Word Study Wednesday – Acts 17

It’s Word Study Wednesday! We are continuing our study in the book of Acts on Witnessing and the Gospel Message. Acts is the history book of the New Testament where we learn the history of the early church. It tells of Paul’s three missionary journeys as well as the journeys of the 11 disciples. There are at least 11 different times in this book where Paul or the disciples witnessed to various crowds of Jews and/or Gentiles. Today we will look at Acts 17:16-34. Last week we looked at the story of Pentecost in Acts 2 where Peter preached to a crowd of Jewish people. Take a look at this post: Word study Wednesday (Thursday). When witnessing to Jewish men or people who knew who God was, the disciples used the Old Testament scriptures as they preached. Today we will look at Acts 17, where Paul preached to the Gentiles. He did not use any Old Testament scripture as he preached, because these men would not have been familiar with scripture.

Please read Acts 17:16-34 and answer the following questions:

1. Look at verse 16, and write down where Paul is located _________________.
2. In the same verse, what was the city full of?
3. In verse 17, what was Paul’s usual method of evangelism when he went to a city? He reasoned in ______________ and _______________.
4. In verse 18, how did the locals respond to his preaching?
5. In verse 23, Paul used something familiar to the people and began to expand on it. What did he use as his springboard?
6. In verse 25, what did Paul first tell them about God? Where did he start in the Bible?
7. What does Paul do in verses 25-29?
8. Paul begins with the gospel message in verse 30, what points of the gospel does he use in verses 30-32?
9. When comparing this message with the gospel message found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 and Mark 1:14-15, does he add anything new?
10. Does he warn them of future judgment in verse 31?
11. What response does he get in verses 32-34?

Summary
In this witnessing situation in the book of Acts, Paul is visiting the city of Athens, where he observes may idols. Because he is witnessing to Gentiles, who have never heard of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he begins his gospel message differently than was done for the Jewish crowd in Acts 2. Rather than quoting Old Testament scripture, which would have meant nothing to this crowd, he begins with God, the creator of the world. As his springboard, he uses something familiar to the Athenians, which was a sign saying, “To an unknown God”. Paul tells them that this unknown God was the creator of the world. He also gives a brief summary of who God is. When presenting the gospel message to this crowd in verses 30-32, he tells them to repent and he warns of judgment to come. He also says that Jesus was raised from the dead. The response to this message, was that some laughed, some wanted to listen again, and some believed. This is  a typical response to the gospel message.

When witnessing in the United States, this is a good approach to use. There are many in the U.S. who believe in evolution and have not heard the Bible preached. It is best to begin at the beginning for these people. If they can’t believe that the Bible is true in Genesis 1, they will have a hard time believing the rest of the Bible.