and Stoic philosophers. They asked sarcastically: 'What does this babbler want to say?' Others said, as Luke put it: ' "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection' (Acts 17:18).
These educated Athenians did not understand the simple, though profound truth of God. The contrast between their intellectualism and disbelief must have affected Paul deeply. He would later write to the nearby Corinthian church: 'The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing' (I Corinthians 1:18). The 'Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom' (verse 22).
Paul was primarily interested in human philosophy, however. 'We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness,' he wrote, 'but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God' (verses 23-24). It is not surprising that the Epicureans and stoics did not comprehend the gospel of Christ. The Epicureans believed the gods did not exist or were not involved with human affairs. To them, Paul's God and Saviour was just another foreign deity.
The Stoics believed reason as the principle by which humans should live. They relied on rational abilities and self-sufficiency. There was little place for a personal God in their thinking.
Questioned by the Council
Paul's preaching about repentance, the resurrection and salvation, as well as God's judgement, must have seemed very strange. In fact, it caused such a furore that he was taken before the town council, the Areopagus, to explain himself. The Athenian Areopagus was responsible for morals, culture, education and religion. The council also evaluated the competence of visiting lecturers to speak in their city. To teach in the city, one needed the council's official approval.
The court met on the 377-foot hill the Areopagus or the Hill of the Greek god Ares (the Roman god Mars). Imagine the scene, perhaps 30 council members, with power to decide whether or not Paul could teach about Christ. The members of the Areopagus asked Paul: 'May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean' (Acts 17:19-20).
How would Paul make the message of salvation seem sensible to these non-believers?
Paul did not begin his defence by referring to Jewish history or by quoting the Hebrew scriptures. The Expositor's Bible Commentary points out: 'He knew it would be futile to refer to a history no one knew or argue from fulfillment of prophecy no one was interested in or quote from a book no one read or accepted authoritative' (page 475).
Revealing the 'Unkown God'
Paul referred to something the council could identify with. In the city, he had seen an altar with the inscription 'To the Unknown God'. He used this inscription as a launching pad for his message. Paul told them: 'Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship,' he continued, 'I even found an altar with the inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing, him I proclaim to you' (Acts 17:22-23).
As Paul further explained God's purpose for humanity, he referred to what their own people had said. 'For in him' ---- that is, God, explained Paul ---- 'we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, "For we are also his offspring" ' (verse 28). He also put the message of the gospel in terms they would recognise.
Paul preached a message of conversion to the Athenian town council. He told these magistrates that God 'is not far from each one of us' (verse 27). This God now 'commands all men everywhere to repent,' said Paul to the council, 'because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained' (verse 30-31).
The council members' response was either polite disinterest or ridicule. Luke tells us when 'they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, "We will hear you again on this matter" ' (verse 32). Some council members were interested in hearing about Christ. The Athenians loved to discuss philosophy and religion. Luke notes that 'all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either telling or hearing some new thing' (verse 21).
However, the truth of God is not something only to talk about, it is something to put into practice. The knowledge of Christ demands action. This includes the changing of individual lives. A few Athenians did respond to Paul's preaching. Even one of the council members, Dionysius, was wiling to act on the apostle Paul's message. He believed the gospel as did an influential woman, Damaris, and a few others (verse 34).
Beyond these almost no one was responding to God's calling in this famous intellectual and idolatrous city. Though a little spiritual fruit was born, there is no further mention of the city in Scripture.
As the Areopagus had not approved Paul's right to teach, his hands were legally tied. He could wait in Athens until the council's decision or he could move on to another city where his message might receive a better hearing.
Paul in Corinth
Paul chose to leave Athens. His next destination was the commercial city of Corinth. As usual, Paul entered the synagogue every Sabbath where he testified that 'Jesus is the Christ (Acts 18:4-5). The Corinth of Paul's day was a more prominent city than Athens. Because of it's strategic location between the Greek mainland and the Peloponnessian peninsula, it was a prosperous city-state and commercial center. Corinth's population was probably over 200,000, at least twenty times that of Athens.
