Bible Study Lesson for Acts 17:16-34: Paul Visits Athens

(Note: When I taught my Bible study on the Book of Acts I used a flannel map as a visual aid. In my lecture notes you will find reference to this flannel map. The primary commentary I used was Compton's Interactive Bible, a software CD; I sometimes refer to this as my Interactive Bible CD.)

{ Show Athens on the flannel map } Hopefully we have all heard of Athens! My commentary says surprisingly little about this incredible city: Five centuries before Paul, Athens had been at the height of its glory in art, philosophy and literature. She had retained her reputation in philosophy through the years and still maintained a leading university in Paul's day.

Read Acts 17:16. As we just saw from looking at the pictures of the Acropolis, Athens was filled with temples and shrines to pagan gods. Paul would have grown up with an intense disgust for idols and see it as great foolishness. He would have been familiar with the following passage from Isaiah: Read Isaiah 44:13-20.

Read Acts 17:17. But just like in the other cities he had visited, Athens had a synagogue, so he went there to preach there first. Clearly even in a city so overpopulated with idolatry there were Jews and God-fearing people that lived there. (It kind of reminds me of some of our large cities - even amidst all the decadence there is a remnant that are seeking God.) He later went and preached in the marketplace. The marketplace was an open place where trading was done, but it was also the center of education: schools were built here, classes were held here, and philosophies were debates here.

Read Acts 17:18. Two of the philosophies common in Athens in Paul's day were the Epicurean and the Stoic. My commentary pointed out that by Paul's time, the Epicurean philosophy had degenerated into a more sensual system of thought. At its best, Stoicism had some admirable qualities, but, like Epicureanism, by Paul's time it had degenerated into a system of pride. babbler. The Greek word meant "seed picker," a bird picking up seeds here and there. Then it came to refer to the loafer in the marketplace who picked up whatever scraps of learning he could find and paraded them without digesting them himself.

Read Acts 17:19-21. Again my commentary provided some good information: Areopagus. Means "hill of Ares." Ares was the Greek god of thunder and war (the Roman equivalent was Mars). The Areopagus was located just west of the acropolis and south of the Agora and had once been the site of the meeting of the Court or Council of the Areopagus. Earlier the Council governed a Greek city-state, but by New Testament times the Areopagus retained authority only in the areas of religion and morals and met in the Royal Portico at the northwest corner of the Agora. They considered themselves the custodians of teachings that introduced new religions and foreign gods.

Verse 21 just has to make you laugh - the picture you get is a group of intellectual snobs who spend all their time discussing things and flitting from one idea to another, but never really doing anything of lasting value! The concept of there being an absolute, concrete truth is beyond their comprehension. This verse reminds me of a passage in C.S. Lewis' Great Divorce. For those of you not familiar with the story, ghosts from Hell can take a "holiday" into Heaven, and choose to stay if they wish. The book consists primarily of different conversations between these ghosts and the "bright people" of Heaven. C.S. Lewis used this device to zero in on the decisions people make that decides their final destination. The passage I'd like to read describes a meeting between a "ghost" and a "bright person" in Heaven, both who used to have philosophical discussions on earth. { Read "The Great Divorce", pg. 38-46 excerpts }

Read Acts 17:22. My commentary pointed out that the Greek for this word could be used to congratulate a person or to criticize him, depending on whether the person using it included himself in the circle of individuals he was describing. The Athenians would not know which meaning to take until Paul continued. In this context it is clear that Paul wanted to be complimentary in order to gain a hearing. Paul had to approach the Athenians in a very different manner than the way he had approached others in the past. Initially, as we read in previous verses, he tried to persuade fellow Jews that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of the Old Testament, but people didn't have the background to understand what he was saying, so he had to try a different approach, this time by comparing his God to the many gods worshiped in Athens.

Read Acts 17:23. { Put up flannel symbol for "the unknown God" on map } The Greeks were fearful of offending any god by failing to give him attention; so they felt they could cover any omissions by the label "unknown god." Other Greek writers confirm that such altars could be seen in Athens--a striking point of contact for Paul. Paul uses this point of reference to tell the Athenians about the God they don't know - the One True God.

