Program / Course 13: Foundations of Apologetics / Lesson 1.2
What you will learn
- Describe how Paul adapts his message in the synagogue, at the Areopagus in Athens and before King Agrippa.
- Identify the reasons, shared ground and appeals to evidence that Paul uses in Acts 17 and Acts 26.
- Explain why interpreters disagree about whether Acts 17 is a model for apologetics.
- Learn what the book of Acts shows about the manner of apostolic argument.
The big idea
The book of Acts shows the apostles speaking to different audiences in different ways. To Jews who knew the Scriptures, Paul reasons from those Scriptures. To educated Greeks in Athens, he begins with a local altar and a line from their own poets. To a king, he tells his own story and points to public events. These scenes do not give a single script, but they do show a pattern: the apostles meet people where they are, give reasons, appeal to what can be known, and call for a response.
Key terms
- Areopagus
- A hill in Athens, and the council that met there. In Acts 17 Paul is brought before it to explain his teaching.
- Natural theology
- The attempt to say something about God from creation, reason and human experience, apart from special revelation in Scripture.
- Special revelation
- What God has made known in particular acts and words, such as in Israel, in Jesus Christ and in Scripture.
- Common ground
- Beliefs, experiences or values that both speaker and listener already share and from which a conversation can begin.
- Testimony
- A first-hand account of what a person has seen, heard or experienced.
- Resurrection
- The rising of Jesus from the dead on the third day, which the apostles proclaimed as the central event of the gospel.
- Epicurean and Stoic
- Two schools of Greek philosophy. Acts 17:18 says that members of both met Paul in Athens.
Background
Acts is the second volume of the work of Luke, who also wrote the Gospel that bears his name. It tells how the message about Jesus spread from Jerusalem to Rome. Luke repeats a verb throughout the book to describe what the apostles do in public: they reason, persuade, explain and argue. In Acts 17:2 Paul reasons with the Jews of Thessalonica from the Scriptures for three Sabbath days. In Acts 18:4 he reasons in the synagogue at Corinth every Sabbath. In Acts 19:8 he spends three months at Ephesus speaking boldly and persuading people about the kingdom of God.
Two scenes stand out for the student of apologetics. The first is Paul’s speech to the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17:16-34). The second is Paul’s defense before Festus and King Agrippa II (Acts 26). Neither is a debating manual. They are scenes in a narrative, and an honest reader asks what Luke is showing, what Paul actually says, and what he does not say.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: See what stirs Paul in Athens
Acts 17:16 says that Paul’s spirit was stirred in him when he saw that the city was full of idols. He does not begin with a lecture. He reasons in the synagogue with Jews and with others in the marketplace each day (Acts 17:17). There he meets philosophers of the Epicurean and Stoic schools, some of whom dismiss him and some of whom want to hear more, and they invite him to speak at the Areopagus.
The scene shows Paul as a visitor who has looked at the city before he speaks. He knows its religious life from walking through it. This is a pattern worth noting: he studies his audience before he answers them.
Step 2: Follow the structure of the speech
Paul opens by noting that the Athenians are very religious and that he saw an altar inscribed To the Unknown God (Acts 17:22-23). He says that the God they worship without knowing is the one he proclaims. He then makes several points. This God made the world and everything in it and does not live in temples built by hands. He gives life and breath to all. He made all nations from one origin, set their times and places, so that they might seek him. He is not far from any one of them.
At this point Paul quotes the Greek poets. Acts 17:28 gives words that scholars connect to the poet Aratus, and a related line about being God’s offspring. Paul uses them to say that if humans are in some sense God’s offspring, then God cannot be like gold or stone shaped by human skill. Then comes the turn: God now commands everyone to repent, because he has set a day to judge the world by a man he has appointed, and has given proof of it by raising him from the dead (Acts 17:30-31).
Step 3: Notice the response and the debate about it
The audience reacts in three ways. Some mock when they hear about the resurrection of the dead. Some say they will hear more another time. A few join him, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris (Acts 17:32-34). The response is mixed, as it usually is in Acts.
Interpreters disagree about what the scene teaches. Many classical apologists take it as a model: begin with what all people can know about God from creation, then move to Christ. Some Reformed writers argue that Paul is not building neutral ground at all, since he tells the Athenians that they already know God and suppress that knowledge, and he ends with a call to repent. A third view, found in some older commentary, claims that Paul failed in Athens and then changed course in Corinth. Most modern scholars reject that last view because Luke does not say it. Each reading draws on the same text, and honest students should know which parts are in the text and which are in the interpretation.
Step 4: Read Paul’s defense before Agrippa
In Acts 26 Paul stands before King Agrippa II, the Roman governor Festus and a crowd of officials. The setting is a hearing, and his speech is called a defense. Paul speaks of his Jewish upbringing, his earlier work against the church, and the vision on the road to Damascus. He then says that he has preached only what the prophets and Moses said would happen: that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead (Acts 26:22-23).
When Festus interrupts and says Paul has lost his mind, Paul replies in Acts 26:25 that he speaks “the words of truth and soberness.” He turns to the king, who knows about these events, and says in Acts 26:26 that this was not done in a corner. The point is clear. Paul appeals to public events that are open to inquiry, and to the Scriptures the king claims to believe.
Step 5: Draw the lessons carefully
Several things can be said with confidence. Paul adapts his starting point to the audience. He uses Scripture with those who share it and shared culture with those who do not. He appeals to testimony and to public events. He ends by calling for a response. He speaks courteously, even to those who reject him.
Other things are less certain. Luke gives summaries, not full transcripts. The speeches are likely much shorter than what was said. And the book does not say that these speeches are the only right way to speak. A fair reading treats Acts as a rich example, not a formula.
