Paul in Athens

While waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens, Paul is deeply troubled to see a city so full of idols. He reasons in the synagogue and, every day, in the marketplace. Epicurean and Stoic philosophers call him a “babbler” and take him to the Areopagus. There, Paul starts from what he has seen: an altar with the inscription “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” “Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.” He presents the God who made the world, who does not live in temples made by human hands, and who gives life to all; he even quotes their own poets: “For we are also his offspring.” God now commands all people everywhere to repent, because he will judge the world by the man he raised from the dead. At these words, some mock; but a few believe, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris.