"To three ancient nations the men of the twentieth century owe an incalculable debt. To the Jews we owe most of our notions of religion; to the Romans we owe traditions and examples in law, administration, and the general management of human affairs which still keep their influence and value; and finally, to the Greeks we owe nearly all our ideas as to the fundamentals of art, literature, and philosophy, in fact, of almost the whole of our intellectual life" (A Day in Old Athens by William Stearns Davis).
The city of Athens represented the great culture and intellectual history of Greece, a culture Alexander the Great spread throughout the ancient world. The ideas that came from Athens shaped Western Civilization. “In its Agora Socrates had taught, here was the Academy of Plato, the Lyceum of Aristotle, the Porch of Zeno, and the Garden of Epicurus. Here men still talked about philosophy, poetry, politics, religion, anything and everything. It was the art center of the world. The Parthenon, the most beautiful of temples, crowned the Acropolis." (Robertson's Word Pictures)
Athens represents the City of Man! "What has Jerusalem to do with Athens?" asked the Church Father Tertullian. Athens represents man's wisdom and culture apart from God and the intellectual pursuit of truth. Paul's preaching in Athens is going to show the conflict between human wisdom and revealed truth.
Paul did not mean to go to Athens. He was there waiting for his companions after the persecution from the Jews forced him out of Thessalonica and Berea. We have to rely on the sovereignty of God and be ready to preach wherever we find ourselves with opportunity.
In the past God let the nations go (Acts 14.16). He overlooked their sin (Rom 3.25). But God never completely deserted the nations. They had both conscience and natural revelation. But the nations had mostly ignored these messages (See Rom. 1.18-23). God did not send judgment but he did not send preachers either, until Paul came as the Apostle to the Gentiles. This was God's sovereign plan for world history. "Times of ignorance" corresponds to the mystery of Christ being revealed to Paul (Eph 3.4-6). The mystery was Gentile inclusion! This comes only through the Gospel. Now the resurrection of Christ must be preached.
What is the meaning of the days in which we live? This is a time for preaching, a time for repentance and a time for salvation! Cities like Athens represent people, societies, cultures, which are all subject to corruption and judgment. But God has care for the City of Man, as seen in the book of Jonah also.
Our culture looks a lot like Athens! We are pagan once more. And the institutional Church is failing to reach this culture. We should avoid running from paganism or compromising with it. What we need that is lacking today is a message for our pagan culture! America looks a lot like Athens. How should we respond?
In the Apostle Paul we see an example of how a believer in Christ responds to a pagan culture. We can learn how to respond to our own pagan culture by noticing what Paul saw, how he felt, where he went, and what he said.
SEE: the Idols underneath the Sins of Society.
The New King James translation says "the city was given over to idols." Young's Literal also says that Paul was "beholding the city wholly given to idolatry." And the New Jerusalem Bible captures this as well: Paul saw in Athens "the sight of a city given over to idolatry."
Xenophon calls the city "all altar, all sacrifice and offering to the gods.” Pausanias said that Athens had more images than all the rest of Greece put together. Pliny states that, in the time of Nero, Athens had more than 30,000 public statues besides countless private ones in the homes. Petronius said that it was easier to find a god than a man in Athens.
There is a story about a plague in Athens. To stop it they sacrificed to every known god, and when they had done that they even made an altar to the Unknown God.
In spite of the great intellectual history of Athens, God never even mentions the great thinkers in Scripture. Their idolatry was unacceptable to Him and their wisdom was foolishness (1 Cor. 1.18-25). Their minds and hearts were darkened (Eph 4.17-19). Moral degeneration was the result of this spiritual darkness. This is why we "cannot separate the wisdom of Athens from the idols of Athens" (Phillip Kayser).
Matthew Henry said, "It is observable that there, where human learning most flourished, idolatry most abounded, and the most absurd and ridiculous idolatry, which confirms that of the apostle, that when they professed themselves to be wise they became fools (Rom. 1:22), and, in the business of religion, were of all other the most vain in their imaginations. The world by wisdom knew not God (1Cor. 1:21). They might have reasoned against polytheism and idolatry; but, it seems, the greatest pretenders to reason were the greatest slaves to idols."
