Read Acts 17 at Bible Gateway.
Acts 17:1-34 chiastic structure:
1a) Act 17:1-13, Those who believed in Thessalonica + Berea, Greeks, prominent women + men;
1a.1) Act 17:1-3, In the synagogue of the Jews, Paul reasoned with them from the Scriptures;
1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ;”
1a.2) Act 17:4, Some were persuaded; a multitude of devout Greeks + leading women;
1a.3) Act 17:5-9, The Jews of Thessalonica stirred up the crowds;
5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. 7 Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.” 8 And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. 9 So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go;
central axis) Act 17:10a, Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea;
2a.1) Act 17:10b-11, In the synagogue of the Jews, the Bereans searched the Scriptures;
10b When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so;
2a.2) Act 17:12, Many of them believed; Greeks, prominent women + men;
2a.3) Act 17:13, When the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds;
1b) Act 17:14-15, Paul arrived in Athens;
1a) Act 17:14a, Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea;
1b) Act 17:14b, But both Silas and Timothy remained there;
central axis) Act 17:15a, So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens;
2b) Act 17:15b, And receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed;
2a) Act 17:15c, They departed;
1c) Act 17:16-18a, They heard him in the synagogue + marketplace/ philosophers mocked;
16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 17 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. 18 Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?”
1d) Act 17:18b, Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus + the resurrection;
1e) Act 17:19a, And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus;
1f) Act 17:19b, Saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?”
central axis) Act 17:20a, For you are bringing some strange things to our ears;
2f) Act 17:20b-21, We want to know what these things mean/ spend their time in hearing new things;
2e) Act 17:22a, Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said;
2d) Act 17:22b-31, Paul preached Jesus + the resurrection in the Areopagus;
1a) Act 17:22b-25a, God is not worshiped with men’s hands, but He is the Creator of heaven + earth;
1a) Act 17:22b-23a, Men of Athens, I passed through and considered the objects of your worship;
1b) Act 17:23b, An altar TO THE UNKNOWN GOD/ the One whom you worship without knowing;
2b) Act 17:23c-24a, Him I proclaim to you: God the Creator + Lord of heaven + earth;
2a) Act 17:24b-25a, Does not dwell in temples made with hands nor worshiped with men’s hands;
1b) Act 17:25b, Since He gives to all life, breath, and all things;
central axis) Act 17:26-27, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;”
2b) Act 17:28a, For in Him we live and move and have our being;
2a) Act 17:28b-31, God is not created by man, but He will judge what He has created;
1a) Act 17:28b-29, If we are His offspring, we ought not think that God is created by man;
1b) Act 17:30a, Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked;
2b) Act 17:30b, But now commands all men everywhere to repent;
2a) Act 17:31, God will judge what He has created by the Man He has ordained;
31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead;”
2c) Act 17:32, And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter;”
2b) Act 17:33, So Paul departed from among them;
2a) Act 17:34, Those who believed; Dionysius + Demaris + others.
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