Read Acts 17:24. Paul preaches a single God, the personal Creator, not a pantheistic collection of gods who made the earth, as many of the Greeks believed. (This apparently was part of the Stoic philosophy.) If He is lord of heavens and earth and made everything, why would such a being live in a temple built by men? As we mentioned earlier, Paul, unlike these Greeks, grew up with the scriptures of Isaiah, and would be familiar with the following verse: Read Isaiah 45:12

Read Acts 17:25. This a very different philosophy from the way the Greeks worshipped, constantly serving their gods with building temples, making offerings, holding festivals; they lived in fear of their gods and felt that they had to be appeased, else they would be punished for their impiety. The One True God doesn't need ANYTHING from mankind; after all, He made mankind from the very dust, and can take life away again in an instant.

Read Acts 17:26. My commentary does a good job on this verse, so I'm just going to quote it: From one man he made every nation. All people are of one family (whether Athenians or Romans, Greeks or barbarians, Jews or Gentiles). He planned the exact times when nations should emerge and decline. He also planned the specific area to be occupied by each nation. He is God, the Designer (things were not left to Chance, as the Epicureans thought).

We know from Genesis that Adam was the father of all the nations and as we read the prophets, we see how God was in control in lifting up nations into power, and bringing them down. Jesus talks about how God is ultimately in control, as He talks about the end times. Read Luke 21:24-28. He also made it clear, later, that we are not to know the specifics of these times. Read Acts 1:6-7.

Read Acts 17:27. God's ultimate goal is to have a personal relationship with each human being. Though people have a hard time seeing or perceiving God, He is always with us, even with those who do not believe.

Read Acts 17:28-29. Lovely commentary! It does my work for me: There are two quotations here: (1) "In him we live and move and have our being," from the Cretan poet Epimenides (c. 600 B.C.) in his Cretica, and (2) "We are his offspring," from the Cilician poet Aratus (c. 315-240) in his Phaenomena, as well as from Cleanthes (331-233) in his Hymn to Zeus.

As my pastor would say, Paul "plundered" the secular sources of culture and wisdom around him and used them to help reach certain people groups. Our pastors do this in that they sometimes quote from current events or commercials or movies or other literature, to help us understand and to make it relevant to our daily existence. Paul talks about becoming "all things" to reach people, wherever there are, in his famous passage in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. Part of this meant being conversant in the literature that the people he was preaching to valued.

If we are made in the image of God - that is, if we are God's offspring and get our breath from God -- Paul is reasoning, how can we think that God, the ultimate divine being, can be something made by a human being? A weaker being can not make a greater being, only a greater being can make a weaker being.

Read Acts 17:30. God does not judge people for worshiping idols if they are ignorant about their being a true God. But ignorance is no longer going to be a defense: God is sending Paul, and people like Paul, to tell them the truth and call them to repent of worshiping these worthless idols.

Read Acts 17:31. We now that there is a day coming, called the Day of Judgment, when Jesus Christ will judge the world. Jesus is the "man appointed." Everything will come down to how you have treated Christ and what you have done with him, once you've been taught the truth. How God has given proof that Jesus is the appointed judge is by resurrecting him from the dead.

Read Acts 17:32. Apparently some of the Greeks believed in the immortality of the soul, but the concept of the resurrection from the dead was foreign to them, and not believable. This verse shows that, for some, this was the sticking point and they disregard Paul's teaching over this point; otherwise, however, are clearly intrigued and want to learn more.

Read Acts 17:33. The council ends on a peaceful note. Athens, as we can see, is a different place from Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. Religious and philosophical discussions are very welcome, with many differing opinions allowed. No one starts a riot over Paul's sermon. He was not arrested or asked to defend himself. He was simply asked to come and give a talk, like one would hope would be welcome in any open society.

Read Acts 17:34. What do we know about these two people? Dionysius. Later tradition states, though it cannot be proved, that he became bishop of Athens. Damaris. Some have suggested that she must have been a foreign, educated woman to have been present at a public meeting such as the Areopagus. It is also possible that she was a God-fearing Gentile who had heard Paul at the synagogue. They are not mentioned again anywhere else in scripture. The fact that their names are given here, however, and others aren't, says they probably played a prominent role in the church later.

Blessings!

Sources
Editors. Compton's Interactive Bible (software)
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version
Lewis, C.S. The Great Divorce