Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 17:22

"And Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus, and said, Ye men of Athens, in all things, I perceive that ye are very religious." — Acts 17:22 (ASV)

Paul does not begin his address by referring to Jewish history or by quoting the Jewish Scriptures, as he did in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch (cf. 13:16–41). He knew it would be futile to refer to a history no one knew or argue from fulfillment of prophecy no one accepted as authoritative. Nor does he develop his argument from the God who gives rain and crops and provides food, as he did at Lystra (cf. 14:15–17). Instead, he took for his point of contact an altar he had seen in the city with the inscription “To an Unknown God.” The presence of such altars is attested by other Greek writers, so it is not surprising that Paul came across such an altar in the city.

As with the other speeches in Acts, this one is a precis by Luke, in which he summarizes the basic content of what Paul said. Luke gives us another illustration of how Paul began on common ground with his hearers and sought to lead them from it to accept the work and person of Jesus as the apex of God’s redemptive work for humanity.