Chapter 17b

(Today and yesterday will be compressed together into one blog entry later when I have time and energy).

There’s something kind of appropriate about commenting on the second half of Acts 17 on a day that has been marked by a lot of news regarding the City of Athens. Today, as it was back in Paul’s day, Athens is a city of contrasts (and not a little confusion, if it comes to that).

The habit of Athenians sitting around doing nothing but discussing the latest ideas is mentioned in the passage. This is, if anything, an understatement. Athens and Athenians of this time PRIDED themselves on being involved in any philosophical debate that was going down the line, so much so that the very word “Athens” was a byword for “Philosophy” in much the same way as “Hollywood” is a byword for “Movies”, “Tamworth” is a byword for “Australian Country Music” and “Tasmania” is a byword for “Shallow gene pool.” Whoops, scratch that last one . . J

Much has been said on Paul’s approach to sharing the Gospel with the Athenians. Certainly, he did very well. Just as one should approach talking to a Jew with the Old Testament, Paul approached the Athenians with his (fairly extensive!) knowledge of ancient Greek philosophy, quoting Epimenides and Aratus. In short, he worked out where their authority came from first, then appealed to that authority. Note this carefully – he DIDN’T GO THROWING THE BIBLE AROUND to people who did not see it as authoritative. This is something modern day evangelists would do well to remember.

But there was another aspect I wanted to bring into this passage. I often hear from Christians how upset and concerned they get when religions other than Christianity build their places of worship here. Sometimes we even get to supporting demands for people following these religions to be “sent home” (which could be difficult for those born here!).

Yet when Paul is in a place which has different views on what is right and wrong, he doesn’t pout or demand that it stop. No, he sees it as an opportunity, especially when he’s demanded to speak before the Areopagus (Mars Hill).

This is something I believe to be very applicable to us. How often do we complain that Christians are underrepresented among new migrants, rather than getting to know these people and sharing Christ with them?

Paul here takes the hostile ground of the Areopagus, and in effect turns it into a cathedral for the preaching of God’s word.

You can’t do much better than that.