Acts 17:34

Howbeit, certain men clave unto him and believed, among the which was Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and-others with them.

If his hearers have kept the facts in mind concerning the essence of God and the relation of men to God, so the argument of Paul runs, and if they accept the statement that men are the offspring of God, that they, as creatures of God, are sustained by His providence, then it follows that idol worship is altogether unworthy of the lofty descent of human beings. They must conclude not only against the worship of images, but also against the habit of thought which made such worship possible, as both foolish and senseless. It is not only an affront to God, but an insult to sound common sense to think that the Godhead is like gold or silver or stone, fashioned and sculptured by the art and produced according to the deliberation of a man. What a man's mind, his imagination, had designed, what the skill of his fingers had then executed in metal or marble, this surely could not be reasonably endowed with the qualities of the Deity! And in addition to this his hearers were to know that God had indeed overlooked the times of ignorance, not as though He had not punished the sins of the heathen, but that He showed great patience with and forbearance toward them in not punishing them in the degree which their idolatry had merited. Now, however, since the full revelation of God has been made in Jesus Christ, God demands a change of mind and of life, complete repentance on the part of all men; this message comes in the nature of an emphatic demand. They should give heed, therefore, since God has fixed, or set, a day in which He intends to judge the entire world, all men without exception, in righteousness, in such a way that everyone will receive full justice. This judgment will be executed in the person of a Man, through a Judge whom God has appointed for that purpose, John 5:22. But in the meantime God is offering faith to all men, having raised this man, Jesus Christ, from the dead. To all men without exception faith is brought near, is offered, the faith based upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ, made possible by that great miracle of God's grace. So the address of Paul ends in a triumphant burst of Gospel-preaching, intended to impress these Gentiles with the wonderful beauty of this message and to open their hearts for Christ. But the idea of a resurrection of the dead, so indissolubly connected with Christian teaching, was to these wise Athenians the acme of foolishness. As long as Paul had demonstrated the folly of their idolatrous worship, they had listened with respectful attention, but now that he brought the essential teaching of Christ, some of the men in the audience interrupted him with cries of derision, while others, rendered thoughtful by the powerful exposition, did not merely express a cold interest in the matters presented, but voiced their willingness to hear him again at some other time. They wanted some time to think over the truths which they had heard so far. So Paul left the assembly of the Court without further opposition. And the Word also in Athens was not without immediate fruit, for there were several people in the audience in whose hearts faith had been kindled, and who therefore joined Paul as his companions and as disciples of the Lord. Among these was a member of the Athenian Council, a man of distinction in the city, by the name of Dionysius, and a woman, very likely a foreign woman, well-educated and influential, and a few others with them. In the midst of His enemies Christ reigns and gains victories, though proud Athens yielded only a few converts, 1 Corinthians 1:26. Let all the wisdom and art of this world proudly exclaim in denunciation of the Gospel-truth, yet the foolishness of God is wiser than men; it teaches the heavenly wisdom which was revealed in Christ.

Summary

Paul and Silas preach the Gospel in Thessalonica and Berea, Paul traveling ahead of his companions from the latter city to Athens, where he also preaches the truth of the Scriptures and faith in Jesus.