Paul’s message in Athens (Acts 17:22-34)

Some would regard the invitation Paul had received as the opportunity of a lifetime. Here he was being asked to address the intellectuals of Athens. 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. And he knew that he knew a lot more than his listeners 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.

In the details of his 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. 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 who did not need anything from all that he had made. Instead, he repeatedly provided for his creatures. The apostle spoke of where the human race came from and how God controlled all national life as it expressed itself down the centuries in numerous ways. God did all this so that they would seek him. Moreover, he pointed out that God was near to all of them and even cited a couple of their sources to make his point. The obvious conclusion to all that was that it was ludicrous to think that God looked like an idol.

 

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.

 

Paul moved on to say that the living God, who ran the ages, had fixed a day when it would all end and when the entire world would be judged. So far, his comments had raised little response because his address was logical. But when he concluded with a reference to Jesus and the resurrection, they laughed because if there was one idea they all shared it was the impossibility of a resurrection of the dead. Their presupposition prevented most of them accepting Paul’s message and he left.

 

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.