BACKGROUND FOR THE BIBLE PASSAGE SESSION !: GOD IN CULTURE Life Question: How can I use culture to express my who, no doubt, lifted him up mightily in prayer would be an faith? encouragement to him as he faced an entirely new experience Biblical Truth: We can start where people are in their in Athens. cultures to explain to them the message Certainly Paul had heard much about Athens previously, but of Christ. we can only imagine that he was ill-prepared for what he found Focal Passage: Acts 17:16-34 as he entered the city through one of its massive gates. The wall surrounding Athens had a circumference of 5 to 6 miles. Most likely Paul was awed by architecture that greeted him, with the Ben Feldman moved to Central City High School when he was grandeur of this center of Greek culture. If Paul had entered the a junior. His father, a prominent neurosurgeon, had joined the city through one of the northeast gates, he probably saw first medical faculty at Central City’s large teaching hospital. The the Hephaesteum, a beautiful Doric temple built between 449- family had moved from upstate New York to the deep South, 444 B.C. and dedicated to the god Hephaestus and the goddess and more specifically to the Bible Belt. Ben’s family came from Athena. Across from the Hephaesteum was the Stoa of Attalus, an entirely different culture in which “religion” was little more a two-storied, colonnaded building which was given to Athens than a traditional heritage. Ben was a brilliant student who around A.D. 150 by Attalus, king of Pergamum. Most impressive excelled in science. Another student in the high school, Jack of all would have been the Parthenon, another Doric temple Rayson, was also an outstanding science student. The two boys dedicated to Athena Polias (447-438 B.C.). The Parthenon rested became close friends, and worked together on special science on top of the Acropolis, like a regal crown. This magnificent projects. Jack was a committed Christian. He began to cultivate temple, still today a tourist’s delight, covered 23,000 square his friendship with Ben, whose moral and ethical standards feet surrounded by Doric columns supporting a roof made of were admirable. In time, Jack introduced Ben to Christianity, elaborately ornamented slabs of marble that depict a variety and showed him how the teachings of Christ had roots in the of scenes. The columns are 34 feet high and rest on a base with basic beliefs of Ben’s faith. Ben sensed Jack’s spiritual depth. a diameter of 6 feet. A 39-foot-high statue of Athena stood Jack had begun where Ben was in his own limited knowledge of inside the temple. The Acropolis on which the Parthenon rested God and eventually led him to accept Christ as his Messiah and was a limestone platform 1,050 feet by 512 feet positioned at Savior. the center of the city. These, and many other sights may have overwhelmed Paul, but that which struck him hardest was the 1. Regardless of the culture, we can present the claims fact “the city was full of idols” (v. 16). Practically every building of Christ. (Acts 17:16-21) in Athens bore a representation of some god or goddess. God has many sometimes surprising ways to prepare us to Idolatry, as such, was not new to Paul. He grew up in Tarsus, share a testimony or do a work for Him. Paul had ministered and saw it on the streets of that Cilician city. It was prominent effectively in Thessalonica, but the unbelieving Jews there were in Damascus and in Antioch, where he had ministered with determined to eject him. Fellow believers in Thessalonica sent Barnabas. Idol worship was present in all of the cities where he him and Silas off to Beroea. Though Luke did not give specifics had established churches. Yet the smothering spiritual darkness about how long Paul and Silas remained in Beroea, judging that filled the city of Athens caused Paul to grieve deeply. from the chronology of their traveling at this point, it would As he always did, Paul sought out the synagogue of the appear that they were in Beroea no more than a month or two. Jews, for there he could worship the one God and from their During that brief stay, Paul preached in the Jews’ synagogue in Old Testament Scriptures he could preach to them the gospel that city to an eager and open-minded audience. Many believed of Jesus Christ. It was a credit to the Jews in Athens that they and became followers of Christ, including a large number of maintained their faith in the one, true God, and kept their prominent Greek women and men (17:12). We have no record synagogue alive and functioning. Can you think of Paul as a of a letter Paul may have written back to this city, but we do “street preacher” in Athens? He was, for daily he went to the know that from the sizeable number of converts in Beroea, Paul marketplace and preached Christ. There he found Gentiles who gained a valuable coworker named Sopater (see 20:4). had forsaken their idol worship and were worshiping the true We can be sure that Paul’s spirits were high as he left Beroea, God. even though his stay there was cut short because of Jews from Paul probably preached in the Roman marketplace, which Thessalonica who had come to stir up trouble for Paul. Silas was crowded with people buying and selling. Though the and Timothy, who had worked with Paul in Beroea, remained atmosphere was no doubt noisy with the typical bartering, behind there while Paul was escorted as far as Athens. As his Paul had a ready audience. The people of Athens, as well as friends were leaving him there, he gave them instructions for foreigners who came there, were always anxious to hear some Silas and Timothy to meet him in Athens as soon as possible. new philosophy or religion. Two major philosophical groups, Paul’s awareness of the new converts left behind in Beroea the Epicureans and Stoics, were curious about Paul’s preaching, © 2010 LifeWay Press®. Fuel Ignited: Living Your Faith, Volume 4. Permission granted to reproduce this item for church use only. Published in the United States of America. and insisted that he come to the Areopagus to tell them more Paul’s message to these people gathered before him on the about this Jesus he was preaching. Paul would have been Areopagus is a masterful example of how to present the gospel much more comfortable preaching Christ in a synagogue, or to those of other cultures and different worldviews. He was surrounded by fellow believers. Nonetheless, he was always not dealing with Jews, to whom he could appeal on the basis of ready to preach Christ, regardless of the culture. the Old Testament Scriptures. His audience was composed of Greek philosophers and people who worshiped an array of other 2. Opportunities to share Christ can arise out of other gods. No one could have been better qualified to speak to this cultures and worldviews. (Acts 17:22-29) crowd than Paul. He grew up in Tarsus, a center of education. In your imagination, try to see Paul standing in the middle of No doubt he was schooled in oratory and rhetoric, as well as the Areopagus (v. 22). He was surrounded by the splendor and in the wisdom of the ancient philosophers. Exposed to this architectural magnificence of all of these temples to pagan training and knowledge, Paul was able to present his message gods. The Parthenon itself would likely take one’s breath at persuasively and effectively. As a Jewish rabbi, Paul was taught first sight. The average person, seeing Athens for the first by one of the finest Hebrew scholars of his day, Gamaliel. time, would probably feel nothing but utter astonishment and During those early years of his adult life in Jerusalem, he amazement at the handiwork of the ancient artisans who had sharpened his skills of reason and his ability to debate. produced such architectural wonders. Would even a Christian Paul used excellent psychology in his introductory statement. tourist think seriously about the hopelessness of such spiritual He commended the people for being “extremely religious in darkness that rose like an invisible, fetid vapor from that pagan every respect” (v. 22). He disarmed his audience, and he had stronghold? Suddenly Paul felt a surge within him as God’s their ear. He told them of a somewhat surprising discovery Spirit began to move him to speak. he made as he passed through the city and observed all of At this point the people who had heard Paul in the synagogue the “objects of your worship” (v. 23). He found an altar “to an and in the marketplace were certain that he knew something unknown god.” An Epicurean writer from the 3rd century about another god or gods, and a new religion. The news spread A.D. reported that nameless altars could be found throughout among the crowd, and soon the hue and cry was, “Let’s invite Athens in honor of gods whose names had been forgotten or him to speak at the Areopagus!” They moved as one body were unknown. The altars were to appease these gods lest a toward that once august place which means “the hill of Ares,” plague or some calamity fall upon Athens. Individuals would who was the Greek god of war.