Paul in Athens: Have you ever been nervous about sharing your faith? In the first century AD, Athens was the center of Greek philosophy, religion, and cultural influence. The Apostle Paul had the possibly nerve-racking opportunity to share about Jesus with the Athenian elite. In his famous speech at the Areapagus, Paul demonstrates that the content of the gospel never changes, but the context does. Recorded on Jun 4, 2023, on Acts 17:16-34 by Pastor David Parks.
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The Life of Paul is a new sermon series (mostly) from the book of Acts in the Bible. The Apostle Paul has a fantastic story. Born Saul of Tarsus, Paul was a brilliant young man who was a violent persecutor of Christians. But then he met Jesus, which changed everything. Eventually, Paul would become not only the preeminent Apostle to the Roman world but one of the most influential people who ever lived. Paul’s story offers a great case study of what it looks like to learn the way of Jesus.
Sermon Transcript
All year, we’ve been focused on Learning the way of Jesus. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series on the life of the Apostle Paul as a case study for learning the way of Jesus. The Apostle Paul was born Saul of Tarsus, a brilliant young man who was a violent persecutor of Christians. But then, in his mid-twenties, Paul met Jesus, and he became a Christian, which changed everything. By his early 40s, he had served as a leader of the influential church in Antioch before being sent out as a missionary to bring the gospel to other people/places around the Roman Empire. Today, we’ll see that Paul takes a unique approach in the famous city of Athens. His normal pattern of ministry, and even how he talks about Jesus, is very different from other places. But how could this be? Does the gospel somehow change? That can’t be right, can it? But, remember, the Apostle Paul was the most effective missionary in the history of the world. So if Paul used a unique approach in Athens, we need to understand why. And the secret we uncover here can make anyone more effective in sharing their faith. Have you ever tried to share your faith, and it just didn’t go well? Or have you ever been scared to talk about being a Christian because you weren’t sure what to say? Then this message is for you. If you have a Bible/app, please take it and open it to Acts 17:16. We’ll put the Scripture up on the screens for you as well.
Acts 17:16-18 (NIV), “16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.” Ok, let’s pause here. For the last few weeks, we saw how Paul started to bring the news of who Jesus is and what he accomplished to other people/places, along with a demonstration of spiritual power. He started with Barnabas in Cyprus and moved north into modern Turkey. And then, on his second journey, he went with Silas, Timothy, and Luke from Turkey to Philippi in Greece. This resulted in all kinds of people responding to his message, including men and women, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, and so on, because everybody needs Jesus. However, in addition to the spiritual fruit that he saw, Paul also faced spiritual opposition, which sometimes resulted in social upheaval and even violence. Let’s look at a map. From Philippi, in northern Greece, where Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned, they were chased over to Thessalonica, then to Berea, and then south to Athens, which is where we are today. After Athens, Paul would travel on to Corinth before heading back east to Ephesus, which we’ll look at next week. But today, we have the mighty Apostle Paul in the great city of Athens, Greece, and we find that Paul is really in his element. Remember, Paul was raised in Tarsus, a Greek city with its own history of philosophy. And even though Paul had received the best education in the Jewish Scriptures, as we’ll see, he was also familiar with Greek philosophers and poets. It’s no wonder to me why Jesus picked him to be the apostle to the Gentiles.
But our passage starts with the statement from Luke that “While Paul was waiting for them in Athens [meaning the rest of his coworkers who were still in Berea], he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” Lit. Paul’s spirit was provoked within him by the idolatry he saw around the city. Now, it wasn’t that unusual for ancient pagan cities (or modern cities, for that matter) to have temples with idols where the worship of various gods/goddesses took place. But Athens was especially full of idols. They had multiple temples, which were some of the most beautiful and architecturally impressive buildings on the planet in their day. Athens had temples built to Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, and more. But none were more impressive than the Parthenon, or the temple built to Athena at the Acropolis, which had already stood for 400 years before the time of Paul. Temple worship, including various sacrifices, offerings, and festivals, defined this city. In fact, historians aren’t sure if Athena got her name from Athens or if Athens got its name from Athena. But either way, idol worship was so pervasive that it weighed on Paul. And not because he didn’t understand the appeal of the pantheon of gods to the Greek people or because he was prejudiced for some reason — but because if Jesus had risen from the dead, then it proved that he was who he claimed to be. And it proved that there was only one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Maker of the heavens and the earth. And therefore, the whole pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses was false. They weren’t real, and they didn’t have the power to help or save anyone. Matthew writes that when Jesus saw crowds of people, “he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mt 9:36). I think Paul felt the same way. When he looked at Athens, this powerful and influential city famous for its wisdom and culture, Paul saw people who needed help, who needed the truth, and who were bound up in a system that held them in spiritual bondage. So he was moved to action. He couldn’t stay silent. He was compelled by the love of Christ toward these people. As he did everywhere, he started with the Jewish synagogue. Luke writes that, “he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks.” But also, and this seems to be unique to Athens, Paul reasoned “in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.” Now, the marketplace in Athens wasn’t just for shopping. It was a public meeting place, a public forum, where new ideas were exchanged and debated. And it was here that “a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him.” These were two of the most popular streams of philosophy of their day, which no doubt had a great impact on the thinking and way of life of many people in Athens and elsewhere. In many ways, the philosophy of the Epicureans and Stoics influences people in our culture to this day, even though most people aren’t aware of it. At any rate, we don’t know how long Paul continued this marketplace ministry before he started getting serious questions. Luke writes, “Some of them asked, ‘What is this babbler trying to say?’ Others remarked, ‘He seems to be advocating foreign gods.’ They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.” This was actually a very serious accusation. Over 400 years earlier, the famous philosopher, Socrates, was put to death in Athens, having been put on trial and convicted of advocating foreign gods. So, in an interesting parallel to Socrates, the Apostle Paul was to face his own trial in Athens.
