Eld Goh Kee Tai

Paul’s sermon to the Athenians

During Paul’s second missionary journey, he was directed by the Lord to evangelise in Macedonia in Greece, instead of expanding his work in other parts of Asia Minor (Act 16:7-10). He had a rather successful ministry at Philippi (Act 16:14,15, 30-34), Thessalonica (Act 17:2-4) and Berea (Act 17:11,12). While at Berea, the unbelieving Jewish persecutors from Thessalonica stirred up the people there and he was forced to leave by sea to Athens, leaving behind his co-labourers, Silas and Timothy (Act 17:13-15).

The city of Athens

Athens was one of the greatest international learning centres of the Roman Empire, with eminent men in the field of poetry, philosophy, history, art and science. One outstanding characteristic of this city was idolatry. The citizens adopted whatever local and foreign gods were introduced to them, and would build a temple or an altar for these idols. The centre of civil activities was the market-place or agora where the citizens and visitors from different parts of the empire congregated daily in the open concourse with beautiful colonnades and fountains. They gossiped and indulged in all types of social activities to tell, hear or debate on some new things to satisfy their intellectual curiosity: ‘(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new things.)’ (Act 17:21). Their devotion to idols was also influenced by the fictitious writings of their poets. There were two principal sects of philosophers, the Epicureans and Stoics, whose thoughts were at complete variance with the teachings of Christ. The philosophy of the Epicureans was to enjoy life to its fullest with pursuits of luxury and sensual pleasures. On the other hand, the Stoics were indifferent to pleasures and had full confidence in themselves and exercised self control in adversities.

On arrival at Athens, Paul was grieved and ‘his spirit was stirred in him’ when he observed that the city was ‘wholly given to idolatry’(Act 17:16). He was deeply concerned that the glory of God was given to idols; the inanimate creatures were worshipped instead of the living Creator. He had great compassion for the perishing souls under Satan’s bondage and zealously witnessed to the citizens the truth in Christ. As usual, he preached to the Jews and the proselytes in the synagogue first on the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah, in fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies. He also evangelised to those whom he met daily or who thronged at the market-place. When some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers heard of what Paul had preached on Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead, they called him a ‘babbler’(Act 17:18), a foolish and empty talker, a pitiful contemptible quack, whom they thought was making a living by introducing strange gods and strange notions which they had never heard before. They were inquisitive about this new strange doctrine. They brought him to the Areopagus which was the highly respected court or council of the city located on Mars’ Hill, to hear more fully of it.

Paul’s sermon

Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ Hill and courteously and discreetly called to attention the distinguished audience whom he addressed as ‘Ye men of Athens’. He perceived that they were ‘too superstitious’, greatly devoted to the images they worshipped. He particularly pointed out an altar which he observed with the inscription ‘TO THE UNKNOWN GOD’ (Act 17:23). He was concerned that they ignorantly worshipped and blindly devoted to this ‘unknown God’ whom they thought was one of their gods. This altar was believed to be erected when the city was delivered from a pestilence, and the wise men of Athens publicly proclaimed that they did not know who this ‘unknown God’ was, yet paid homage to Him.

Paul declared that He is the one true living God (contrary to their opinion that there were many gods). He was the one who created the heavens and earth and all things therein by His almighty power and infinite wisdom. Having created all, He ruled over all the creatures as the Lord, Ruler and Owner. He made men of all nationalities, of one common nature, of ‘one blood’; i.e. descended from the same ancestor, and of the same attributes so that they might interact and socialise (Act 17:26).He dispersed them to dwell on all the face of the earth.

God is the original Fountain of life and the great Benefactor of all His creations, including the lower creatures of the animal kingdom (Act 17:25).He gives to all life, and breath, and all things. He breathed into the first man the breath of life and the spirit or soul within him, and continues to breath into every man, irrespective of their race, language, social status and nationality. He also provided for His creatures all things needful for survival.

God is sovereign in the affairs of men; our times are in His hands (Ps 31:15), whether in times of prosperity or adversities. He had determined every event in our lives in accordance to the dispensation of His providence, eternal counsel and will. He had determined before the time appointed the boundaries of nations (Act 17:26) and the rise and fall of nations (Dan 2:21).

We are totally dependent on God and His providence, for in Him ‘we live, and move, and have our being’ (Act 17:28). It is in Him that we possess the gift of life, and it is by His goodness, tender and loving care, longsuffering, grace and mercy that our frail body of dust functions well and is preserved and prolonged, and not cut off. It is in Him that we have physical strength to move around. It is also in Him that we are sustained and blessed with the spiritual illumination to know Him, to serve Him, to enjoy Him and to glorify His name.

To show that he was well acquainted with the Greek culture, Paul then quoted the saying of one of their poets who referred to Jupiter, the chief god of the Greek Pantheon: ‘For we are also his offspring’(Act 17:28).

Having expounded on the truth of the one true living God who is our heavenly Father and we are His offspring, the Apostle pointed out to them how absurd it was to represent the Godhead as a lifeless image ‘like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device’ (Act 17:29). God made man in His own image; and man should not dishonour Him by making Him in the likeness of His creatures. We ought to embrace Him, serve Him and worship Him with our whole being.

