The Acts of the Apostles (1911) — PDF Scan 241

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MREA and ATHENS 235 While waiting for Silas and Timothy, Paul was not idle. He "disputed ... in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him." But his principal work in Athens was to bear the tidings of salvation to those who had no intelligent conception of God and of His purpose in behalf of the fallen race. The apostle was soon to meet paganism in its most subtle, alluring form. The great men of Athens were not long in learning of the presence in their city of a singular teacher, who was setting before the people doctrines new and strange. Some of these men sought Paul out, and entered into conversation with him. Soon a crowd of listeners gathered about them. Some were prepared to ridicule the apostle as one who was far beneath them, both socially and intellectually, and these said jeeringly among themselves, '^What will this babbler say?" Others, ''because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection," said, "He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods." Among those who encountered Paul in the marketplace were "certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics ; ' ' but they, and all others who came in contact with him, soon saw that he had a store of knowledge even greater than their own. His intellectual power commanded the respect of the learned; while his earnest, logical reasoning and the power of his oratory held the attention of all in the audience. His hearers recognized the fact that he was no novice, but was able to meet all classes with convincing argum^ents in support of the doctrines he taught. Thus the apostle stood undaunted, meeting