How do you share the gospel with someone from a different culture? On his first missionary journey (in Acts 13-14), Paul traveled far to the west of the traditional homeland of the Jews, visiting sites in the southern part of what we now know as Turkey. But in every town he visited, he started off by preaching in the synagogue, to the Jewish people. And Acts 17 demonstrates that he continued this practice in Thessalonica and Berea on his second missionary journey (17:1-2, 10). Paul may have been traveling to different places but he was still spending a lot of his time with his own people, the Jews.

But when he came to Athens, he had an opportunity for a broader audience. Yes, he spoke in the synagogue to the Jews and the Gentiles who were already interested in worshipping the One True God (17:17). But he was also invited to speak to some of the philosophers in the Areopagus, the place where the city council met. These people didn’t know or care about the Old Testament Scriptures to which Paul constantly appealed to prove the claims of Christ (17:2-3). To present the Gospel to them, he would have to find another starting point.

And so he began by trying to understand their culture so that he could establish a point of contact with them. Paul had walked around, looking at their idols and temples (17:16), and had come to notice that they had erected a statue to an unknown god (17:23). Because they believed in lots of different gods, they were thus willing to admit that there could be a god they knew nothing about, and Paul jumped at the chance to enlighten them – about the One True God.

Paul also discovered other undeniable truths that his listeners already believed: the creation of the world (17:24) and the kinship of all human beings (17:26). Moreover, Paul had read the Greek poets so that he could quote them, showing how their thoughts pointed to the One True God (17:28). So, it was only after establishing many points of contact with his listeners that Paul then used what they already knew to critique the method and object of their worship, pointing out the irrelevance of building temples and statues (17:29). And it was only after laying all this groundwork that he pointed them to the need for repentance and faith in the resurrected Christ (17:30-31).

So, before we open our mouths to tell others about the wonderful news of Jesus’ sovereign grace, will we take the time to build relationships with those who need to know Him or know Him better? Will we try to learn about their culture and their ways of life? Will we really listen to what they have to say, and take their questions and concerns seriously? For if we don’t, it’s not only our evangelistic efforts that will probably fall flat. For why should anyone believe what we say about Jesus’ love if we don’t express that love through our genuine interest and concern?

Acts 17:22-31 (NASB)

22 And Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.
23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
25 neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things;
26 and He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation,
27 that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His offspring.’
29 “Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.
30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent,
31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”