Greece is famous for its pantheon of gods. But all ancient cultures were polytheistic. They worshiped deified personifications of their lusts or aspects of nature that they either feared or relied upon. The Greeks worshiped Ares, the god of strength. They worshiped Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty. They worshiped Dionysus, the god of drunkenness. They worshiped Hermes, the god of athletics. They worshiped Apollo, the god of music. Do we worship these gods today in America? YES!
All human cultures tend to become idolatrous. At the root of all sin is idolatry. Idolatry is not just a sin. Idolatry IS sin: the breaking of the first and primary commandments. "Man's mind is an idol factory" (Calvin). Idolatry is man making his own God, worshiping creation rather than the Creator, and replacing God with other things. How do you know you worship an idol? Whatever gives you meaning and worth, those things to which you attach your affections (1 John 2.15-17), and what gives you comfort and security. Idolatry is the sin beneath the sins.
Cultural idols include money, family, romance, beauty, youth, strength, pleasures, fame, power, position, career, education, patriotism, religion, philosophy, relationships, institutions, and possessions. Understand that "culture is religion externalized" (Henry van Til). Americans are very religious, just like Athens. These idols are not necessarily evil in themselves, in fact, they may be good things. They become evil apart from God – when they are made the ultimate things in life.
And there is also a moral issue beneath all idolatry and man's rejection of God: mankind wants to be free from all restraint and accountability. God reveals who He is through his word and we must accept that revelation. Israel saw no form, but heard the voice of the Lord (Deut. 4.12).
By making his own gods, man misrepresents and distorts the glory of the true God. When men worship false gods they are actually worshiping demons (1 Cor. 10.20). This is why it is crucial that we turn from idols to serve the living and true God (1 Thess. 1:9-10). God has promised to judge all idolatry.
FEEL: a Godly Jealousy for those in Error.
The word Luke uses to describe Paul's emotional response to Athens is hard to translate. It could literally mean that Paul had a seizure or he had a fit. But it does not simply mean he got angry, it is more complex than that. The translations say that he was deeply distressed (NRS), his spirit was provoked within him (NKJ), his spirit was troubled (BBE), that his spirit was stirred in him (YLT), and that he grew exasperated (NAB), he was deeply troubled (NLT), and that his whole soul was revolted (NJB). Note that none say Paul got mad!
Paul's feeling is not without Scriptural precedent. This is similar to what is said of Phinehas – that he was zealous for the Lord (Num 25.6-11), of Elijah who was very jealous for the Lord (1 Kings 19.10), of David who was grieved that the heathen did not obey the Law of God (Ps 119.158), and of righteous Lot whose soul was vexed by the people of Sodom (2 Pet 2.7). It is said of the righteous that "they sigh and cry for all the abominations which are done in the midst of the land" (Ezek. 9:4). And when our Lord came to Jerusalem for the last time "He beheld the city and wept over it" (Luke 19: 41).
I believe what Paul was feeling was the Lord's jealousy, which is what God feels when He sees people worshiping idols! "For I the LORD your God am a jealous God." Now jealousy is not just a negative emotion, but can actually be an expression of love. Love is not just sweet and tender it is also full of thunderous, passionate emotions too! God has a right to feel jealous for us because He made us for Himself. When he sees people worshiping idols, God feels both indignation and compassion. The opposite of love is indifference, not indignation.
This is the key to understanding God and it is also the key to understanding what it means to serve God. Jesus was Truth AND tears. Most of us can't do both. But if we don't we are ineffective in the ministry.
The Gospel changes how we feel about and relate to the world around us. The Gospel is personal, but not private. But people today want an inward peace for themselves which is more like psychology than Gospel. God wants us to learn to hate the things that He hates and to love the things that He loves. He wants our passions or our desires to be conformed to those of Christ. Do you look with sorrow and compassion at the lost who, as the Athenians, are worshiping worthless idols? Until we are transformed by the Gospel there is no amount of guilt or institutional enthusiasm that can propel us into real ministry for Christ.
