Paul and the pagans: You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean. Acts 17:20

The Book of Acts relates that after the first council of the Church held in Jerusalem, where it was discussed whether salvation depended on compliance with the law of Moses or the faith in Jesus, Paul was called by the holy spirit to make the second missionary journey. This second missionary journey began with Paul's departure from Antioch, accompanied by Silas. From there, Paul and Silas passed through Phrygia and Galatia, until they reached the city of Philippi in Greece, where they founded the Church of that city. Then Paul and Silas passed through Thessalonica and Berea until they reached the city of Athens.
And it was in Athens that the words of Paul became most eloquent, for it was in the city's public square that the apostle preached the kingdom of God and met Epicureans and Stoics, which were schools of philosophy in Greece. With the arrival of the apostle Paul in Athens, it can be said that the confluence of Greek philosophy with Christianity began, a division that continued for several centuries until the arrival of Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas with the scholastic philosophy. It was then that Paul was invited to the Areopagus, probably the court of Athens, by important people in the city who had heard him speak about the resurrection of the Lord, and there they addressed a few words to the apostle: "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean" Acts 17:19-20.
Paul gave a long theological speech in the Areopagus. The Book of Acts does not recount whether there were many conversions to the faith, but it does make it clear that Paul was well received in the city. From this visit, it is very likely that the need to write his epistles to the different churches founded or visited by him, began with great force in his mind due to the need to avoid the heresies of the Greek philosophy.
It can be said that from Paul's visit to Athens and Corinth, the preaching of the Kingdom to the pagans began mainly, and no longer to the practitioners of the law of Moses. With Paul's arrival in Athens, Christianity ceased to be a strange doctrine from the east like many others, and began to transform into the largest world religion in history.

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