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Standing Strong in an Idolatrous World
As many of you know, we went to Turkey and Greece to see the biblical sites and history there. Our first site to see was the city of Istanbul, modern-day Constantinople. The capital of the Holy Roman Empire. It was absolutely amazing. We saw churches from the 4th century. Hagia Sophia and Hagia Irene, which is where the Council of Constantinople occurred. So much Christian history. But what disturbed me when we first got there was to see many of the great churches are now mosques. There are very few churches in Turkey because the vast majority of the population is muslim. It was like God, how can that be?
But then we went to different cities: Corinth, Ephesus, Pergamum, etc. We would go to these cities and see the temple to Zeus, Aphrodite, the emperor. Some had great big temples to these and then the church of the city was a small building 20 x 20 feet and held a few dozen people. And it hit me that not everyone followed Jesus, not everyone responded to Paul’s preaching. It's no different today than any other time. If we are going to follow Jesus then we need to be prepared to stand strong in the midst of people who have very different views and beliefs. So today I want to look at a passage of Scripture that helps us see what it's like to stand strong in a godless culture.
In this passage the apostle Paul gives a stirring account of what it means for Christians to stand strong in a culture that worships everything but the true God. He does not remove himself from that culture but rather engages the culture with love, reason, and proclamation.
He Loves
It is amazing to me what lengths Paul went through to share the gospel with people. He was threatened, beaten, brought to trial, shipwrecked, and he kept going. What drove him? It was his conviction about Jesus and his commitment to love others enough to share truth with them.
To pursue ministry is to pursue a path of being hurt. People disappoint you, get mad at you, leave you and attack you. Paul was in Athens. Because as he was teaching in Thessalonica some people got mad at him and essentially chased him out of the city. He goes to Berea and many accept the message but the people from Thessalonica came there to find him and cause trouble. So he again leaves and goes to Athens.
Paul makes an unexpected trip to Athens. In some ways you may think he planned it. Paul targeted large and influential cities to preach in and use as a hub for ministry. Athens is not a major city at this time but its place in history would have made it a target for Paul to reach. It is the birthplace of western civilization. Greek thought had an effect on the whole world and even with its defeat in 146 BC at the battle of Corinth, it continued to influence Rome in many ways. It was the home of the great philosophers Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and their renown Academy of Athens that was the first major institution of higher learning. Paul would want to engage with people there to prove Christianity provided the best way of understanding the world.
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols (verse 16).
While there his spirit was provoked as he saw the city was full of idols. He is irritated or angry, and it's not just an emotional outburst. The word is in the continuous state so it conveys a continuous and settled uneasy feeling. It bothered him to see the things there. And for good reason.
Athens worshipped the pantheon of gods, the collection of gods and goddesses worshiped in ancient Greece. These deities were believed to govern various aspects of life and nature, and they often displayed human-like traits—both strengths and flaws. It was engrained in all they did.
City of Athens is named after the goddess Athena. According to the myth, the gods Athena and Poseidon both wanted to become the patron deity of a new city in Greece. To settle the dispute, they each offered a gift to the people. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and created a saltwater spring. Athena, on the other hand, planted the first olive tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. The people judged Athena’s gift more valuable, so they chose her as their patron, and the city was named Athens in her honor. The city is defined by this.
The parthenon, one of the seven wonders of the world, was dedicated to Athena and also had the Greek pantheon on it. Paul goes to the Areopogas. In Greek, Ares is God of War and pagos is hill–Mars Hill.
Zeus was the king of the gods; Hera was the queen and god of marriage and family. Poseidon was god of the sea and earthquakes. Demeter is goddess of agriculture and fertility, Aphrodite was of love and fertility. Athena of wisdom and strategy. If you had a need you would go to the appropriate god and offer the sacrifices demanded. They had so many gods Paul says he even finds one that says to the unknown God–just making sure I’m covering all my bases.
In Athens there would have been so many statues of gods in this area that some say it looked like a forest of marble gods. Their life revolved around this and it was connected to the identity of their people. Some said it was easier to find a god than a person.
Gods are like quarterbacks. If you have three quarterbacks, you don't have a quarterback. If you have many gods you don't have a God.
