While waiting for Silas and Timothy, Paul was not idle. 235 He "disputed . . . in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him." But his principal work in Athens was to bear the tidings of salvation to those who had no intelligent conception of God and of His purpose in behalf of the fallen race. The apostle was soon to meet paganism in its most subtle, alluring form.

Mens Paulus ventede på Silas og Timoteus, spildte han ikke tiden. "Han talte da i synagogen med jøderne og de gudfrygtige og daglig på torvet med dem, han traf på." Men hans hovedopgave i Athen bestod i at bringe frelsens budskab til dem, som ikke havde nogen fornuftig opfattelse af Gud og hans formål med at hjælpe den faldne menneskeslægt. Apostlen skulle snart komme til at møde hedenskabet i dets mest underfundige, forlokkende skikkelse.