Acts - Lesson 29

Athens had peaked about 450 BC and had been conquered by the Romans in 146 BC but they were still an intellectual and cultural center when Paul visited basking in the glow of what they had been in the good old days. The Epicurean and Stoic philosophies were about 300 years old. These were mature systems of philosophical thought that both worked to give men peace of mind.

Epicureans were materialists and denied superstition and divine intervention. They taught that the best life was lived free of pain seeking pleasure but with moderation. They were not hedonists in the modern sense because they sought moderation. Peace of mind was want they wanted and they sought it in that way. Being tranquil, without fear, and without pain was considered to be the highest form of happiness.

Stoics thought emotions that were uncontained resulted in bad decisions. If you attained an earthly perfection in self control and courage then it would mean that you would never have these sorts of emotions. Showing that your belief and will was consistent with your actions was a way of life. You acted in the manner that you truly believed. 

Paul was addressing some folks that were very well established and would continue to influence thought for a long time to come. The Platonists were an especially bad influence on the early Church after the death of the Apostles because they moved Christians away from fundamental teachings of the Old Testament and the Apostles into a metaphysical philosophy that looked down on what we call reality.

When Paul was accused of being a “babbler” they were accusing him of a blending of traditions. He was patching things together in their eyes. If they were being fair then it was because he was presenting what they knew of Judaism along with key Christian concepts. Paul had a very smart but very lost group to minister to in these guys. They saw peace of mind as a great good but really didn’t have a means of achieving a durable peace of mind.

Acts 17:22-26 … So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 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,

He makes contact with them by pointing out their desire for religious service. He even finds an altar that gives him a way to make a cultural contact. These statements about the omniscience and omnipotence of God were a big deal because they didn’t typically conceive of God as being the most perfect being. It would cast the emperor worship into question. His declaration of God’s sovereignty was close to radical and would have rocked the worlds of these guys under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Notice also that he points out that God is active in the world and not distant from it. That is not a common thought for the Greeks either. These ideas would have also been heard by Platonists and been counter to the way they thought. The Platonists would eventually have some of their philosophy leak back into the Church and not in a good way. Paul is stepping on toes as God the Holy Spirit leads him.   

Acts 17:27-31 … that they should seek God, and perhaps 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.”

I’ve heard people say that Paul made a mistake and didn’t preach well in Athens. I don’t really see how they could come to that conclusion. He was reaching a culture by the power of the Holy Spirit that had essentially no Judeo-Christian link. He establishes the soveriengty and nature of God, uses their own ancient writings (Epimenides, Cleanthes, and Aratus), and brings them the message to repent and believe in the savior before judgment comes. He tells them that their judgment is at the door and it will be judgment in righteousness. God is holy and the Greeks would need to absorb that to understand God. I don’t see how he could have done better from a purely cross-cultural statement of belief. Paul then waits to see if the Holy Spirit will have mercy on their souls. That is all anyone could do. This was a dark confused place. Luke seems to be a little irritated when he characterizes them as spending all their time hearing or telling something new. It is a bit like today. A society that is exceptionally proud and basking in their history is a hard society to reach for Christ. It is a bit like today.

Acts 17:32-34 … 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 their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

Some rejected him, some wanted to hear more, and others believed but to everyone that day Paul made it clear that God commands them to repent.

Paul at least saw the beginnings of a church in Athens. However, Luke doesn’t give an exhaustive list in each location. In their day they had a greater focus on possession of faith than on profession of faith so they didn’t stress the head count. In Athens, we know a ruling aristocrat named Dionysius was saved along with Damaris “and others”. This was not an easy place to minister but the Holy Spirit did move here. I imagine that many of the problems that had to be addressed in the Corinthian Christians were even more severe here. We’ll read about Corinth next week. Also the struggles of the early Church with Platonism and Gnosticism were likely stewing in Athens from the time of Paul. I think what is encouraging here is that Paul yielded to God the Father, shared the Gospel of God the Son, and the God the Holy Spirit saved people. That is the example we need.

