Paul arrives in Athens and finds a city full of clever counterfeits, idols formed by human imagination and a culture that worships intellect and novelty. Rather than tolerating it, his spirit is provoked and he goes to war, working from the doctrine of God up to the peak of his argument: Christ is risen, judgment is coming, and all people everywhere must repent. The gospel wins not because of Paul's rhetoric but because the resurrected Christ is alive.