Opening: Are you someone
who can discuss opposing viewpoints with others in a calm, orderly, and
convincing way? Or are you someone who feels threatened by debate and seems to
never know the right thing to say?
Scripture: Read Acts 17:16-33.
Insights:
- By this time, Athens had lost its political power, but it was still the greatest university town in the world. It was also a city of many gods. It was said that there were more statues of the gods in Athens than in all the rest of Greece put together, and that in Athens, it was easier to meet a god than a man.
- Though Paul is alone in Athens (see Acts 17:14-16), he doesn’t stop preaching the Gospel. Luke records two groups with vastly different philosophies who debated him:
- The Epicureans believed that everything happened by chance and that death was the end of all. They believed that the gods were remote from the world and did not care. They believed that a pleasant and smooth life was the goal of humanity. Their thoughts on death would not accept the resurrection (see Acts 17:18,32)
- The Stoics believed that everything was God. They held that god was fiery spirit, but that spirit grew dull in physical matter but it was in everything (sounds like Star Wars’ “Force”). They believed that everything that happened was the will of God and therefore must be accepted without resentment. Materialism, pantheism, fatalism, and pride were the leading features of this philosophy. Human life began with that little spark of that spirit, and when people died, it returned to god, so they could not accept the resurrection either.
- This passage is called the “Mars’ Hill Discourse.” They took Paul to the Areopagus (Greek for Mars’ Hill). It was the name both of the hill and the court that met on it. The court was very select, perhaps only thirty members. Paul used their interest in religion as well as their acknowledgment of the possibility of yet another “unknown” god to explain to them Who this God really is and what He has done for humanity.
- Paul was not as fruitful in Athens as in other cities. However, Luke names two persons who are converted:
- Dionysius was a member of the Areopagus Council. Nothing else is said of him in the New Testament. According to one tradition, he was the first bishop of the church at Athens; according to another he suffered martyrdom in that city under Domitian (81-96 A.D.) We are even told that he migrated to Rome and was sent to Paris, where he was beheaded on Montmartre (Mount of the Martyr). The patron saint of France is Denys; compare the French “Denys d’Halicarnasse” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus).[1]
- Luke also lists a woman named Damaris. Again, no other information is available on her in Scripture. There are two views on why Luke lists her. Either she was listed after Dionysius because she was his wife, or that she was a prominent woman in Athens.
Life Questions:
- Many Christians think there is only one type of evangelism – CONFRONTATION. Yet God has designed everyone as unique individuals to share the Good News and communicate the message of grace. Paul was a Christian Apologist, someone who could debate the virtues and truth of the Christian faith while shedding light on the falsehood and futility of non-Christian views. And according to Mark Middleberg in his book “Becoming a Contagious Christian,” there are seven different evangelism styles. You might be an apologist, a story-teller, a servant, or one of the others. The point is: you don’t have to be like Paul; be the evangelist God made you to be.
Prayer Focus: That we would be
faithful witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
