A Case Study: Paul in Athens (Acts 17)
*The following discussion is based on Acts 17:16-34. Take a few minutes and read through that passage before you continue here.
There are Different Master Stories and they are in competition.
There are many different Master Stories in the world. Because they give different answers to the Four Foundational Questions, these stories are often in conflict with one another. In Acts 17 five different people groups were mentioned and they all had different ways of looking at the world.
The Jews are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who followed the teachings of Moses received directly from the Lord-God. They believed there was only One God and that He has revealed Himself uniquely to the Jewish people. God-fearing Gentiles were not Jewish by birth but were interested in following the teachings of Judaism. We can assume that the Greeks “who happened to be there” in the marketplace were polytheistic—they believed in many gods. As the context makes clear, Athens was filled with temples to the multitude of Greek gods. The Epicureans were philosophers who sought a life of virtue, tranquility, and modest pleasure through simplicity. They were “practical atheists” because they believed that the gods did not intervene in everyday life. Finally, we have the Stoics who believed that personal well-being was achieved through self-sufficiency pursued in virtue, reason, and “natural law.” This was all done free from the influence of “passions.” They were pantheists who believed that “god” was in everything (they called “god” the “world-soul”). They were at odds with the Epicureans.
Each of these views is in conflict with the others in the way they answer key worldview questions: Is there only One God as the Jews affirmed? or are there many gods? Both views can’t be right; they are mutually exclusive.
Take a minute to think about our culture now. How is our culture similar to that of Athens in Paul’s time? How many different worldviews do you think exist in our time?
The Master Story of the Bible challenges all other master stories.
Paul was living in very different Master Story than the people he encountered in Athens. Paul believed that the True Story of Life had been revealed to him in Jesus Christ. In this episode, Paul takes this opportunity to show how his Master Story challenged the others.
Using a “hook” from his time in Athens—the altar to the “unknown god”—Paul sees a way to connect with the Athenians. He begins by getting his audience’s attention by praising them for being very religious. Paul starts with what he and his audience share in common—the pursuit to understand reality. At the core of every religion, philosophy, and worldview is the desire to understand reality. As he begins, Paul essentially says, “I am going to tell you about what you are worshipping without knowing.”
The Master Story answers the question of our common Origin.
Paul describes God as the Creator of the World and everything in it. Not only is He the Creator, He is also the LORD—sovereign ruler—of both Heaven and Earth. Paul refers to God as THE God. There is only One in Paul’s worldview. This view would be acceptable to the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, but would have been repulsive and offensive to the philosophers and Greeks. Notice how they respond to Paul in this passage: he is a “babbler,” speaking nonsense. In the context of this passage, we see that the Athenians thought that Paul was speaking about “foreign gods” because Paul was talking about Jesus and his resurrection from the dead (Acts 17:17-18). Jesus was not part of their traditional and popular religion and mythology.
Paul also reveals in 17:26 that all humanity has its origin in one man. From this one man, all the nations, and tribes, and cultures of humanity came about. We are all sons and daughters of this one man. We are united as the human race because we all come from the same original parents.
This “one man” is Adam (from the Hebrew word adam which means “man”) in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. He and his wife Eve were blessed by God and charged with filling the Earth with other humans. We all descend from them. This idea would have been just as foolish and offensive to the Athenians as it is to many today. The Athenians took great pride in the belief that they all originated from the soil of their homeland. Paul challenges this idea.
The Master Story answers the question, “Who is God?”
In Acts 17:24-35, Paul reveals part of the answer to “Who is God?” The first step in getting our bearings in life is discovering who God is and why He created us, which are all questions related to the ORIGIN question. Paul’s view of the world was shaped by the revelation that God, working through Jesus Christ, created everything that now exists. We were created by God for His purposes.
When we ask the question, “who is God/god?” we are really asking, “Who has final power and authority?” There are many people who do not believe that a personal, knowable, all-powerful being (God) exists. Nevertheless, everyone is looking to some source, some authority to give them final and authoritative answers about life. Whoever or whatever that authority is functions as “god” in that worldview.