- How does Paul begin differently in a synagogue, in the marketplace of Athens, and before a king?
- What does Paul do before he speaks at the Areopagus, and what does that suggest?
- Which parts of the Areopagus speech start from common ground, and which parts challenge the audience?
- How does the audience respond, and what does that suggest about the limits of persuasion?
- What kinds of evidence does Paul point to in Acts 26?
- What would you say to someone who claims that Paul failed in Athens?
Examples
Reasoning from the Scriptures
In Acts 17:2-3 Paul reasons with the Jews of Thessalonica from the Scriptures, explaining and showing that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. His starting point is a shared authority: both he and his listeners accept the Hebrew Scriptures.
Starting from an altar
At the Areopagus Paul begins with an inscription on a local altar. He does not say that the Athenians are right, only that he can point to something they already have. This is an example of finding common ground with people who do not share his Scriptures.
Appealing to public events
Before Agrippa, Paul says that the king knows about these things and that they were not done in a corner (Acts 26:26). He invites the king to see that the claims concern things in the public record, not private visions alone.
Different perspectives
Classical and Catholic reading
Many Catholic and classical Protestant writers see in Acts 17 a biblical sign that people can know something true about God from creation and conscience, and that preaching can build on that knowledge. This fits the tradition of natural theology, which Catholic teaching has affirmed.
Presuppositional and Reformed reading
Writers in this tradition stress that Paul speaks as a messenger of the Creator and does not treat the Athenians as neutral judges. They point to his call to repentance and his claim that God commands all people to turn to him. They see in the speech the confrontation of one worldview by another.
Eastern Orthodox reading
Orthodox writers have often noted Paul’s respect for what is good in Greek thought and have seen in the Greek Fathers a similar approach, which treated philosophy as a possible preparation for Christ, not as an enemy.
Critical scholarship
Scholars debate how closely the speeches reflect what Paul actually said. Many hold that Luke wrote the speeches in his own words to express the substance of what was said, following a custom of ancient historians. Others argue that Luke had access to good sources. Either way, the speeches show how an early Christian author understood the apostolic method.
Why it matters
Many modern Christians turn to Acts when they want to know whether to engage with outsiders and how. The book shows a flexible approach that avoids two errors. One error says that the gospel should be presented with no regard for what the listener believes. The other says that the gospel should be adjusted until it asks nothing of the listener. In Acts the apostles do neither. They adapt their approach and keep their message.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Acts 17 proves that Paul used pure philosophy to convince the Athenians.
Correction: Paul uses poetry, an altar and a basic claim about the Creator. But he also speaks of judgment and the resurrection. The speech is a proclamation shaped for an audience, not a purely philosophical argument.
Misunderstanding: Paul failed in Athens, so reasoned argument does not work.
Correction: Luke reports that some believed. The idea that Paul regretted his speech is a later interpretation, and most scholars do not find it in the text.
Misunderstanding: Because the speeches in Acts are summaries, they teach nothing about method.
Correction: Summaries still show what Luke wished readers to notice: the shift of starting point, the appeal to evidence and the call to respond. Care is needed, but the scenes are instructive.
Knowledge check
What verb does Luke use again and again for what Paul does in synagogues and marketplaces?
Luke uses the Greek verb often translated reason, along with persuade and explain. Acts 17:2, 17:17, 18:4 and 19:8 all describe Paul speaking with people to make a case from Scripture or from shared experience.
How does Paul begin his speech at the Areopagus?
He notices that the Athenians are very religious and mentions an altar inscribed To the Unknown God. He says he can tell them about the God they worship without knowing him. This starting point builds on something his audience already recognizes.
How does the Areopagus speech end?
Paul says that God now commands everyone to repent because he has appointed a day of judgment and has given proof by raising a man from the dead. The mention of the resurrection leads some to mock, others to delay and a few to believe.
What does Paul appeal to in his defense before Agrippa?
He appeals to his own testimony, to the Scriptures that Moses and the prophets wrote, and to public events. He says these things were not done in a corner, suggesting that the king can know about them.
Why do interpreters disagree about Acts 17?
Classical apologists see a model of natural theology. Presuppositionalists see a confrontation with idolatry. Some older commentators saw failure. The disagreement arises because Luke gives a summary and does not explain his purpose directly.
Think it through
- When you speak with someone who does not share your convictions, what do you do first: learn about them or state your own position?
- Which of the three scenes, synagogue, Areopagus or royal hearing, is closest to a conversation you could have this month?
- Why might the idea of the resurrection cause both mockery and interest in the same audience?
- What parts of Paul’s approach would be hard to copy today, and which could be copied?
Independent assignment
Compare two speeches
In your own notebook, write 500 to 700 words. Read Acts 17:16-34 and Acts 26:1-29. Make two short lists: what Paul assumes his audience already knows or believes, and what he asks them to change. Then write a paragraph comparing the two speeches and a paragraph on what each shows about adapting to an audience. Keep your notes for yourself.
Further study
- Acts 17 Read the whole chapter slowly, including the earlier scenes in Thessalonica and Berea.
- Acts 26 Read the full defense and note how Festus and Agrippa each respond.
- 1 Corinthians 2 Compare Paul’s own words about his preaching at Corinth, shortly after Athens.
- Romans 1 Read verses 18 to 23 on what can be known of God from creation, often connected to Acts 17.
- Justin Martyr, The First Apology See how a second-century Christian speaks to a non-Christian audience, with some similar moves.
- Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth A guide to reading narrative and speeches in Acts without turning them into rules.