“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. 17 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. 18 Some of the
Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. 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. 19 And
they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this
new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things
to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the
Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing
except telling or hearing something new.” (Acts 17:16-21 (ESV)
Paul returns to reasoning with people, moved, provoked by
the idols in the city. He ended up speaking with Epicurean and Stoic
philosophers, who were the most prominent by
this time. The stoics were more
or less what we would call pantheists, yet without the trappings of your local
crystal broker. They were strict moralists emphasizing self-control and a
strong sense of duty and obligation. The Epicureans, get more or less a bad
name these days, though I myself identify more with modern day epicureans than
the ancient counterpart. They were crass materialists who sought to maximize
the enjoyment of life through restrained, refined and carefully measured use of
life’s goods. Epicurus himself pretty much lived like a hermit. This life was
all they believed they had. YOLO, as it were. But this had the counterintuitive
effect of enforcing moderation, rather than “living large.” Paul’s teaching
would have been quite foreign to both schools of thought. But Paul would have
been familiar with both as he entered this famous city. Paul knew Greek
culture, he knew the places where he could find common ground from with to work
from as he reasoned with the people in the town square.
Paul could, and often did, quote the Greek poets and
philosophers. Because of this, some of it is now actually the word of God. But
that is a rabbit hole I don’t want to go down right now. He would work from
where they themselves were. To save the Greeks he would become a Greek, and
relate the gospel to them. His desire, no matter how depraved the audience, was
that of God’s that all men would be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.
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