Acts 18:1-4 … After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Paul may have experienced some disappointment about Athens. He moved about 50 miles farther and found a couple who were starting a business and he began to work with this couple. As I mentioned last week, the couple had to leave Rome when Claudius got nervous about somebody named “Chrestus” and that was likely a misunderstanding of what was being said about Christ. The interaction of Jews that rejected the Gospel and those who accepted the Gospel along with Gentiles was often loud and violent. Rome didn’t like those they conquered to be loud and violent. They reserved the activities of being loud and violent for themselves.

Paul was also probably low on funds or he would not have been making tents. He was beginning to support himself. Athens was a difficult place to minister and so was Corinth. Corinth was remarkably immoral. They had a temple to Aphrodite (Venus if you were Roman) with as many as 10,000 temple prostitutes. In Paul’s time, and for hundreds of years before, if you were called a Corinthian and were not from Corinth it was an insult. It was a very diverse city and prosperous but it was a very sinful place to be. Las Vegas or New Orleans during Mardi Gras might aspire to this level of corruption.

The diversity of the city meant that there was a Jewish Synagogue so Paul presented the Gospel each Sabbath there to Jews and Gentiles who attended the Synagogue.

Acts 18:5-8 … When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.

Silas and Timothy had finished planting the Church in Macedonia so they caught up with Paul. Paul was then able to minister and teach more or less full time. He didn’t have the same need to make tents with Silas and Timothy there. Paul ended his work in the Synagogue and the house church of Titius Justus (a Gentile) was established. When Paul withdrew the believers withdrew and in this case that includes the significant conversion of Crispus as ruler of the synagogue along with many others. The house church was growing and naturally it would also be an offense to the Jews who rejected the Gospel.

Acts 18:9-11 … And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

The Lord encouraged Paul not to worry about opposition from Jews that rejected the Gospel. Paul has a promise from God that, “no one will attack you to harm you” and that must have been music to Paul’s ears. He knew about being attacked and even left for dead. So Paul stayed put and ministered for a year and a half planting the Church in Corinth before he was legally attacked but not harmed.

Acts 18: 12-17 … But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.” But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” And he drove them from the tribunal. And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

Gallio’s full name was Junius Annaeus Gallio because he was adopted by a famous rhetorician or speaker named Lucius but his father was Seneca (the Elder) and his brother was Seneca (the Younger) who was famous as a Stoic Philosopher. Nero shortened their lives as he did many lives in his time. Gallio’s comments and actions show that the Romans didn’t generally differentiate between Jews and Christians at this point in time. They didn’t really have the religious frame of reference to differentiate between Jews and Christians. That would come later. It is also clear that Gallio didn’t really care what the Jews thought in his province.

Paul never even needs to defend himself. Gallio tells the Jews to get out of his court and has them driven out. Once they are outside the Greeks beat the ruler of the synagogue. This was presumably in response for the synagogue of Corinth bringing a case that had nothing to do with anything Gallio cared about or would even hear. It is possible that Sosthenes gets saved later (1 Corinthians 1:1). Getting beaten may have been how God got his attention. I remember when George Forman said he saw Jesus and that Jesus told him to start preaching. I was listening to some sports commentators during Forman’s comeback and one was wondering why George was trying to take up boxing again. The other commentator speculated that maybe George wanted to see Jesus again. Maybe taking a beating can work in the lives of some folks. We can ask Sosthenes when we see him how the Holy Spirit used that beating in his life.

Acts 18:18-21 … After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

It was time to go home to Antioch in Syria to the people who had sent Paul out on his second missionary journey. Paul cut his hair marking the end of his vow. Think of this as being like “Lent” or the time we are in right now. People often fast something during this time and in Scripture (Numbers 6:1-21) it can be accompanied by not cutting your hair for a time and then cutting it at the end with thanksgiving. Paul only ministers in Ephesus a little while this time but he left Priscilla and Aquila to work there. God does eventually send Paul back for an extended period of time but at this point in time it was God’s will for Paul to go home to Antioch and that is what he did.