Tuesday, April 21

Tuesday

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.  - Acts 17:22-27

The glory days of Athens as the greatest of the Greek city-states had been four centuries earlier. But it was still an intellectual and cultural center, with two predominant rival schools of philosophy, the Epicureans and the Stoics. 

Epicurus (342-270 B.C.) taught that pleasure is the chief goal in life, especially the intellectual serenity that is achieved by over- coming disturbing passions and superstitious fears, especially the fear of death. He was a materialist, believing that at death the per- son ceases to be, and thus there is no afterlife. He believed in the gods, but taught that they did not get involved in human affairs. 

The Stoics followed the teachings of Zeno (332-260 B.C.), who thought that the good lies in the soul itself, which through wisdom and restraint delivers a person from the passions and de- sires that perturb ordinary life. The Stoics tried to live in harmony with nature and put great emphasis on man’s rational ability, his self-sufficiency, and his obedience to duty. This emphasis on their own ability also filled them with pride. 

These are the groups of philosophers that took Paul up to the Areopagus (a group of 50 city elders that presided over most civil and religious matters).  These men wanted to hear from Paul personally and to scrutinize his message.

Paul begins his address by acknowledging they are religious in every way. This is likely a simple statement of fact, not a compliment, but it can be interpreted as a criticism, “You are too religious,” or “superstitious.” He then refers to all their many temples and idols but focuses on the one to “the unknown god”. Here is Paul’s entry point, his bridge into this pagan culture. The Athenians are not atheists; they are very religious; Paul and the Athenians have something in common, they both believe in the supernatural. Paul takes that unknown god and uses it to begin proclaiming the gospel.

Paul is not equating the God of the Bible with this pagan unknown god, but he uses the idea because it is true, the Greeks do not know the God who is. We must be very careful to not equate the God of the Bible with other gods, false gods, like Allah or any of the Hindu gods. Unfortunately, there are many people who believe that everyone worships the same god but by different names. 

The key idea here is that the Athenians did not know the true God and Paul is about to explain to them who this God is. So in Paul’s opening he establishes that there is a God, the Athenians are ignorant of him, but he is knowable.

Notice that Paul begins his evangelistic message with the God of creation, the Lord of heaven and earth. In other words, Paul is making it clear to the Athenians that the God he is talking about is supreme in every way, and He is utterly unlike any of the gods they are used to worshipping. The Greeks and Romans had a hierarchy of many gods but the God Paul is speaking of does not live in temples nor does he need anything from humans because he is the giver of life, breath and everything. This sets the God of the Bible above all the other gods of the pagans and presents a logical truth as well. 

Realistically, what can we offer the God who created all that is?  We come to God with nothing; we ourselves need what only He can give!

Jeff Frazier