July 19, 2024
In 2012, I went with forty-one Asbury seminarians to Athens, Greece. We explored the ancient building remains of the acropolis [citadel] above the city of Athens—the historical center for Greek culture, philosophy, and education. Our professors taught about the Apostle Paul and how he left Thessalonica and traveled to Athens with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul had been asked to speak to the philosophers at a meeting of the Areopagus—aristocratic council—who met on a stone hill and sat on stone seats. They had heard Paul was teaching about a new form of Wisdom—salvation. Prominent men [Epicureans and Stoics] considered “deep thinkers” came to debate spiritual and cultural issues at Mars Hill. The Epicureans believed pleasure was the goal of life; while the Stoics believed the goal of life was growing in wisdom and to care for nature. Both groups really came to debate and defend the idols and gods they had created and worshiped. Paul graciously and wisely led them to examine the truth and come to the only possible conclusion—Jesus. I stood on Mars Hill and looked out across this famous location knowing the wisdom of Christ was revealed there through the Apostle Paul.
In our passage today, we dig into the Scripture that tells about Paul’s time in Athens at the Areopagus. His purpose was to awaken both Jews and Gentiles to the God who saves. Paul inspired the men and “enlightened” even the stoics who felt they already knew everything about life and worship. Paul delivered a dynamic evangelistic message that revealed the truth of God and his plan to redeem the world. Remember, humanity has an inclination to misrepresent God. Make sure you have the wisdom in Christ to know He is the One True God!
Acts 17:16-31 NLT Paul Preaches in Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. 17 He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.
18 He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.”
19 Then they took him to the high council of the city. “Come and tell us about this new teaching,” they said. 20 “You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it’s all about.” 21 (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)
22 So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.
24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.
30 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”
Prayer: Lord, thank you for our lesson from the Apostle Paul, today. We believe you are the One True God and the Creator of all things. Thank you for your mercy and guiding love when we fail to understand, listen, or demand our own way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.