Paul in Athens (Acts 18:16-34)

Many a person wants to visit Athens today, a city renowned for its history and culture. It was the same when Paul was there two thousand years ago. Although even then its golden age was long past, much of its splendour remained and could be admired. 

In God’s providence, Paul found himself there on his second missionary journey. He may have found himself there sooner than he had planned. Perhaps he would have wanted to walk through Greece, preaching in the various places on the way, especially after he had been called to go there through a vision that he had in Troas of a man of Macedonia urging him to go there with the gospel. Since then, he had gone to Philippi and Thessalonica and Berea, but he had been forced by trouble instigated by some Jews to leave each of them. So he had been taken to Athens on a boat by friends in Berea, who took him there for safety purposes. 

 

Mind you, 1 Thessalonians 1 indicates that the new church in that city had managed to spread the gospel to much of mainland Greece, so although God had prevented Paul from doing so, he had also ensured that others would do so, in this case a very young church, but a church on fire for the gospel.

 

Passing the time in Athens (18:16-21)

Paul had decided initially to wait in Athens until Silas and Timothy rejoined him. They had stayed further north in Berea. How did Paul respond to the cultural expressions on display in Athens? Was he impressed? He noticed that everything seemed to be connected to an idol, and that disturbed him to his heart, a combination of distress and anger. This response was not a one-off one, as if he got used to it after a few days. Luke uses the imperfect tense to describe what Paul felt; his feelings remained with him. 

 

There are some things that no one should get used to, even in Athens. But it is not enough to have a negative reaction. Paul had to share what he knew because he alone in Athens had the remedy. So he busied himself by speaking about Jesus and the resurrection. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbaths and to the marketplace on each weekday to share the gospel.

 

Athens was known for its philosophers and inevitably Paul encountered two diverse groups of them. The Epicureans were addicted to the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. The Stoics were more realistic and realised that, although bad things could not be avoided, they could be conquered by self-discipline; they even thought that societal benefits would be the result. Although we don’t call people by such names now, we still meet many people with such ideas. Those ideas were not Christian back in Paul’s day, and they are not Christian today either.

 

Luke does not tell us what the people in the synagogue thought of Paul’s message about Jesus or what the people in the marketplace thought of it either. But he does tell us what the philosophers thought about it. Some of them thought that Paul was only a babbler (the term they used was much more insulting than it sounds – they likened him to a bird picking up seeds or scraps on the ground); others of them thought he was speaking about two gods, one called Jesus, and another called Resurrection (that response was not too surprising because these Athenians liked to collect names of gods). So it was decided that Paul would be given the opportunity to speak at the Areopagus (similar to a university lecture hall, although at times to go there was to go on trial at a court).

 

We can certainly say that it is amazing what a sail on a boat can bring a person to. Paul’s sail took him away from some Jews who wanted to know more about his message to some Athenian philosophers who wanted to know more about his message. As Luke tells us at the start of his Acts, the incidents recorded in it are the actions of Jesus, and in Paul’s case during this brief period, Jesus gave him a vision in Troas, conversions in a prison in Philippi, a chase out of town in Thessalonica, a boat ride along the coast of Greece, and somehow brought him to the heights of the intellectual world in Athens. So far, he had planted churches in Thessalonica and Berea. What would happen in Athens?

 

Paul’s message (Acts 18:22-34)

Some would have regarded the invitation Paul had received as the opportunity of a lifetime. Here he was, being asked to address the intellectuals of Athens. Would this be too much for him? Of course, Paul was not out of his depth – he was from Tarsus, an intellectual centre that would have provided him with all he needed to know to debate with anyone, even those in Athens, as we can see from his ability to cite ancient poets. 

 

And he knew that he knew a lot more than his listeners did about one very important topic – God. He was also aware of their pride in human learning, so maybe that is why he chose to speak about a subject they were self-confessedly ignorant of – the one they called the unknown God. The title did not mean that they were searching for God; all the gods they had named had all been imaginary, and it was always possible to imagine more.

 

In the details of Paul’s address, we have an example of what to say to someone who does not know what we are talking about when it comes to God. Paul’s audience was not the synagogue, although he could have spoken his message there because every detail in it is found in the Old Testament apart from what the name of the Messiah would be. His address could be described as a crash course on God and his purposes. After all, this was Paul’s only opportunity, and he probably knew that would be the case.

 

So he informed them that God was the creator of everything. His decision to do so was a sovereign one and he remains in charge of it all – he is the Lord of heaven and earth. Therefore he does not need anything from his creatures, whether it be a home to live in (temples) or a helping hand at times. Rather, he has so many resources that he by himself provides for the needs of all humans.