How can we become this kind of person? How can we get this godly jealousy? GO TO THE CROSS! That is where righteous indignation at sin and merciful compassion for sinners meet! Understand the Gospel. Those who have ONLY indignation or ONLY compassion don't understand the Gospel. We won't be able to speak like Paul until we feel like Paul, and we can't feel like Paul until we understand the Gospel like Paul.
Paul was certainly not impressed with Athens, as many people today would be. Paul was not appreciative of culture, if that culture despised God.
GO: into the marketplace with your faith.
Paul knew he could not procrastinate when God's Spirit was stirring up his spirit like this. Procrastination is one of the surest ways to quench the Holy Spirit. When he stirs you to action and you repeatedly delay, you will eventually quench His fire in your heart.
Paul never worried about success or failure. That was in God's sovereign hands. His job was simply to act and to do something. Every one of us can do something to oppose idolatry and advance God's kingdom on earth.
But don't be afraid to stand alone, if you have to! Don't run away from paganism! Where would we be in Paul had been too afraid to go to the Gentiles with the Gospel? Where would we be today if Luther had not stood alone against the Catholic Church for justification by faith? Where would we be if Tyndale had not stood against the King of England and translated the Bible into English? Don't become overwhelmed by idolatry, evil and unbelief. Overcome evil with good! It is appropriate to be troubled in spirit. But don't be overwhelmed and just give up.
You can be faithful in our modern Athens. Paul did not succumb to the paganism around him and admit defeat. He did not give up his witness. We can also be faithful in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation.
Paul not only went to the synagogue as was his custom, where there were at least some worshipers of the true God, he also went into the Marketplace there in Athens. The Greek marketplace was the place where ALL the business of that society was conducted. There is really no modern context like it, except perhaps the virtual marketplace on the internet. The Agora was the place you shopped for everything! Paul is saying, "shoppers! Listen to me! Here is the Way!"
Paul spoke so effectively in the Marketplace he was actually invited to speak in another important place in Athens, the Areopagus: another public forum where legal cases were decided, the city fathers met to discuss political issues of the local government, and ideas were discussed and debated by the philosophers. There really is no perfect modern equivalent, except perhaps for the university setting.
What Paul did by taking his faith into the public square is in direct opposition to two basic principles of paganism still with us today in America: everyone has their own truth and no one can claim to have THE truth. (This is the logical outcome of polytheism, which is really the basis of our modern relativism.) And therefore religion is a private matter of personal choice never to be brought out and debated in the public sphere. So it's all right to have a private faith as long as you don't bring it with you into public life and try to get other people to accept it. So we see that our culture is pagan once again.
But what does the Bible say? Is the truth just a private matter never to be discussed openly? "Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice" (Proverbs 1:20). This is why Paul said "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation" (Romans 1:16)! If the modern Church is not taking the Gospel into the Marketplace of today it is either because it has succumbed to pressure from the pagan culture, and is ashamed of the Gospel, or because it does not believe that the Gospel will be effective in the Marketplace.
Now if you are going to go public with your faith, taking the Gospel into the Marketplace of our pagan culture, you will meet pagans there! Paul did. "He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, "This babbler has picked up some strange ideas." Others said, "He's pushing some foreign religion" (Acts 17.18 NLT). Another translation says "Even a few Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said, 'What can this parrot mean?' And, because he was preaching about Jesus and Resurrection, others said, 'He seems to be a propagandist for some outlandish gods'" (NJB).
Notice how they misunderstood and mocked Paul, which will always happen to preachers. But Paul must have spoken effectively, because he got an audience. I don't think there are many Christians today, even Church leaders, who can speak effectively for Christ in the Marketplace. But this is not just for Apostles or even just for preachers. You are called to go into your marketplace, wherever that happens to be. How you do take your faith into your marketplace will be up to your own judgment, following the leading of the Spirit. There is no prepackaged way to be a witness in every situation and with every audience.
Paul had the ears of these Athenian philosophers, at least for the moment. "Then they took him to the Council of Philosophers. ‘Come and tell us more about this new religion'" (Acts 17.19 NLT). "Some of the things you say seemed startling to us and we would like to find out what they mean" (Acts 17.20 NJB). If you have not said something startling to your hearers then there is a good chance you have not preached the Gospel! The Gospel is strange to ears accustomed to the world's wisdom.
