The Lord Is Not Far from Each One of Us

¹When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

²As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

³explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he declared.

⁴Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women.

⁵The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people.

⁶But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here,

⁷and Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, named Jesus!”

⁸On hearing this, the crowd and city officials were greatly disturbed.

⁹And they collected bond from Jason and the others and then released them.

¹⁰As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

¹¹Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

¹²As a result, many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.

¹³But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul was also proclaiming the word of God in Berea, they went there themselves to incite and agitate the crowds.

¹⁴The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea.

¹⁵Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

¹⁶While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.

¹⁷So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.

¹⁸Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, where they asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

²⁰For you are bringing some strange notions to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”

²¹Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas.

²²Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.

²³For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.

²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.

²⁵Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

²⁶From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.

²⁷God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

²⁸‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

²⁹Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

³⁰Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.

³¹For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

³²When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this topic.”

³³At that, Paul left the Areopagus.

³⁴But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others who were with them.

¹After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

²There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to visit them,

³and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was.

⁴Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks alike.

⁵And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself fully to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

⁶But when they opposed and insulted him, he shook out his garments and told them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷So Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titus Justus, a worshiper of God.

⁸Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his whole household believed in the Lord. And many of the Corinthians who heard the message believed and were baptized.

⁹One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking; do not be silent.

¹⁰For I am with you and no one will lay a hand on you, because I have many people in this city.”

¹¹So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching the word of God among the Corinthians.

¹²While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews coordinated an attack on Paul and brought him before the judgment seat.

¹³“This man is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law,” they said.

¹⁴But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio told the Jews, “If this matter involved a wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to hear your complaint.

¹⁵But since it is a dispute about words and names and your own law, settle it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.”

¹⁶And he drove them away from the judgment seat.

¹⁷At this, the crowd seized Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the judgment seat. But none of this was of concern to Gallio.

¹⁸Paul remained in Corinth for quite some time before saying goodbye to the brothers. He had his head shaved in Cenchrea to keep a vow he had made, and then he sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila.

¹⁹When they reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue there and reasoned with the Jews.

²⁰When they asked him to stay for a while longer, he declined.

²¹But as he left, he said, “I will come back to you if God is willing.” And he set sail from Ephesus.

²²When Paul had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church at Jerusalem. Then he went down to Antioch.

²³After Paul had spent some time in Antioch, he traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the Scriptures.

²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

²⁶And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

²⁷When Apollos resolved to cross over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On his arrival, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.

²⁸For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.