Notice that in 17:24 and 25 Paul says that God does not live in places made by human hands, nor is He served by humans since He Himself needs nothing. God is not “needy.” The One True God is totally self-sufficient and self-satisfied. God’s love, His justice, His grace, His perfection all flow from His perfectly self-satisfying existence. Ultimately this has significant ramifications for our understanding of God and reality. If God does not need anything, why would He create anything at all? Although Paul does not develop the idea here, we discover that Father-God creates—does all that He does in Christ through the Spirit—because He wants to. He is moved by His desires.
God’s self-sufficiency would have resonated with both The Stoics and the Epicureans because on some level, this is what they both aspired to be.
Notice in 17:25 how all “life and breath” is given to everyone and everything by God. In the Bible, the One True God is referred to as the “Living God” which is to say that He is the only being that possesses life in and of Himself. He is not dependent on anyone or anything else for His life.
God also provides what we need as humans because He is concerned with us; He is the sustainer of our lives. This would have stood opposed to how the philosophers conceived of “god.” However, Paul is making a case for a personal, caring Creator because that is truly who the One True God is. In 17:29, Paul argues that the One True God is not like any other. He is not the product of “human imagination”: He is the One True God who desires to be known by His creation. He cannot be represented in gold or silver or stone (like the Greek idols) because He is spirit and beyond the human mind to fully comprehend or “put in box.”
The Master Story answers the question of the meaning of life.
In 17:26-27, Paul also makes the amazing statement that God placed every person where He desired them to be, “having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him…” In His sovereign ruling and planning Father-God has placed us in the exact time (allotted periods) and exact place (boundaries) which would maximize our desire to search for and feel our way toward God!!! Why would He do that? Because we were designed and created to be in a living, personal relationship with the One True God!
In 17:28-29, Paul also reveals that God is real and present in the World, but He is not “in everything” as the Stoics taught. Because God is omnipresent – He is everywhere at all times – He is always “close” to each of us. In fact, even though we may not be aware of it, in Him we “move about and have our existence” (Paul quotes this line from a Greek philosopher and poet Epimenides). There is nothing that we do which is hidden from God. God is real and He is near. This would have stood against the beliefs of the Epicureans.
17:28 Paul quotes from another Greek poet Aratus who said, “It is with Zeus that every one of us in every way has to do, for we are also his offspring.” Paul quotes from part of this line—“for we are also his offspring…” and relates it to the One True God in order to show the Athenians that their thought does have elements of truth in it, but it is pointing in the wrong direction. Humanity was created by God, not Zeus. As Paul expands in his letters, we all have our origin in the One True God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ.
The Master Story answers the question of Destiny and challenges us to make sure we are headed in the right way.
Consider what Paul says in 17:30: “although He (God) has overlooked such times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent.” Paul is calling this group to realize they are wrong and heading in the wrong direction! This would have surely stung the whole audience. In effect, Paul says that they are acting in ignorance in their idolatry and man-made religion. The philosophers were pursuing human reason in order to escape from ignorance and now Paul says that in this pursuit that have actually become ignorant of reality!!!
In effect, Paul is warning his audience that they are on the wrong path which will not ultimately lead them to the truth. They need to change their minds in order to change the course of their lives. Paul is calling this group to let go of their ignorance and cling to THE TRUTH which he is revealing to them.
Finally, Paul reveals that there will be a day of reckoning and accounting for all people—there will be a day of judgment. A day is coming when God will judge the World in righteousness. For now, let me simply define righteousness This way:
Righteousness is thinking and doing
1) the right thing, 2) in the right way,
3) at the right time, 4) with right motives.
This is God’s standard. Who could live up to this? Nobody!!! We all need someone to save us from this impossibly high standard!
Notice also that there is “a man” who will carry out this day of judgment. Paul says that God has appointed A Man to fill this role by raising Him from the dead. Who is this “Man”? Jesus Christ. Remember this is the very reason that the people invited Paul to speak, because he has been teaching about Jesus and the resurrection. Now Paul reveals that Jesus is the judge of all people and therefore everyone will give an account of their lives to Him.
Now think about how the crowd reacts to Paul: Some reject Paul’s Message and think he is crazy; others want to hear more; others believe the Message. This is the way it always is when The Truth is proclaimed. Everyone responds in some way.