Atos 17

BLIVRE · Chapter 17/28

1E viajando por Anfípolis e Apolônia, vieram a Tessalônica, onde havia uma sinagoga de judeus.

2E Paulo, como era de [seu] costume, entrou a eles, e por três sábados argumentava com eles pelas Escrituras.

3Declarando [-as] ,e propondo [-lhes] ,que era necessário que o Cristo morresse, e ressuscitasse dos mortos; e que ( [dizia ele] ) este Jesus é o Cristo, a quem eu vos anuncio.

4E alguns deles creram, e se ajuntaram a Paulo e Silas; e dos gregos devotos grande multidão; e não poucas das mulheres principais.

5Mas os judeus incrédulos, movidos de inveja, tomaram consigo alguns homens malignos dos mercados, e juntando uma multidão, tumultuaram a cidade; e atacando a casa de Jasão, procuravam trazê-los ao povo.

6E não os achando, puxaram a Jasão, e a alguns irmãos às maiores autoridades da cidade, clamando: Estes que tem perturbado ao mundo também vieram até aqui.

7Aos quais Jasão tem recolhido, e todos estes fazem contra as ordens de César, dizendo que há outro rei, [chamado] Jesus.

8E eles tumultuaram a multidão, e às autoridades da cidade, que ouviam estas coisas.

9Mas tendo recebido fiança de Jasão e dos demais, eles os soltaram.

10E logo os irmãos enviaram de noite a Paulo e a Silas até Bereia; os quais, ao chegarem lá, foram à sinagoga dos judeus.

11E estes foram mais nobres do que os que estavam em Tessalônica, [porque] os quais receberam a palavra com toda boa vontade, examinando a cada dia as escrituras, [para ver] se estas coisas eram assim.

12Portanto muitos deles realmente creram, e das mulheres gregas honradas; e dos homens, não poucos.

13Mas quando os judeus de Tessalônica souberam que também em Bereia a palavra de Deus era anunciada por Paulo, vieram também para lá, e incitaram as multidões.

14Mas então no mesmo instante os irmãos despediram a Paulo, para que fosse ao mar; mas Silas e Timóteo continuaram ali.

15E os que conduziram a Paulo, levaram-no até Atenas; e tendo recebido ordem para Silas e Timóteo, para que viessem a ele o mais rápido [que pudessem] ,eles foram embora.

16E enquanto Paulo os esperava em Atenas, seu espírito se incomodava dentro dele, ao ver a cidade tão dedicada à idolatria.

17Então ele disputava muito na sinagoga, com os judeus, e com os religiosos; e no mercado a cada dia, com os que vinham [até ele] .

18E alguns dos filósofos epicureus e estoicos discutiam com ele; e uns diziam: O que quer dizer este tagarela?E outros: Parece que ele é pregador de deuses estranhos.Porque ele lhes anunciava o Evangelho de Jesus e a ressurreição.

19E tomando-o, trouxeram [-no] ao areópago, dizendo: Podemos nós saber que doutrina nova é esta que tu falas?

20Porque tu trazes coisas estranhas aos nossos ouvidos; então queremos saber o que isto quer dizer.

21(E todos os atenienses e visitantes estrangeiros não se ocupavam de nenhuma outra coisa, a não ser em dizer e ouvir alguma novidade).

22E Paulo, estando no meio do areópago, disse: Homens atenienses, eu vejo em tudo como vós sois muito religiosos;

23Porque enquanto eu passava [pela cidade] e via vossos santuários, achei também um altar, em que estava escrito: AO DEUS DESCONHECIDO. Este a quem vós prestais devoção sem conhecer, [este é o que] eu vos anuncio;

24O Deus que fez o mundo, e todas as coisas que nele [há] ; este, sendo Senhor do céu e da terra, não habita em tempos feitos por mãos.

