Athens was new territory for Paul. A university town, a seat of great learning, sophisticated philosophizing, and insatiable religious curiosity. He wasn’t reticent to challenge Athenian philosophies or pagan practices, but he did so with his own remarkable and sophisticated sensitivity to the audience there.

And yet, from a human perspective, he failed. Just as he’d failed at Thessalonica and Berea immediately before coming to Athens.

Except he hadn’t. Not from the only perspective that matters.