We look at this and think it a bit silly. But do we see the idols of our own day? There are no gods displayed like this in our culture. May have a cross on a building, the idols of today are money, education, jobs, house. We don't spend money on things displayed around town–what a waste. We spend it on ourselves and want everything to revolve around us. We don’t worship; we want to be worshipped and served. We get comfortable living like the world, and oftentimes our gods may be different, but our habits are just like the world’s. We are no longer provoked by sin or being misguided.
He didn't just get mad at them and condemn them, wave his finger at them and say shame on you, he didn’t recoil to his own place. He walked out to them, stood among them, and he reasoned with them. That is what the Christian faith leads to. Paul is there because Jesus revealed himself in blinding light and opened his eyes. When you know the grace of God and what a miracle it is that he changed you,
And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection (verse 18).
They called him a babler (a gossip or trifler in talk), literally seed picker, like he cherry-picked ideas and had no coherent system of thought. Like worthless people gathering scraps and then eventually disseminating bits of information. This term labels Paul as a pseudo-philosopher (Schreiner, Patrick. “Acts.” Edited by E Ray Clendenen and Brandon D Smith. Christian Standard Commentary, 2021, p. 476).
They also accuse him of being a preacher of foreign divinities, foreign deities” (xenōn daimoniōn). The language again alludes to Socrates, who was also charged with introducing foreign deities to Athens, and led to execution and drinking of hemlock poison.
In 399 BC Socrates was tried for corrupting the youth, not believing in the gods of the city (impiety), and introducing new divinities (foreign gods). So these are not kind accusations.
And with all this Paul did not want to hurt them, he did not yell at them, he did not go get his sword, he didn't go sulk in his house Instead he went and…
He Reasons
Paul is distressed by what he sees in Athens, but his distress does not lead to disengagement. He didn't say I can’t believe they are doing that and then offer no help. That is self-righteous judgmentalism. Paul is distressed and that leads to compassion. He goes and he dialogues with them.
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. (verses 16, 17)
He reasons with them. He went to the synagogue. He met them in the marketplace where they were and he engaged in their ideas. When in Rome, do what the Romans do. Jesus came to us when we were not coming to him.
These Athenians did nothing but talk about the latest idea. I think this is where all the influencers went. Today they are all on their phones, seeing the latest ideas and interacting with each other.
Dialogue. Reasons, converses. He didn’t shut them off. He engaged with the ideas. Stoic and Epicurean philosophers. These were two of the primary philosophies of the day. Founded in about 300 BC.
Stoicism emphasized living in accordance with nature and reason, pleasure is not necessary. Epicureanism taught the main goal in life is to attain pleasure, and that it is the highest good. They were frameworks to understanding life and our responsibility in it.
Paul understood them. He had studied these and was familiar enough to engage with the core teachings
Approaches to Philosophy
Let me say this on how to engage with philosophers from a couple influential theologians.
Tertullian
The early Church writer Tertullian (~155–220 AD), known as the father of Western theology, summed up a view of philosophy that sees it should have nothing to do with the Christian faith, “What has Jerusalem to do with Athens? The Academy with the church?” He saw the influence of Greek philosophy on Christian theologians and wanted more distance. I think you have to see some truth to what Tertullian is saying. Paul said not to let unbelievers judge the things of God. That is true, and if God has revealed himself then that revelation should guide all we think, do, and believe, and it means those without the revelation are in darkness. But that keeps you from dialoguing at all with those of different views.
Ansel of Canterbury (1033-1109)
Ansel spoke about philosophy as “faith seeking understanding.” He is more generous in his assessment and sees people who are seeking to understand the world and the deeper realities of it. For him faith is seeking to understand why things were the way they were allowed him to engage in deep thought on everything in the world.
Paul kind of splits the difference in these two ways. He sees how they may be feeling around for something but also where they miss the mark.
Paul interacts with and quotes their own poets
Even some of your own poets have said, “For we are indeed his offspring.” Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. (verses 28, 29)
Paul points out some things that have a nugget of truth, and then shows where they miss it. Ok, we come from God, fair enough. I agree with that, but you say these statues and stones and images are God, then how could something of flesh come from stone? Even more, these were created by the hands of man so how can they be God. We create them, fashion them, make them how we want, and then we worship them??