 

The apostle highlights that God made one man at the beginning and that from him all nations are descended. Moreover, God had arranged for where they should live and for how long they should do so. His main reason for doing this was that they should seek God. That statement certainly provides a new way of looking at a map of the world. He did all this so that they would seek for the One that gave order to everything in life. The seeking was not designed to have an immediate success; they were to ‘feel their way toward him and find him’. 

 

This did not mean that God was faraway. Rather, he is near, and Paul uses two pagan authorities to stress this point. The first, ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’ comes from a poet who lived six hundred years previously; the second, ‘For we are indeed his offspring,’ was said by a poet who lived in the third century BC. These quotations do not indicate that the two poets knew who the true God was. All they show is certain truths about God can be grasped by anyone, and therefore he can be sought by people.

 

Making distinctions

Paul would have known that nothing he had said so far was illogical, which means that his audience would have accepted what he said. There is nothing irrational about saying God creates and upholds all things and that he wants people to seek him. Nor is there anything illogical about saying the human race began with a man created by God; mere working back the way would indicate that was possible. Paul had to offer comments that would indicate his message was different. And he did.

 

First, Paul makes the obvious point that it was ludicrous to think that God looked like an idol. How could they think that if he was also their father by creation! Idolatry is not only demeaning of the true God; it is also demeaning to humans to suggest that their Creator, whom they resemble, looks like a lifeless idol. 

 

Second, in a cutting blow to their opinion of the golden age of Athens and its subsequent influence, Paul refers to it as ‘the times of ignorance’. A brave word to use at the Areopagus, but nevertheless true because they did not know or recognise the one truth that is obvious, even to intellectuals – the existence of the eternal God. When he says that God overlooked those times, he means that God did not bring judgement immediately. Instead, his judgement will not occur until the Day of Judgement. 

 

Third, God now ‘commands all people everywhere to repent’. This is a reminder of his sovereignty, but it is also a statement that a new day of privilege has arrived. The new day has been brought about because the judge on that day has been identified, and he is a man who has been raised from the dead. But the response must be to repent of our sins against God. After all, the judge is in position.

 

In the main, the listeners have followed Paul’s argument. God is the creator of all men, the ruler of all men, the sustainer of all men, and the judge of all men. The listeners did not mind the reminder to repent or the detail that the ultimate judge would be a human (after all, they had seen powerful humans). But when they heard about the past resurrection of that future judge, most of them rejected the claim by Paul because their presuppositions prevented them accepting the possibility of such a thing happening. One reason for their opinion was that they regarded the body as a prison and that it was better for people to be liberated from it by death. Others were prepared to discuss it further with Paul, but we don’t know if that kind of meeting took place. They had their opportunity and Paul moved on.

Was Paul’s time in Athens successful? It wasn’t if we regard it from a numerical point of view. Yet the main question is not, ‘Did Paul succeed?’ Rather, it is, ‘Did Jesus achieve his purpose in Athens?’ The answer is yes because, as Luke says, ‘some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.’ The Shepherd was gathering his lost sheep.

 

What are the challenges for us from this account? 

One is to realise that Jesus is the message that everyone must hear and respond to. Paul was eager to share that message with everyone, whether they were Jews in the synagogue, with the people in the markets, and with the intellectual community. He saw them all engaged in idolatry, and he felt moved to speak about the One that could give them real reasons for worship. Everyone has the built-in desire to worship something. Paul wanted them to worship the Saviour.

 

Second, are we willing to stand by ourselves? As far as we know, Paul was the only Christian in Athens until a few identified with his message towards the close of the account. 

 

Third, what would we say if agnostic people asked us about the resurrection of Jesus and why we believed it took place? That is not the same question as asking what the significance of his resurrection is. If people don’t believe it could have happened, then they will see no significance to it. Although Paul did not continue with his talk here, what could he have said? 

 

One answer is to say that many people saw Jesus alive after his death, including five hundred at one time. A second answer is to point to an empty tomb which had been guarded by soldiers to prevent anyone stealing the body of Jesus. A third answer is that his body was never found. A fourth answer is that Paul himself had met him and experienced huge changes because of having done so. How would those details stand in a court where a verdict is based on what can be seen?

 

Then, what would we say if they responded by asking about its significance? Two points will suffice. One is that it qualifies Jesus to be the firstfruits of a number that no one can count who will experience a resurrection like his. The other is that it has qualified him to be the judge of all.

 

Usually, we hear references to the resurrection as part of a funeral service when comfort is offered to believers because they know that Jesus has defeated death on their behalf and that those who die in the Lord will yet experience the resurrection of their bodies. But the resurrection is about more than that. It is also a guarantee of the Day of Judgement.