NOTES for Act 17:1-34

It is not difficult to notice how sharply the Athenians cooled towards Paul when he started talking about the resurrection. Indeed, the Greek philosophers were ready to recognize the existence of a single good God, they had a concept of the Logos as a kind of mediator between the One and the human mind, but the thoughts that the Logos is a man, and of the resurrection of the human body, were completely alien to them.

Did Paul not know this? But he was a comprehensively educated man, familiar with Hellenistic philosophy. This means that he consciously takes the risk that he will not be understood and not be accepted — so important to him is the message of the incarnation of the Son of God, of the Resurrection from the dead, of the victory over death.

Without this there can be no Christianity, without this preaching is meaningless, no compromise is possible here.