Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was deeply
provoked by seeing how full the city was of idols. He argued in the synagogue
with Jews and devout persons, and also in the market place day after day with
any who chanced to be there. That's how Epicurean and Stoic philosophers met
him. Some had said, "What would this babbler say?" Others noted,
"He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities" -- this observation
referred to his preaching of "Jesus" and "Anastasia". So
they took him along to the Are-op'agus, and asked, "May we know what this
new teaching is which you present? For you bring strange things to our ears and
we want to know what they mean." Note that all the Athenians and
residential foreigners spent their time keeping up with the latest thing. So
that is how Paul came to be giving his presentation out there in the
Are-op'agus: "Men of Athens, I note that in all ways you are very
religious. As I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I came
across an altar with this inscription, 'To an unknown god.' You may revere as
unknown the God I am going to tell you about, (the one) who made the world and
everything in it, being the Lord of heaven and earth. He does not live in
shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed
anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. And
he made from one every nation of men to live over all the face of the earth,
having allotted the seasons and the boundaries of their life, that they should
seek God, in the hope of getting in touch with him and finding him. Yet 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 poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.' Being
then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or
silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man. Having
overlooked the times of ignorance God now commands all men everywhere to turn
around, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in
righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given
assurance to all men by raising him from the dead." Now when they heard of
the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, "We will hear
you again about this." So Paul went out from among them. But some men
joined him and believed, among them Dionys'ius the Are-op'agite and a woman
named Dam'aris and others with them.
In a Nutshell
Being in Athens, Paul takes the opportunity to develop his teaching among gentiles and those of pagan religion.
Questions
Do you think that Paul happy with his address? Compare this with his address at Lystra Acts 14:8-18 at the time of the Zeus festival.
This is a famous address. Paul took every opportunity to proclaim the message about Jesus to all those God brought across his path. In Athens the work began in the Jewish synagogue, but he also spent time in the market place getting to know people and presenting his good news there. We might say he was "full of it". That's where some philosophers heard him preaching and realised this was something new. The Areopagus was just the place for trying out new ideas, new theories, or new religious angles. Some of the philosophers thought this was a religion about a couple of divinities named Jesus and Anastasia. Anastasia is the Greek word for Resurrection, as well as being a girl's name.
Paul, Luke tells us, was pretty up-tight because the entire city was full to overflowing with idols. Idol worship is not just a waste - but it is an affront to the Lord God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. Paul believed that. We believe it. But how do you then relate to people whose lives, you can see, are full of idols? Jesus, the Son of the Most High God, had told Ananias that Paul was His chosen instrument for taking the gospel to the Gentiles. And Paul accepted this calling. How then can you take the gospel to people without telling them about the True God? How can you tell them if you simply wait for them to come to your place? You have to go out and meet them on their turf. It may be dangerous. It may be irksome. A city like Athens, so full of idols, is not necessarily a lovely place but, when the gospel requires it, you have to go. Paul was realising he had to meet people who did not have a synagogue education. How can you pass on the gospel to them? Paul's address at the Areopagus sounds like the explanation he had tried to give to the crowd at Lystra. Remember the Zeus festival when they invited him to be Zeus and Barnabas to be Hermes?
Luke tells us that the local philosophers were always wanting to hear new teachings. Paul had been thinking a lot about his speech. He had also been reading some Greek poetry books. He said something like this:
Thanks for bringing me here. I realise you want me to say
something new. So I asked myself: What can I say in this city, religious in
every way, that has not been said before? And then I realised I could say
something that will interest you, especially if you haven't heard anything like
it before; this is what I have composed after passing that shrine to the
"unknown god" - that one, the one over there. My new teaching is
about the God who is unknown to you.
And so he told them about the God who knew them. This God may indeed be been unknown to you in the past, says Paul, but I can tell you that you are not unknown to Him. The message hit home; the seed was sown and in time brought forth its own harvest.