The Gospel Paul preached was in direct opposition to the two schools of philosophical thought represented in Athens. Epicureans believed that pleasure was the highest goal of life. "Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die." Stoics believed in morality and the rule of law. Stoics appeared more dignified and righteous. But neither school had any concrete hope for life after death and completely rejected the idea of a physical resurrection.
These two opposing philosophies are still with us. They are represented in the Liberal versus Conservative culture wars. But neither side is in agreement with the Gospel. It is important that Christians do not get caught up in these philosophies because our message is the Gospel which cannot be compared to any other philosophy or world view. Unfortunately, people hear Christian speech and they put it in their established categories and believe it's the same thing, but it's not.
The problem with the Athenian philosophers and all their modern descendants is that they have only a shallow, novel interest in truth. These are people who are described in the Scriptures who are "always learning and never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3:7).
It is sad that the modern Church also has a preoccupation with the latest cultural trends rather than eternal, unchanging truth, which should be our only pursuit. We should pursue the old paths, not novelty. "Whatever is not eternal is eternally out of date" (C.S. Lewis).
DECLARE: the glory of God and the resurrection of Christ.
Paul compares the power of God and the resurrection to the emptiness of their speculative philosophies and religious idolatry. Paul wasn't trying to build a bridge so that they could be friends. He was showing the difference between the religion and philosophy of the Greeks and the Gospel of Christ.
We've got to restore Paul's method. There is so much softening of the message of Christ today in order to not offend that people don’t really see the uniqueness of the Gospel. Many Churches are trying to show that they are like everyone else when we should be showing that we are different because the Gospel is different from every other religion and philosophy.
"It has been said that Paul left the simple gospel in this address to the council of the Areopagus for philosophy. But did he? He skillfully caught their attention by reference to an altar to an Unknown God whom he interprets to be the Creator of all things and all men who overrules the whole world and who now commands repentance of all and has revealed his will about a day of reckoning when Jesus Christ will be Judge. He has preached the unity of God, the one and only God, has proclaimed repentance, a judgment day, Jesus as the Judge as shown by his Resurrection, great fundamental doctrines, and doubtless had much more to say when they interrupted his address. There is no room here for such a charge against Paul. He rose to a great occasion and made a masterful exposition of God's place and power in human history." (Robertson's Word Pictures)
The Glory of God
I think that the heart of Paul's sermon is about the glory of God. Paul reasons against idolatry by declaring the glory of the Biblical God!
1. God is the Creator. This is the foundation of all Biblical theology. It is a logical conclusion that it is ignorant to treat God as though He were made with our hands, when we in fact have been made by His. Idolatry is inherently foolish!
2. God is sovereign. His hand of providence appears in the history of all men. Nations rise and fall, but it is not chance or fate. God has never abandoned His creation but has a purpose for the world. The purpose of life is to seek God. God governs the nations so that they would seek for the meaning of life. Do not turn away from him as the nations have done in the past (Rom. 1:18-32).
3. God is the judge. He will ultimately hold man accountable. The implication here is that God will hold man responsible for NOT SEEKING HIM as they should. The sad fact of history is that men have NOT been seeking God.
If it is true that knowing God is eternal life (John 17:3), then to be ignorant of God is our greatest liability. And yet we find ourselves in a time and place where millions are ignorant about God, even though they might be religious just like the Athenians.
The Resurrection of Christ
Paul preached Jesus and the resurrection in Athens. Why did Paul preach the resurrection? He is emphasizing the objectivity of Christianity. The resurrection is a fact. This Paul knew to be a fact because he himself had seen the Risen Christ. Here is the proof of all the claims of Christianity: SOMEONE HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD! Here is a fact that all men must receive, or die eternally!
But notice it says Paul preached JESUS. He preached a PERSONAL Savior we can know and love. The Truth became a Person! So there are only two kinds of people: those who are trying to save themselves through worshiping idols and those who are trusting Jesus to save them.
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