Paul at Mars Hill (Part 1)

July 7, 2:39 PMMethodist ExaminerJames-Michael Smith

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The ancient steps leading to Mars Hill that Paul would've climbed

In the introduction to his book Reasonable Faith, William Lane Craig states,

“Apologetics (from the Greek apologia: a defense) is that branch of Christian theology which seeks to provide a rational justification for the truth claims of the Christian faith.” 

Craig goes on to state that though primarily a theoretical discipline, Apologetics has practical applications as well. Since the Enlightenment and especially during the 20th century, Christian Apologetics has become an increasingly broad field of study. 

With the rise of various skeptics' theories put forth to explain away, or at least reduce the role of the divine within the universe, Christian thinkers have risen to meet these various intellectual challenges head on, pulling from not only the words of scripture, but from disciplines as diverse as mathematics, philosophy, quantum theory, molecular biology and current Big Bang Cosmology .

As the field of Christian Apologetics spreads into every area of culture, the temptation facing the modern apologist is to move beyond the Biblical account and fight the battle entirely on their opponents’ grounds, letting the subject matter in dispute be the determining boundary for argumentation.  Thus, the apologist seeking to defend belief in God using, for example, evidence of the Strong Anthoropic Principle may feel that Scripture is not useful because it arose from within the very universe whose intelligent design is in dispute.  “Before I can appeal to the Bible as the word of God,” he or she may think, “I must first show that the existence of God is indeed probable.”

While there is much truth to this line of reasoning, there is a subtle danger.  Namely, that in attempting to show the truth of the Gospel predominantly from the evidence outside of the Biblical account, one may end up paying little attention to the Biblical account altogether.  Or, to put it another way, the apologetic endeavor may become so theoretical that it’s original purpose, which is to defend the truthfulness of the Gospel, becomes lost in the murky depths of scientific or philosophical argumentation.

As with most things, balance must be maintained between engaging an unbelieving culture and remaining faithful to the written words of God.  The purpose of this series of articles is to show how such a balance is maintained in the Apostle Paul’s sermon at Mars Hill (Acts 17), as well as the results that followed and the implications for our present day apologetic encounters. 

We will begin by looking at the setting in which the sermon took place.  Then in the next article we will examine the tactics Paul used, noting what he stresses as well as what he omits.  Finally, we will conclude by looking at the results of the sermon among those who heard it.  Throughout the series, practical implications for the modern apologetic and evangelistic tasks will be brought to light.

The account begins in Acts 17:16 where we find Paul waiting for Timothy and Silas in Athens.  Paul’s spirit is aroused, or as the NRSV puts it, “deeply distressed” by the idolatry within the city.  As a result of this he begins to argue and debate with those in the synagogue as well as those in the marketplace. 

The story beginning in Acts 17:14

14 The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
      16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus ["Mars Hill"], where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
          22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
          24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
          29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
          32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Acts 17:14-34 (TNIV)

To begin with it should be noted that Paul didn’t travel to Athens with the intention of preaching there.  Rather, he was brought there by fellow believers to escape the crowd that had been incited by his preaching in Berea.  However Paul, “Having no design, as it seems, to preach at Athens, but his zeal for God drew him into it unawares, without staying till his companions came,”  proclaims the Gospel to the Athenians. 

Paul was embodying the principle set forth by his fellow apostle Peter which states that a believer should “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you . . .”  This has much to say to us as Christians today, for like the Athenians, ours is a culture abounding with idolatry as well as countless opportunities to share the Gospel. 

[To be continued...]