Acts 17:32Plain English VersionThe council men heard Paul say that a man died and then came alive again, and some of those council men laughed at Paul. Some others said, “You can tell us more about this later, at some other time.” See the chapter |
‘Listen all of you people that make fun of God, he will do something that you will not believe, even if somebody tells you about it. You will be really shocked, but you will not believe it, and then you will die.’ Don’t let that happen to you. You have to believe the things God does.” That’s the message that Paul told the people in that meeting in Antioch.
Some of that Athens mob always thought about the best way to live, and they always talked to other people about it. Some of them were called Epicurians, and some of them were called Stoics. They talked to Paul, and he told them about Jesus. Paul said that Jesus died, and that God made him alive again. Some of that mob said, “This man is just talking rubbish.” Others said, “We think he is talking about gods from other countries.”
And if we don’t stop doing bad things, he will give us big trouble. He is going to have a big court, and all of us will have to stand in front of the judge. He has already set the date for that. It will be a fair court, and he has picked one man to be the judge. That man died, but God made him alive again. God did that to show everybody that he picked that man to be the big judge.”
And Paul told them about the way God wants people to live. He said that God wants us to do what is right, and that he wants us to control ourselves. And Paul told them that God will judge everybody one day. Felix heard Paul talking about those things, and he got frightened. He said, “Stop, Paul, that’s enough for today. You can go back to the jail now. Maybe I will have time to listen to you another day, and then I will get you to come and talk to me again.”
But we are not like those people. We tell people about Jesus Christ, and we tell them that he died for them on the cross. The Jewish people can’t understand that. It isn’t what they want, so they don’t believe it. And the other people that are not Jews, they reckon it is stupid, so they don’t believe it.
They see that we work for Jesus Christ, and lots of people think we are fools. But you mob reckon you are different from us. You reckon you are really smart because you know Jesus Christ. Yes, everyone thinks we are weak, but you reckon you are strong. You reckon everyone has to respect you, but you don’t care if they respect us or not.