Acts 17:22

22 Paul stood up in front of the city council and said, "I see that in every way you Athenians are very religious.

Acts 17:22 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 17:22

Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill
Or of Areopagus, as it is better rendered in ( Acts 17:19 ) for it is the same place, and it is the same word that is here used: Paul stood in the midst of that court of judicature, amidst the Areopagites, the judges of that court, and the wise and learned philosophers of the different sects that were assembled together:

and said, ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too
superstitious;
or "more religious", than any other persons, in other places, which has been observed before on ( Acts 17:16 ) they had more gods, and more altars, and more festivals, and were more diligent and studious in the worship of the gods, than others. And this manner of addressing them, both as citizens of Athens, and as very religious persons, and who, as such, greatly exceeded all others, must greatly tend to engage their attention to him.

Acts 17:22 In-Context

20 Some of the things we hear you say sound strange to us, and we would like to know what they mean.

21 (For all the citizens of Athens and the foreigners who lived there liked to spend all their time telling and hearing the latest new thing.)

22 Paul stood up in front of the city council and said, "I see that in every way you Athenians are very religious.

23 For as I walked through your city and looked at the places where you worship, I found an altar on which is written, "To an Unknown God.' That which you worship, then, even though you do not know it, is what I now proclaim to you.

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