Paul further elaborated that God is not localised in temples that men made (Act 17:24), as heaven is His throne and the earth His footstool (Isaiah 66:1,2).He does not need any place of rest or residence in any man-made structures.

He is not worshipped with men’s hands as though He needs anything from them (Act 17:25). (The Athenians had the notion that their gods were fed or nourished through their sacrifices and feasts). He is our Provider, Protector and Sustainer and every good and perfect gift comes from Him. We need God and not the other way round.

Paul urged the Athenians to enquire after this Creator God whose presence among them is evident by His works of creation and common grace and providence. It was possible for them to feel after Him, and find Him, as this transcendent omnipresent God, was not far from everyone of them (Act 17:27), as evident by His existence and power all around the heavens and earth (Ps 19:1-6). They might not have the full knowledge of Him, but with divine revelations and illumination of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they would be able to find the Saviour of the world and have the whole truth and behold His glory.

Appeal to the audience

Paul then proceeded to call the hearers to repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and to forsake their idolatrous practices (Act 17:30).He pointed out that before the gospel was brought to the Gentiles, they were grossly ignorant of the things of God and spiritually in the dark, and continued to walk in their own ways (Act 17:30;14:16). In this time of ignorance, God was longsuffering and gracious (Rom 3:25), and did not come forth to punish them, but continued to shower them with good and perfect gifts; He ‘gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our heart with food and gladness’ (Act 14:17). But now that the gospel was preached to the Gentiles, God commanded that all men everywhere to repent for the remission of sins, because He had appointed a day when He shall judge the world in righteousness, reward the faithful and condemn the impenitent (Act 17:31). The Man whom He had appointed and ordained as the Judge is Jesus Christ, confirmed by His resurrection from the dead. God had given sufficient ground to all men to put their faith and confidence in Him to escape the divine wrath to come.

Paul declared to the eminent audience the one true living God so that they might worship Him with understanding. His calm tactful approach to the subject by not immediately pointing out that they were wrong did not arouse their indignation or anger.

Response to Paul’ sermon

Paul preached to them the God of creation to lead them to Christ. He focussed on repentance, judgment and resurrection. The audience heard him patiently and did not interrupt throughout the sermon. The response was mixed. Unlike the Stoics, the Epicureans denied totally the doctrine of a future state; they were probably the ones who mocked Paul’s discourse, when they heard the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, as it was too incredible. The Stoics could have been those who indicated that they wished to hear more from him on this subject again (Act 17:32). Among those who believed in the sacred truth was Dionysius, an eminent man of the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris and ‘others with them’(Act 17:34). The conversion of one was worth the labour of Paul for ‘there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth’ (Lk 15:10).

We have no record of the duration of Paul’s sojourn in Athens before he departed for Corinth to meet up with his co-labourers. Neither was there any account of a church that was established in this city. There was also no mention of Paul’s visit to Athens in his subsequent missionary journeys to strengthen the faith of believers there. In fact, Paul considered his firstfruits in the southern province of Greece (Achaia) the household of Stephanus in Corinth rather than Athens (1 Cor 16:15).

Conclusion

To the Jews and Gentile proselytes who were familiar with Mosaic laws and the Old Testament prophecies, Paul preached Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah and salvation is by grace through faith in Him. In contrast, to the heathens who worshipped idols, he led them to the knowledge of the one true living God in His works of creation and His common works of grace and providence.

The main objective of Paul’s preaching was to convince the Athenians the folly of idolatry and to lead them to repentance. Although Athens was such a flourishing intellectual capital, whose citizens prided themselves with human wisdom, yet they were enslaved to countless idols. They were without excuse for their wilful ignorance of the existence and character of the one true living God in His marvellous works of creation and unthankful for His goodness: ‘Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse’ (Rom 1:19,20). They were also condemned for their actions in suppressing the truth revealed to them by their idolatrous worship: ‘And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to fourfooted beasts, and creeping things’ (Rom 1:23).

Of the vast collections of literature that the wise men of Athens possessed, it seemed that they were strangers to the only divinely inspired books of Moses and the prophets. The Greeks sought after human wisdom, and the gospel was to them foolishness. It is indeed sad that ‘the world by wisdom knew not God’ (1 Cor 1:21).

Despite his masterful exposition of the sermon adapted to the educated audience, Paul’s attempt to turn the Athenians from idols to serve the living and true God in Christ (1Th 1: 9) met with few converts, compared to ‘a great multitude’ in Thessalonica (Act 17:4) and ‘many’ in Berea (Act 17:12). There was no point for him to indulge in ‘Perverse disputings of men of corrupt mind, and destitute of the truth’ (1 Tim 6:5) in this city where the people ‘became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools’ (Rom 1:21-23). It is only by divine revelation through the preaching of the gospel of Christ that they could be delivered from their folly, wickedness and spiritual darkness of idolatry. Tragically, ‘the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them’ (2 Cor 4:4). Paul warned the Colossian Christians to ‘Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ’ (Col 2:8). What a privilege it is that we who are in Christ are given divine ‘wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redeemption’ (1 Cor 1:30). Amen.