How Do You View the Fields? - WHAT DO THEY BELIEVE?

 Paul preached often in Jewish synagogues. In Thessalonica, for example, "for three sabbaths he reasoned with the [Jews] from the Scriptures." (Acts 17:1, 2 )  Paul likely felt comfortable in the synagogue. He was raised as a Jew.  (Acts 26:4, 5)  Paul could relate to the Jews, so he was able to preach to them with confidence. - Philippians  3:4, 5.

After Paul was forced by persecutors to flee Thessalonica and then Beroea, he arrived in Athens.  Once again,  "he began to reason in the synagogue with the Jews and the other people who worshipped God." (Acts 17:17)  While preaching in the marketplace, however, Paul now had a different audience.  Among his listeners were philosophers and other Gentiles who viewed Paul's message as a "new teaching."  They said to him: "You are introducing some things that are strange to our ears."- ACTS 17:18-20. 

Read Acts 17:22-23.  Paul did not present this message to the Gentiles in Athens, in the same way that he presented it to the Jews  in the synagogue.  Paul likely asked himself, 'What do these people in Athens believe?   He carefully observed his surroundings and took note of people' s religions and customs.  Next, Paul searched for common ground between their form of worshp and the truth in the Scriptures.  "As a Jewish Christian, he realizes that pagan Greeks do not worship the "true" of Jews and Christians," says one Bible commentator, "but he tries to show that God whom he proclaims is in reality no stranger to the Athenians."  So Paul was willing to adapt his approach. He told the Athenians that his message came from the "Unknown God, whom they began trying to worshp. Although the Gentiles were not familian with the Scriptures, Paul did not give up on them. Instead, he viewed them as being like grain ripe for harvesting, and he adjusted his presentation of the good news.

Next  time: How Do You View the Fields? - WHAT DO THEY BELEIVE? -Conclusion

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