²² Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus^(A) and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.^{(B) 23} For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship^(C)—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it^(D) is the Lord of heaven and earth^(E) and does not live in temples built by human hands.^{(F) 25} And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.^{(G) 26} From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.^{(H) 27} God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.^{(I) 28} ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[a](J) As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[b]

²⁹ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.^{(K) 30} In the past God overlooked^(L) such ignorance,^(M) but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.^{(N) 31} For he has set a day when he will judge^(O) the world with justice^(P) by the man he has appointed.^(Q) He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”^(R)

³² When they heard about the resurrection of the dead,^(S) some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” ³³ At that, Paul left the Council. ³⁴ Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus,^(T) also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Paul’s Use of His Freedom

¹⁹ Though I am free^(A) and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone,^(B) to win as many as possible.^{(C) 20} To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.^(D) To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law),^(E) so as to win those under the law. ²¹ To those not having the law I became like one not having the law^(F) (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law),^(G) so as to win those not having the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.^(H) I have become all things to all people^(I) so that by all possible means I might save some.^{(J) 23} I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,^(A) the new creation^(B) has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here!^{(C) 18} All this is from God,^(D) who reconciled us to himself through Christ^(E) and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.^(F) And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors,^(G) as though God were making his appeal through us.^(H) We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.^{(I) 21} God made him who had no sin^(J) to be sin^[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.^(K)

³⁵ Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.^{(A) 36} Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests^(B) a crop for eternal life,^(C) so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’^(D) is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”