They were shopping as a group? Sure, this is possible, but the Greek "agora" was more than a shopping mall. It was a gathering place. In fact, it's role as a political and civic center preceded its additional role as a place for commerce.
It was roughly equivalent to a downtown area, in a large city, today. There were people talking, buying and selling, etc. Paul frequented areas where people were gathered together. And he never hesitated to stand up and preach the gospel. That is the only conclusion that you can make here.
Simply asserting to the contrary does not make it true.
Nor does you asserting that Paul only preached in places meant for public speaking, make it so. I have, in fact, never heard ANY scholar say what you are saying. I have heard some say that the practice was more acceptable, but I have never heard a single New Testament scholar say that Paul only preached the gospel in places where public speaking was culturally normal. This is an absurd statement...anyone reading the book of Acts can see that Paul and the other apostles preached anywhere and everywhere, even when the law commanded them to stop!
Furthermore, just because something also functioned as gathering place does not mean that all the groups who gathered there associated with one another. Jews and Greeks could both be gathering in the same general area without gathering with each other.
It was just a public shopping place. It was where people were gathered together. It is the same as a modern downtown area.
I'm not sure what to say other than I disagree. A house is a private place.
Today that may be the case. It was not in the first century. The closely grouped houses, where people often met outside on the "front step" so to speak, rather than inside (where lamps and precious oil had to be burned for light), is very much a public place. Imagine a trailer park where a preacher is preaching outside to a group of people at a barbeque, and you get a close idea of what it would be like.
That is partially because the pagans weren't preaching in the synagogues and partially because pagans were not attempting to work from within the Jewish religious framework. Had a pagan philosopher attempted to speak in a Jewish synagogue, he would have been run out as well.
When is the last time you went to a Jehovah's Witness hall, or a synagogue, or Mormon Tabernacle, and stood up and said things like "This Jesus, whom you crucified?"
Again, my point is not that they did not preach in public places, only that they did so in a different cultural context.
And this is clearly not the case. I have been all over the country. In every major city I have gone to, in the downtown area, you can find people playing musical instruments, talking, having demonstrations, getting people to sign petitions for various political causes, etc. You have people outside announcing cheap cell phone plans, new store openings, etc. In my part of the country, (South Texas), it is very common to see the Dominoes or Little Caesar's Pizza guy standing outside with a sign yelling "5 dollar pizzas!"
None of this offends anyone. In fact, its very effective, which is why they do it. A hungry person that hears an announcement about five dollar pizzas, will be highly inclined to buy a pizza.
However, in this environment of causes, sales, and petitions, when anyone dares to raise their voice to proclaim the gospel, people get offended.
Etymology can only get us so far in translation. The literal meaning of a term is only one aspect of achieving a good understanding; context is another.
The context clearly supports what I am saying. "In season, and out of season" clearly denotes a time when it is acceptable, or "a good time" and when it is not. At all times, stand up and preach the gospel.
You are absolutely wrong here. The method was not the reason the message was offensive. "For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles." -1 Cor. 1:23 (HCSB) That's content. Sure, his method of preaching was different, and it struck many people as strange, but that was not why the preaching was offensive.
Nor is it the method today. Street preaching about pizza, union rights, or "teachers salaries", is perfectly acceptable. So even today, it is not the method.
Quit making excuses, and preach the gospel.
This abrasive attitude won't get you anywhere, though. Social ministries are important (though they are not the most important thing), and public proclamation of the gospel doesn't eliminate the ability to use other methods.
Nor does modern ideas eliminate the plain teaching of the New Testament, which emphasizes preaching over all other "methods." Preaching publicly, and confrontational one on one, are the only evangelism methods seen in the New Testament.
Tell Jesus about the "abrasive attitude." I have never called anyone snakes, or whitewashed tombs. Nor, like Paul, told them they were sons of the devil or enemies of all righteousness.
God changes hearts, not men. And He does it through his word. Just preach the gospel.
