Paul in Athens
The One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you (Acts 17:23).
You might have thought that after his beating and imprisonment in Philippi and the dangers he faced at Thessalonica and Berea, Paul might have relaxed in Athens as he waited for Silas and Timothy. But he was almost immediately distressed by one of the greatest cities in the world being “given over to idols” (v 16). I have to ask myself, how often am I distressed about the world I live in – not only grieved by wrongdoing, but genuinely concerned about people’s salvation? Paul had a compassionate heart towards the Athenians, whose lives were ruled by idolatry and its consequences. He was compelled to preach the Gospel.
When I worked in Manchester city centre many years ago, I remember being exercised to give out tracts in my lunch hour in one of the city’s busiest streets. It was hard work to get many people to accept the literature I offered. One day, a colleague from the office who had Christian connections came walking towards me, and I felt encouraged until she quickened her pace and went past, pretending not to recognise me. I felt disheartened. Paul didn’t feel that way. His concern for others overcame any fears he had for himself. But Paul did not act blindly in his endeavours to share the Gospel. He served with spiritual intelligence. The apostle was very focussed and precise in what he did. He went first to where he knew he would be heard by the Jews and the Gentile worshippers in the synagogue. Then he went to the marketplace, where there was the opportunity to engage with people and discuss spiritual things (v. 17). He did both of these in faith, trusting that God, who had sent him into Europe to preach the Gospel, would bless the message. And God responded to his faith by means of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Although these philosophers referred to Paul as a “babbler”, God used them to invite Paul to the Areopagus and gave him a new audience for the Gospel.
Paul connects immediately with the Athenians by using the altar with the inscription “To the unknown god” to proclaim that “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands” (v. 24). The opening words of his message described the majesty of God and their need to seek Him. He confronted them with a condition they already recognised by the fear that compelled them erect and worship idols. He challenged their spiritual blindness and presented the God of creation, judgement and salvation, who they did not know. Then he declared the Saviour as the resurrected and glorified Jesus (v. 31).
What followed was not persecution, but different responses to the Gospel: unbelief, in the guise of mockery and procrastination, and simple faith. Some regard Paul’s ministry in Athens as not very fruitful. But never let us belittle the work God does. The Lord called Dionysius the Areopagite, and Damaris, amongst others, to Himself, and placed Christians at the heart of Greek culture and thought. God does not always tell us what happens next. Today we live in a world with both similar and different idols and which still does not know God. He encourages us, through Paul, to be confident in Christ, compassionate and thoughtful in our service, faithful in our message, and to know the Lord is with us as we seek to witness for Him: “you shall be witnesses” (Acts 1:8).
