Acts 17:15-34

Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left him.

Paul in Athens

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the market-place every day with those who happened to be there. Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, ‘What does this babbler want to say?’ Others said, ‘He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.’ (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, ‘May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.’ Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said,
“For we too are his offspring.” 
Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’

When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’ At that point Paul left them. But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. 

Paul’s approach to proclaiming the gospel to the citizens of Athens cannot be bettered. He had taken the time to learn something about those to whom he would speak, he knew where they were ‘at’, he understood something of how they thought, he even knew some of their poetry.

Athens, a cultured and cosmopolitan city, was home to people of many races and nations; it was an important trading centre with routes going in all directions. As a result, there were many ideologies, faith systems, philosophies, in currency. Small wonder then that someone, perhaps the City Council, decided that, to be on the safe side, it would be a good idea to put up an altar to a god unknown, but possibly present, who might be offended if omitted! Paul seized the opportunity – he knew exactly who was present and to be proclaimed.

Captive to many ideologies, the Athenians were not averse to hearing of another. This God was the creator, the life-giver, the one who called all to himself – interesting! But there was thinking that some of them found difficult, as indeed others would too. However, some wanted to hear more and some believed. How very contemporary all that sounds – it might be any city or community we know. 

Blessings as we pray that our doubts may be erased and that our faith in Jesus become ever stronger. Be safe!  Be well!  He is Risen Indeed!

 To Ponder:

• How would you answer someone who asked you, as a student once asked me in the middle of a conversation about something totally unrelated, “What does Jesus mean to you?”
• What are the things in contemporary society that we might seize on to expound the gospel? What are the current altars to unknown gods?