25E nem também é servido por mãos humanas; [como que] necessitasse de alguma coisa; [porque] ele [é que] dá a todos vida, respiração, e todas as coisas;

26E de um sangue ele fez toda nação humana, para habitarem sobre a face da terra, determinando os tempos desde antes ordenados, e o limites da morada [deles] ;

27Para que buscassem ao Senhor, se talvez pudessem apalpá-lo e encontrá-lo,apesar dele não estar longe de cada um de nós.

28Porque nele vivemos, e nos movemos, e somos; assim como também alguns de vossos poetas disseram; porque também nós somos descendência dele.

29Sendo então descendência de Deus, nós não devemos pensar que a divindade seja semelhante a ouro, ou a prata, ou a pedra esculpida por artifício e imaginação humana.

30Portanto Deus, tendo desconsiderado os tempos da [vossa] ignorância, agora anuncia a todos as pessoas, em todo lugar, para que se arrependam.

31Porque ele tem estabelecido um dia em que ele julgará ao mundo em justiça por meio do homem a quem determinou; dando certeza a todos, tendo o ressuscitado dos mortos.

32E ao ouvirem da ressurreição dos mortos, alguns zombavam; e outros diziam: Nós ouviremos sobre isto de ti na próxima vez.

33E assim Paulo saiu do meio deles.

34Porém, tendo chegado alguns homens até ele, creram; entre os quais estava também Dionísio o areopagita, e uma mulher de nome Dâmaris, e outros com eles.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Paul preaches in Thessalonica and Berea, facing Jewish opposition in both. In Athens, he addresses the Areopagus, using an altar 'to the unknown god' as a bridge to present the true God to Greek philosophers.

Explanation

Paul's speech at the Areopagus is a classic model of contextualized communication: instead of quoting the Hebrew Scriptures (which the Greeks did not know), he starts from the local culture — an altar and even Greek poets — to present the gospel. The Bereans are praised for searching the Scriptures to verify what they heard, an example of faith that thinks and questions rather than simply accepting. The mixed reaction in Athens (some mock, others believe) reminds us that not even the best-delivered preaching produces unanimous acceptance — and that's alright.