Today, the two cities have switched roles in size and vigour. Modern Athens is a large city of world renown. Modern Corinth, slightly north of its ancient location, is a medium-sized town with a population of about 20,000. Ancient Corinth was built on the north side of the Acrocorinth, an acropolis rising precipitously to almost 2,000 feet. The hill was home to a temple of Aphrodite, which stood on the highest point of the Acrocorinth.
In the temple's flourishing days it had 1,000 priestesses of Aphrodite who were sacred prostitutes. In the evening these prostitutes came down to the city streets.
Ancient Corinth was known as the 'Sin City of Greece'. The Greeks had an expression, 'to play the Corinthian'. It referred to people who lived a life of debauchery. This pleasure-mad lifestyle plagued many Corinthians believers even after conversion. They struggled to put their immoral life behind them, swinging between the extremes of permissiveness and prohibition. Because of their spiritual problems, Paul had to write a strong corrective letter to the Corinthians a few years after his visit.
Paul's words were to the point: 'Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And Such were some of you' (I Corinthians 6:9-11, emphasis ours).
However, the sins of the Corinthian converts had been forgiven by Christ's blood. They were changing their mode of living. Paul said of them: 'But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God' (verse 11).
A Tale of Two Cities
It is true the Corinthians converts gave in to their weaknesses or were unbalanced in their new lives. However, they had committed themselves to a new way of life and showed faith in Christ.
This is what is so unusual about the Corinthian response to Christ. We might imagine the worldly and corrupt Corinthians would show little interest in a Jewish carpenter, especially one who preached a hard-to-follow morality. On the other hand, the Athenians were interested in moral questions, in philosophy and in religion. We might have expected them to be more willing to listen to God's truth.
In this ironic tale of two different cities, the opposite is true. Unlike the citizens of Athens, many Corinthians listened to Paul's message, believed it and were baptised. This spiritual harvest was so large that Paul taught at Corinth and ministered to the brethren for 18 months (Acts 18:11). While a few influential citizens may have been converted in Corinth, most were ordinary people.
Paul would explain why: 'Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose... the weak things of the world to shame the strong... so that no-one may boast before him' (I Corinthians 1:26-29, New International Version.)
Jesus Christ and Salvation
What was it Paul taught these Corinthians that so many changed their way of life so dramatically? As we saw earlier, central to the message Paul brought was 'Jesus Christ and him crucified' (I Corinthians 2:2).
The story of Christ crucified is as important to us as it was to the Jews, Greeks and Romans of the first century. The heart of this story's message is that all humans have sinned. Consequently, we all need the atoning sacrifice of Christ to pay the penalty of our sins. It is only through Jesus Christ, said Paul (Acts 13:38), that we can have this forgiveness and eternal life. This eternal life in the family of God is the incredible potential which God offers man. This is the reward of those who struggle to overcome.
Paul told the Corinthians that Christ's sacrifice should inspire everyone to make a lifelong commitment to God. Paul wrote that Christ 'died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again' (II Corinthians 5:15).
Yes, Christ died, but he was also resurrected. That is the good news (I Corinthians 15:1-4. Our salvation ---- the hope of our own resurrection (and the future of our troubled planet) ---- depends on Christ's resurrection (verses 12-26). Paul's message of salvation was much more than theology, however. He called on his hearers and readers to change the way they lived and viewed life. To bring their 'every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ' (II Corinthians 10:5). Paul preached that we humans 'should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance' (Acts 26:20).
Paul said that through Christ's earthly ministry and living presence we can experience the spiritual power of God in our lives. Paul had experienced this spiritual power himself. He wrote to the Philippians from prison, saying: 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me' (Philippians 4:13).
Through the power of God in us, we can begin walking down the road of a new life. If we do, the result is our salvation ---- a gift from God.
This is the message Paul took to the Greeks almost 2,000 years ago, this same message can not only change our lives, but also give us hope for eternal life.
See also:
The apostle's Paul missionary journey to Rome.
e-Book Will Christ Return?
What did Paul teach that so revolutionised the religious and philosophical thinking of the European continent? Why should we, living almost 2,000 years later in a very different world, be interested in this message?