The Early Church

From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.

God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.

For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this topic.”

At that, Paul left the Areopagus.

But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others who were with them.

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to visit them,

and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was.

Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks alike.

And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself fully to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

But when they opposed and insulted him, he shook out his garments and told them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

So Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titus Justus, a worshiper of God.

Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his whole household believed in the Lord. And many of the Corinthians who heard the message believed and were baptized.

One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking; do not be silent.

For I am with you and no one will lay a hand on you, because I have many people in this city.”

So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching the word of God among the Corinthians.

While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews coordinated an attack on Paul and brought him before the judgment seat.

“This man is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law,” they said.

But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio told the Jews, “If this matter involved a wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to hear your complaint.

But since it is a dispute about words and names and your own law, settle it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.”

And he drove them away from the judgment seat.