Paul's Second Missionary Trip, continued (Acts 17)

Paul, Silas, and Timothy continue in Macedonia.

Thessalonica

Paul and company end up in Thessalonica.  Paul preaches in the synagogue in the Sabbath gains converts.  One of whom is Jason, who let's Paul stay at his home.  The local Jews get mad at Paul, but cannot find him.  So, they turn their anger on Jason and a few unnamed others.  The magistrates do not punish Jason and the church requests Paul to leave.

Berea

Paul and company go to Berea.  Jews from Thessalonica hear that Paul went there, so they go to Berea and cause trouble.

Paul sails away to the Greek mainland, but leaves Silas and Timothy behind.  Silas and Timothy later rejoin Paul.  It seems that they also check on the church in Thessalonica before going to Paul because they report some of the concerns that the Thessalonians have, which prompts Paul to write two letters.

The Unknown God of Athens 

This might be the most famous anecdote in all of Paul's church planting trips.

Paul goes to Athens to wait for the arrival of Silas and Timothy.  Meanwhile, he is distressed because Athens if full of idols.  This is something that both his preconversion self Saul of Tarsus and Paul the disciple would have been distressed by.

Meanwhile, he finds an altar with the nebulous inscription "To An Unknown God".  I heard one theory on the origin of this, but I cannot point to any sources.  Years before, Athens was about to be destroyed and in their desperation, they prayed to an "Unknown God".  Athens was spared and they built an altar to the Unknown God afterwards and prayed to this deity just as they would to other deities that they worshipped.

Paul debates with the Greek Epicurean and Stoic philosophers in the marketplace.  He talks about Ressurection of Jesus before they decide to hear him at the Aeropagus.

The Aeroagus translates as the "Hill of Ares" and is a hill overlooking Athens.  At the time, it functioned as a discussion place as well as a court for criminal and civil cases.  So, this could be viewed as a quasi-trial for Paul as the Athenians evaluate his ideas.  According to Wikipedia, it was illegal to preach on foreign deities.

Paul slightly modifies his message and talks about this "Unknown God", Jesus.  Athens is full of idols to worship gods, but Jesus is unknown.  His message also emphasizes the supremacy of God, both in starting human life and that God chose the exact times and locations that people who are to live.

He also mentions something interesting.  While discussing idols, he said that God formerly excused that ignorance, but not anymore.

In short, Paul uses their idolatry to highlight God as unknown to them, says that their gods are below this majestic God, and then condemns their own practice of idolatry.  

Some people sneered, but Paul is allowed to leave.  The text suggests that he did not linger in Athens after giving this sermon.  He did make a few converts based on his speech.  These include Dionysius and Damaris.