Fun facts

  • The Areopagus was both a hill in Athens and the name of the council that met there to discuss philosophical, moral, and religious matters — the intellectual heart of the city.
  • Paul quotes the Greek poet Aratus ('for we are also his offspring') and possibly Epimenides, showing familiarity with classical Greek literature to engage his philosophical audience.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Atos 17:1Thessalonica was an important city in Macedonia, on the empire’s main trade route. Having a synagogue indicates a Jewish community had been established there for some time.
  2. Atos 17:2Following the custom he had already kept in other cities, Paul goes to the synagogue and reasons with the Jews from the Scriptures for three Sabbaths in a row.
  3. Atos 17:3Paul uses these meetings to prove, from the Old Testament, that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again, and that Jesus was exactly that promised Messiah.
  4. Atos 17:4The preaching convinces some Jews, but gains even more traction among devout Greeks and women of high social standing in the city.
  5. Atos 17:5The Jews who do not believe, envious of the success, recruit shady characters from the marketplace to stir up a mob and attack the house of Jason, Paul’s host, trying to drag them out by force.
  6. Atos 17:6Jason was the local host of Paul and Silas, and simply for taking them in he ends up dragged by the opponents before the city authorities, even though all he had done was welcome them into his home.
  7. Atos 17:7The formal charge is serious: they say Jason is sheltering people who defy the Roman emperor’s decrees by claiming there is “another king,” Jesus — an accusation of political treason.
  8. Atos 17:8This political charge, more serious than a simple religious quarrel, is what truly stirs up both the crowd and the city authorities themselves.
  9. Atos 17:9The authorities settle the matter by taking a kind of bond from Jason and the others before releasing them, a practical way to end the uproar without a formal trial.
  10. Atos 17:10To protect Paul and Silas from further violence, the brothers send them away secretly by night to Berea, where they keep up their custom of visiting the local synagogue.
  11. Atos 17:11The Jews of Berea receive the message with more openness than those in Thessalonica, even checking the Scriptures every day to see whether what Paul said matched the text.
  12. Atos 17:12This willingness to check the facts results in many conversions in Berea, including Greek women of high social standing and a number of men.
  13. Atos 17:13The same opposing Jews from Thessalonica, hearing that Paul kept preaching in Berea, travel there as well to stir up the population against him.
  14. Atos 17:14To protect Paul again, the brothers send him off toward the coast, while Silas and Timothy stay behind in Berea to continue the work.
  15. Atos 17:15Those accompanying Paul bring him as far as Athens and then return with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
  16. Atos 17:16Athens was famous for having temples and statues of gods everywhere, far more than other cities of the time. One ancient traveler even remarked that it was easier to find a god than a person in Athens.
  17. Atos 17:17While waiting for his companions, Paul takes the opportunity to reason both in the synagogue with Jews and devout people and in the marketplace, with whoever happened to be there.
  18. Atos 17:18Epicureans and Stoics were two rival Greek schools of philosophy: the Epicureans pursued moderate pleasure and had little belief in divine intervention in the world, while the Stoics valued reason and self-control in the face of fate. Both find Paul’s message strange because it speaks of resurrection.
  19. Atos 17:19The “Areopagus” was not just a hill, but also the name of the most respected council of elders in Athens, which ruled on important moral and religious questions. Taking Paul there was asking him to formally present his new teaching before the city’s intellectual authorities.
  20. Atos 17:20The Athenian philosophers ask for a clearer explanation, saying that Paul’s ideas sounded far too strange to their own ears.
  21. Atos 17:21Luke notes, somewhat wryly, that the Athenians and the foreigners living there spent their time doing nothing but telling or hearing some new thing, without necessarily committing to any of it.
  22. Atos 17:22The word Paul uses to describe the Athenians could sound either like a compliment—very religious—or like a mild criticism—overly superstitious. It is a diplomatic way to open the speech, acknowledging their religiosity before redirecting it.
  23. Atos 17:23The Greeks, afraid of offending some god they did not know, set up generic altars like this one, dedicated “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” Paul uses this real practice from the city as a bridge to introduce the God they worshipped without knowing His name.
  24. Atos 17:24Paul begins to correct the Athenians’ religiosity by declaring that the God who created everything, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples built by human hands.
  25. Atos 17:25Paul also argues that this God needs nothing that people can offer Him, since it is He who gives life and everything else to everyone, not the other way around.
  26. Atos 17:26Paul states that all of humanity comes from one common origin, spread across the earth within times and boundaries already set by God—an idea of unity among all peoples.
  27. Atos 17:27The purpose of all this, according to Paul, was for people to seek this God, even groping blindly, since He was never really far from anyone.
  28. Atos 17:28Paul even quotes local Greek poets to reinforce his argument, saying that their own culture already recognized that human beings are, in some sense, God’s offspring.
  29. Atos 17:29If we are God’s offspring, Paul argues, it makes no sense to think the divine nature resembles statues of gold, silver, or stone carved by human imagination—a direct jab at the Athenian idols.
  30. Atos 17:30Paul acknowledges that God overlooked this religious ignorance in the past, but now calls all people, everywhere, to repent.
  31. Atos 17:31Paul justifies this urgent call by pointing to a future day when God will judge the world in righteousness, through a specific man whom He confirmed by raising Him from the dead—a reference to Jesus.
  32. Atos 17:32On hearing about the resurrection of the dead, a strange idea for Greek philosophy, part of the audience mocks him, while another part simply puts off the conversation for another time.
  33. Atos 17:33Without a mass conversion like in other cities, Paul simply leaves their midst after this speech at the Areopagus.
  34. Atos 17:34Despite the mixed reaction, some believe anyway, including Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus council itself, and a woman named Damaris.

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