Paul Addresses People at the Areopagus—and Us Today

“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him.  Yet He is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In Him we live and move and have our being,’ as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’  Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.  The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, 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 by raising Him from the dead.” –Acts 17:26-31 (ESV).

Paul the Apostle was at the Areopagus, also called Mars Hill, in Athens, Greece.  The name indicated both a hill and the court that met there to decide moral matters.  At that time Athens was the most learned city in the world.  Paul, looking around at the men and the setting, thought it a good opportunity to preach the message of the one true God and warn them of the judgment to come.  Paul had a relevant point at which to start, for he found an altar labeled “to the unknown God.”  Paul addressed Stoics and Epicureans and perhaps others of different persuasions.  The Stoics believed that everything was God and the fiery spirit of God was in everything—person, object and animal.  When man or anything died, the spark inside survived and would return to God and come forth again. Whatever happened was intended to be and man was not to worry.  The Epicureans believed everything happened by chance and death was the end of life.  They believed in gods (plural) but these were remote and not involved in the affairs of mankind.  Pleasure was the chief aim of man, but not pleasure that would eventually bring pain.  Paul in his sermon even quoted from a Greek poet, Aratus, with whom the philosophers hearing him would have been familiar.

Paul made these main points in his sermon: (1)  God is not made and formed by man; rather God is the maker of all.  (2) God has guided history from the beginning of time and has ordered the rise and fall of nations.  (3) God made man so that he longs to fellowship with God (as St. Augustine said, much later than Paul’s time:  “Man is made in the image of God and is restless until he finds rest in God”)  (4)  There were days of ignorance, but those days are past and now truth is available; repent, therefore, and get right with God. (5)  Judgment is coming for the whole world, all nations.  (6)  The person appointed to be judge is Jesus Christ whom God raised from the dead.  Paul held his own among the philosophers, yet he was less successful in winning converts in Athens than in other places.  It seems those at the Areopagus loved high-sounding words and ideas better than the truth of God and acting upon it.  And what if Paul were addressing our two houses of Congress and our political leaders on Capitol Hill today?  Would he still be confronted with those who put off making an important decision, mocked his message, and wished to hear “more about this again” (v. 32)  Two (Dionysius and Damarus) and others with them, believed.  The message reached them.  May Paul’s sermon touch us today, cause us to think on important spiritual matters, repent and turn to God.

Prayer:  Lord, in this period of forty days of concerted prayer when Christian leaders in America are calling us to repent and turn to God, may we think clearly through the truths Paul presented in his sermon on Mars Hill.  Indeed, God, in You alone “we live and move and have our being.”  We are “Your offspring.”  As citizens of our country, may we act responsibly, face reality, and know that our help comes only from God.  May we turn from the darkness of disbelief and rebellion into which our nation has fallen.  Cast us not away, Lord.  Give us another opportunity to right wrongs and live as godly people.  Amen.