I have taken a number of philosophy classes and read books. It can be challenging to read at times, but every time I read something I could see where it fell short, and the more I read, the more I read about the teachers of philosophy the more I saw its shortcomings, and the more I saw how many philosophers went mad, lived poorly and even committed suicide, the more I saw the dangers of those ideas, the more convinced I was of the word of God, its truthfulness and its usefulness.
Paul wasn't a Christian because he avoided different views. He was a Christian because he was convinced Christ made sense of everything.
Be careful, be discerning, keep pressing to know and understand the word of God.
How do you deal with things around you? Maybe with music. Some may say I only listen to Christian music. That's great. Others may be willing to listen to more genres. If so, are you comfortable with what is being said or does it provoke your spirit? Are you seeking to discern where the message is right and wrong? How about movies? How about with your phone? How about with theories of government and theories of faith?
Christians are far too comfortable with the philosophies of the word: views on sexuality, views on human nature, views on need for community, and the general worship of the self that excludes others from meaningful dialogue or participation in life.
Paul didn't retreat; he reasoned. He moved toward people. He worked hard to understand them, their philosophies, and why Christ is so much better.
He Proclaims
He reasons with them as best he can, but at some point their religious philosophy falls short and so he proclaims what God has done.
Apologist Glenn Scrivener wrote a book on the influence of Christianity on the Western world and he has a chapter on how Christianity changed the world from the chaotic influences of Greek mythology. The chapter is called the “Nightmare Before Christmas.” He highlights how the Greek pantheon consisted of gods and goddesses who lied, cheated, stole, murdered, committed rape and incest, and more. They offered very little help and moral guidance.
God has revealed himself. Jesus is the revelation of God that changes everything. It reorients how we think and live and this is what Paul preached.
He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection (verse 19).
If you want to understand the world, there are a lot of things you can study in the Bible, but the biggest is to study who Jesus is, what he did, why it matters, and why it is worth believing. This changes everything, and it is what Paul shares with everyone. All other conversation is a doorway to get to the gospel. But with Christ comes the revelation of the righteousness of God and way a for people to enter into his righteousness.
This is what Paul proclaimed to him. Jesus the savior and the resurrection that comes with him. He is the point that changes everything else in history.
“We believe that the death of Christ is just that point in history at which something absolutely unimaginable from the outside shows through into our own world.” CS Lewis
If God has revealed himself, as we believe he has, your natural reason will only take you so far. We only know God accurately from the self-revelation of his word. You can know God is powerful, immortal, good from creation, but you don't know the extent of these nor how we can be saved, except from his word. Paul reasons with them, but at some point he moves to sharing the gospel.
A picture of a mature disciple. Engaging people as a lifestyle.Answering questions. Loving others. He is not just reading books and secluding himself. If we are effective in our discipleship we should be people who are witnessing effectively.
Paul is a “convictional” Christian. He is not just a cultural Christian. Cultural Christianity is when you have been raised in a family/religion and it is what you do. You are committed to it, but you don’t know the reasons and meaning, nor does it matter to you. Convictional means you understand it. You are not a Christian because others are or have told you to be, but rather you have become convinced and the more you see otherwise from the world the stronger your faith becomes.
We have faith. We meet things that bring questions. And in the end we have a stronger faith. We want to engage with others. We are constantly growing.
He has spent time in the word, he has spent time in the world, the philosophies and the people, and he is unashamed to be made a fool for Christ. He is not just trying to make a name for himself. He is trying to make a name for Christ and doesn't care what the cost is. Too often people are trying to make Christianity fit the needs and wants of people. I’m convinced it makes the most sense of life, it is the most reasonable way to live, but you only come to that conclusion when you see your need for a crucified savior.
He saw people come to faith.
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. (verses 30, 31)
We ought not be confused when people don't serve Christ. But we cannot be apathetic. If we believe this gospel then we should share it with all.
We ought not be surprised when people advocate various teachings, but let's not think they are not searching for what Christ has.
We ought not be surprised when questions arise that we don't know or don't understand, but we also ought not lose the confidence that in Christ there is always a better way.
Discussion Questions
- What was Paul’s reaction to the idolatry of Athens? How do you respond to the idolatry of today’s culture? What idolatry do you see most often?
- How did Paul reason with the Athenians? How might you reason similarly with the people around you?
- What does Christ offer that the Athenian people did not have? Why would this lead one to proclaiming Christ to others? How might God be calling you to proclaim his salvation?