Luke returns to the third person, so he may have stayed for a time in Philippi. After leaving a very strongly established church in Philippi, the trio — Paul, Silas and Timothy — traveled along the Egnation Way to the next important city. They knew that if they could establish the gospel in major centers, the message itself would spread out into the countryside. They stopped in Thessalonica and, as usual, spent time in the local synagogue.
It was the pattern by now: Some would embrace the gospel, more Gentiles than Jews. And it’s the loss of Gentile contributors that stung the synagogues most. So they would hire some local thugs to create drama and Paul, at least, had to flee. All three of them left Thessalonica and got off the beaten path, stopping at a town name Beroea (Veria today). This bunch were more inclined to study the written Scriptures and generally received the message, until Jews from Thessalonica tracked down our trio and provoked another uproar there.
This time Paul was escorted alone to the coast and put on a boat to Athens. Silas and Timothy stayed a while longer to get the church established, and waited until they found out where Paul ended up. It was a substantial voyage around the eastern Greek islands down to Athens. Upon disembarking, Paul sent his escort back with word to his companions to join him. At this point I’ll finish by replaying what I wrote in my commentary on Acts.
While Paul’s escort made its way back with the message for his companions, he wandered Athens.
While a city very self-conscious of its ancient grand heritage, Athens was no longer a seat of government under Rome, just an ancient university town. The world’s scholars still came, seeking philosophical and religious knowledge. Paul hadn’t really planned to exert much effort there because the city just wasn’t that important. Still, he spoke in the synagogue, and in the open market with anyone else who showed an interest. Of particular discomfort to Paul was the plethora of deities whose altars and shrines were thickly dotted around the place. Legend has it that when catastrophe struck, the residents would simply set loose a flock of sacrificial sheep in hopes that somehow the gods who were upset would draw one or more victims to their altars. When a sheep was found near no particular altar, a new one was erected to “The Unknown God”. There were several of these around the city.
With his advanced education, Paul fit right in with the intellectual atmosphere. The current fashionable schools were Epicurean and Stoic. The local education council decided to test him for certification, since his subject matter was new to them. Here we see in stark relief just how much of a barrier Hellenistic intellectual assumptions were to the gospel. The Epicureans asserted that the gods hardly cared about human affairs, and surely there was no afterlife. Man could, at best, try to enjoy life in grand style, though not in raw hedonism. The Stoics felt man had a duty to live by natural law, and tended to rather strict ethical conduct. Both were afflicted with the foundations of Plato and Aristotle, making no allowance for anything they could not see or theorize from reason.
Paul was willing to outline his gospel message. He began by making note of the local religious culture, and selected the altars to the Unknown God as his anchor point. From there he outlined the basic claims: Jehovah is Creator and Sustainer of all life. All mankind came from His hand, and He is directly involved in natural and human affairs. However, He permitted humans to wander a bit with religion. Here and there one could find glimpses of the truth, Paul noting a smattering of accurate ideas in pagan philosophy and religion. However, He had finally revealed Himself with the intention of calling all men to an accurate knowledge of Him, who was too transcendent for man-made idols or temples, but a spiritual being far apart from His Creation. The final revelation was a particular Man apart, who was so marked by His resurrection from the dead.
At that point, Paul had stepped outside the acceptable ideas of Greek philosophical assumptions. They had no place for the notion of mere mortal bodies being resurrected. Anything tangible and real was of necessity inferior. In their world, there was no place for a belief in a human spirit, an eternal soul that could be contained in flesh. The educators politely tabled the notion of granting Paul a license to teach, while some of them sarcastically dismissed his ideas. There were a few who embraced his teaching, among them a Dionysius and a Damaris. We have no record of any church ever existing in Athens during this time.
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NT Doctrine — Acts 17:16-34
Luke returns to the third person, so he may have stayed for a time in Philippi. After leaving a very strongly established church in Philippi, the trio — Paul, Silas and Timothy — traveled along the Egnation Way to the next important city. They knew that if they could establish the gospel in major centers, the message itself would spread out into the countryside. They stopped in Thessalonica and, as usual, spent time in the local synagogue.
It was the pattern by now: Some would embrace the gospel, more Gentiles than Jews. And it’s the loss of Gentile contributors that stung the synagogues most. So they would hire some local thugs to create drama and Paul, at least, had to flee. All three of them left Thessalonica and got off the beaten path, stopping at a town name Beroea (Veria today). This bunch were more inclined to study the written Scriptures and generally received the message, until Jews from Thessalonica tracked down our trio and provoked another uproar there.
This time Paul was escorted alone to the coast and put on a boat to Athens. Silas and Timothy stayed a while longer to get the church established, and waited until they found out where Paul ended up. It was a substantial voyage around the eastern Greek islands down to Athens. Upon disembarking, Paul sent his escort back with word to his companions to join him. At this point I’ll finish by replaying what I wrote in my commentary on Acts.
While Paul’s escort made its way back with the message for his companions, he wandered Athens.
While a city very self-conscious of its ancient grand heritage, Athens was no longer a seat of government under Rome, just an ancient university town. The world’s scholars still came, seeking philosophical and religious knowledge. Paul hadn’t really planned to exert much effort there because the city just wasn’t that important. Still, he spoke in the synagogue, and in the open market with anyone else who showed an interest. Of particular discomfort to Paul was the plethora of deities whose altars and shrines were thickly dotted around the place. Legend has it that when catastrophe struck, the residents would simply set loose a flock of sacrificial sheep in hopes that somehow the gods who were upset would draw one or more victims to their altars. When a sheep was found near no particular altar, a new one was erected to “The Unknown God”. There were several of these around the city.
With his advanced education, Paul fit right in with the intellectual atmosphere. The current fashionable schools were Epicurean and Stoic. The local education council decided to test him for certification, since his subject matter was new to them. Here we see in stark relief just how much of a barrier Hellenistic intellectual assumptions were to the gospel. The Epicureans asserted that the gods hardly cared about human affairs, and surely there was no afterlife. Man could, at best, try to enjoy life in grand style, though not in raw hedonism. The Stoics felt man had a duty to live by natural law, and tended to rather strict ethical conduct. Both were afflicted with the foundations of Plato and Aristotle, making no allowance for anything they could not see or theorize from reason.
Paul was willing to outline his gospel message. He began by making note of the local religious culture, and selected the altars to the Unknown God as his anchor point. From there he outlined the basic claims: Jehovah is Creator and Sustainer of all life. All mankind came from His hand, and He is directly involved in natural and human affairs. However, He permitted humans to wander a bit with religion. Here and there one could find glimpses of the truth, Paul noting a smattering of accurate ideas in pagan philosophy and religion. However, He had finally revealed Himself with the intention of calling all men to an accurate knowledge of Him, who was too transcendent for man-made idols or temples, but a spiritual being far apart from His Creation. The final revelation was a particular Man apart, who was so marked by His resurrection from the dead.
At that point, Paul had stepped outside the acceptable ideas of Greek philosophical assumptions. They had no place for the notion of mere mortal bodies being resurrected. Anything tangible and real was of necessity inferior. In their world, there was no place for a belief in a human spirit, an eternal soul that could be contained in flesh. The educators politely tabled the notion of granting Paul a license to teach, while some of them sarcastically dismissed his ideas. There were a few who embraced his teaching, among them a Dionysius and a Damaris. We have no record of any church ever existing in Athens during this time.
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