Achaia is Greece

You would naturally expect to find quite a number of Greeks in a place like Achaia. It is actually another name for the country, or province of Greece. When Paul had to flee for his life from Macedonia the first place he came to was Athens, which is still today a well-known city in Greece. Paul found the people of the city “wholly given to idolatry,” that is to say, they worshipped idols.

.Acts 17:15 And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed.

Acts 17:16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

Acts 17:17 Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.

In Athens, Paul saw an alter with the inscription “to the unknown God.” He took advantage of that when certain philosophers, called Stoics and Epicurians, accosted him wondering “what will this babbler say?” The bible says that the reason they were curious was because Paul preached Jesus and the resurrection. If you were a person who spoke Greek, when you said the word “resurrection,” you would say the Greek word “Anastasia.”

Now since these people knew little or nothing about the Jews religion, and certainly knew nothing of Paul’s gospel, since Paul had just arrived, they thought that perhaps he was a “setter forth” of some new god or goddess. The Athenians were fond of hearing and telling the latest new thing. The word “Anastasia” can also be understood as a name. Perhaps you have heard of someone with that name. There was a man who named his boat Anastasia.

So Paul took advantage of all this when they led him to Mars Hill, and he preached the fact that God had appointed a day in which he would judge the world in rightousness by a “Man” he had ordained. Paul said that God had given ASSURANCE to all men by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That word, “assurance,” is also translated as FAITH in many other verses.

So Paul preached a message of resurrection and judgment to these people. This, that you can read about in Acts chapter 17, is not the same salvation message you read when you read Paul’s books, Romans through Philemon. This information that Paul gave to the Athenians was very basic facts and information. It is the “foundation,” so to speak upon which both the Gospel of the Kingdom, preached by Peter and the Twelve, and the Gospel of the grace of God, preached by Paul, is based upon. You must know and believe these basic facts before the fact that “Christ suffered the full penalty for your sins and died for your sins on the cross” would have any meaning to you. In other words, a person would first need to know WHO Christ is before they could believe WHAT He did for them. This message is identifed in your bible, in Romans 1:1-4 as THE GOSPEL OF GOD.

Both the Kingdom gospel and Paul’s gospel of grace are built on this foundation. So, although Paul didn’t preach his salvation message to those Greek philosophers, which is referred to in the bible as THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, some who heard Paul’s message became believers in Jesus Christ.

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.

I don’t know about you, but I think Paul would have taken those people who had believed these basic truths about Jesus Christ, and went on and showed them as much truth about what Christ had done for them as they could grasp. Although we can’t find that in the bible, because the very next verse says:

Acts 18:1 After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;

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