to the Jewish synagogue. The Jews of Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they very readily received the message with all readiness of mind, and day after day searched the Scriptures to see whether these things were so. So many of them became believers, and so did not a few Greeks, women of honorable estate, and men. As soon as the Jews in Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul in Berea also, they came there, and stirred up and troubled the crowds. Then the brothers at once sent Paul down to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those who were caring for Paul brought him as far as Athens, and there left him, with instructions to Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there. A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. Here he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, and because he was of the same trade with them, he lodged with them, and worked with them??or by trade they were tentmakers. Every Sabbath he used to preach in the synagogue, and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was engrossed in his message, earnestly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But as they opposed him and abused him, he shook out his garments in protest, and said: "Your blood be upon your own hands. I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." So he left the place, and went into the house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house adjoined the synagogue. And Crispus, the warden of the synagogue, believed on the Lord, with all his household; and many of the Corinthians from time to time listened, believed, and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in a vision, by night. "Have no fear; go on speaking, and do not keep silent; "for I am with you, and no one shall set upon you to injure you; for I have very many people in this city." So he lived there a year and six months and continued to teach them the word of God. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose against Paul, and brought him before the tribunal. "This fellow," they said, "is persuading men to offer unlawful worship to God." Paul was about to open his mouth, when Gallio said to the Jews. "If it had been some misdemeanor or wicked villainy, it would have been within reason for me to listen to you Jews; but as these are merely questions about words and names and your own law, you yourselves must see to it. I am not willing to be a judge of these matters." And he drove them from the tribunal. Then they all laid hold of Sosthenes, the warden of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal; but Gallio took no notice. And Paul after remaining in Corinth some time longer, took leave of the brothers, and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. As Paul was under a vow, he had his head shaved at Cenchrea. When they came to Ephesus he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they begged him to stay longer, he would not consent, but said, as he took leave of them, "I will return again to you, if God will." Then, setting sail from Ephesus, he landed at Caesarea; he went up to Jerusalem and saluted the church, and came down to Antioch.
Select readings » Paul on mars' hill
So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, read more.
"neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead."
"neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead."
Repentance » Repenting
All whom I love I reprove and discipline; therefore be full of zeal and repent.
Verse Concepts
"Repent," answered Peter, "and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Verse Concepts
"The time is now come," he said, "and the kingdom of God is near! Repent and believe the gospel."
Verse Concepts
Remember whence you have fallen, and turn again, and do your first works. Otherwise I am coming to you and will remove your candlestick out of its place, unless you repent.
Verse Concepts
"Repent then! and reform, from the blotting out of your sins, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord;
Verse Concepts
"Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent;
In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the desert of Judea; "Repent," said he, "for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
false Worship » Idols characterized, as » Vanity of
"Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
Verse Concepts
What then shall we say? that an offering to an idol is anything? or that an idol is really anything?
Verse Concepts
false Worship » Idols characterized, as » Unworthy of worship of intelligent beings
"Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
Verse Concepts
FALSE » Idols characterized, as » Vanity of
"Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
Verse Concepts
What then shall we say? that an offering to an idol is anything? or that an idol is really anything?
Verse Concepts
FALSE » Idols characterized, as » Unworthy of worship of intelligent beings
"Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
Verse Concepts