Acts 17:19-31 (NIV), “19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) 22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” Let’s pause here. Ok! So the Areopagus was the governing council of Athens which met on a rocky hill above the Parthenon, dedicated to Ares, the Greek god of war (known as Mars by the Romans). And it is at the hill of Ares (or Mars Hill) that Paul is asked to explain this new message he’s been teaching and defending day by day in their city. So Paul stands up, knowing there is a chance he could be facing his own Socratic death, and delivers a speech that is totally unique. His message on that day was very different from his recorded sermons elsewhere. Now, the logic of Paul’s argument, and its three implications, is rooted in a very Jewish understanding of who God is. Paul easily engages with Greek philosophy, but his reasoning is firmly rooted in the Hebrew bible. He stands up in the Areopagus and winsomely starts by referencing how religiously devout they are. But he challenges them, too. He says that even with all their wisdom and value of new ideas and philosophies, they still lack knowledge about the one true God. He uses their altar to an unknown God as an analogy of their ignorance but also as a way to show that he is not advocating foreign gods but is there to proclaim and reveal to them the God they already admit they don’t know. Paul says it is this God (not the gods, not Zeus, not Poseidon, not Ares, not even Athena), but the God of Israel, who is the Lord of the skies and the earth. He is the one who made the cosmos, including every human being — Jew and Gentile. Therefore, there are three implications of this truth. First, if God is the creator of all, then God doesn’t live in temples built by human hands (how could he?). Of course, this would’ve been a shock to the Athenians, who were literally surrounded by some of the most impressive temples anywhere. Second, if God is the creator of all, then he doesn’t need anything from us, including our offerings of worship. He is not dependent upon us; we are dependent upon him! Third, if God is the creator of all, then he cannot be represented by any created thing we can make, no matter how intricate or impressive, even if it’s carved from the most beautiful marble or made from a precious metal like silver or gold. As a result, Paul argues that the whole system of Greek worship, with its temples and its offerings and its images and idols, is all wrong. The whole system is based on a false understanding of who God is and is powerless to save.
Now, when the one true and living God had called Abraham to leave his family and his homeland in Ur, Abraham left behind a man-made Sumerian religion of many gods/goddesses. Through his relationship with Abraham and his family, God promised to bless all the nations/peoples/families of the earth. Ever since the fall to sin, human beings have unsuccessfully tried to figure out who God is (or who the gods are) and how we can earn their favor/blessings in life. However, the one true and living God, the Creator of the cosmos, the Lord of heaven and earth, cannot be fully known through his creation. We can know aspects of God’s character by what he has made, just as we can learn some things about an artist by a work of their art. But you can’t know someone personally simply by looking at what they have made. You need to talk to them; you need to meet them. And from Abraham on down, God has been revealing himself to people in order for us to know him and be known by him. In order for us to receive his favor/blessings freely as a gift of his grace. And in order for us to worship him truly and rightly according to his character and will. Here in Athens, the people of Athens are receiving the call once again, the calling of Abraham (and all people), to leave behind their false ways of worship, to repent, and to experience/enjoy the true favor/blessings of God which are freely given to all in Christ. So the creator God, who is transcendent over all and separate from his creation, is also near and can be personally known in Jesus. We see the result of Paul’s message at the end of this passage in v. 32.
Acts 17:32-34 (NIV), “32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.” So the result of this sermon (of which what is recorded here is probably only a summary), and despite being very different from other examples in Acts of Paul’s gospel proclamation, the result is actually very similar. Some people believed, and some didn’t. Some became Christians, including a few prominent people of Athens, and formed a new Christian church, while others rejected Jesus. I think because of Paul’s tact in his approach; he wasn’t thrown in prison or killed. Perhaps earlier in his life, things might have been different. But he was wise in his approach, and so he could find an open and receptive audience, even in what could be considered the capital of pagan worship and philosophy, and live to tell the tale. But how does this apply to our lives today? I’d like to leave you with one thought as we close:
The content of the gospel never changes, but the context does. Paul’s message to the Areapogus is something like this: You’re right to believe that God is real and is deserving of our worship. But God is the creator, and we are his creatures, not the other way around. He has made us; we have not made him. So not only does it not make sense to worship idols we have made, but it dishonors the true creator. To atone for this false worship, we must repent and trust the one God has appointed to judge the world, that is, Jesus Christ. The proof of this claim is the resurrection. If God raised him from the dead, then we can trust him and follow him, for he knows the path that leads to life. Paul’s message is about judgment against false worship, repentance, and faith in Jesus. Paul finds common ground in their desire to honor the gods (worship/idols), their desire to engage in new ideas (resurrection), and their culture (poets, justice). In other words, he starts where they are but then goes on to show how Jesus is the true fulfillment of all that they long for and need. The content of the gospel doesn’t change (especially the part about Jesus and his death and resurrection), but the context/audience/preconceived notions and expectations do change. To be effective in the joyfully exciting and eternally rewarding work of helping people come to faith in Jesus, we must pay attention both to the content and the context of the gospel. We must seek to understand where people are coming from, what they believe and why (without any disdain), and then gently but boldly point them to Jesus. Everybody needs Jesus. But the way we share Jesus must be motivated by the love of Christ, include finding common ground, and be handled with all wisdom by the Holy Spirit. If, by the grace of God, we share the gospel in this way, there’s no reason why we couldn’t see the same fruit as the Apostle Paul. This is the kind of church we want to be. And this is what we are called to do even today. Let us pray.