(Acts 17:16-31)

We live in a so-called ‘ever-changing, cutting-edge world’. But for people who live in their own time in history, the time has always been an ‘ever-changing, cutting-edge world’ all period of history. Especially, when it comes to knowledge and intelligence, it is true that in its scope it becomes enormous more and more, and in its definition and perception it become obscure more and more. Then, there is an interesting point in man’s knowledge in history. The point is that human being’s knowledge and intelligence have ceaselessly been attacking or denying ‘the Christian theism’ in history replacing the position of God, their Creator and Sustainer, with creatures including not only tangible things but also intangible things, such as their own desires. Human being’s intellectual rebellion against God has been armed to the teeth with so-called ‘what is scientifically proven’, ‘what is in-depth researched’, and ‘what is logically perfect’. And then it has wonderfully worked in accord with their sinful disordered brain and their sinful hardened heart.

Now, here, the Apostle Paul is standing in the midst of Areopagus being surrounded by the Greek philosophers, the distinguished thinkers. Through today’s text, we are going to be realizing who the God of Christianity and the fake god of non-Christianity is and what our approach to non-Christianity’s ignorance of God is.

In verse 16~21, “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. 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. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring somestrange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.” Here, Paul is waiting for Silas and Timothy in the famous city, Athens. As it is well-known, the city is full of countless idols. There were many variety statues and images of their gods. The gods of Greek mythology presented themselves everywhere around Paul. For Paul they are not about mere religious matter. The situation provoked him, and he couldn’t keep silent. He began daily to reason with the people who listened to or had even a bit interested in his reasoning in the agora, at the bottom of the Acropolis, the center of Athenian life and business. Here, the name of philosophical school familiar to us appears. In verse 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.” As we learned in high school, it is briefly said that Epicureanism is represented as the school based on materialism putting stress on tranquility, and Stoicism is represented as the school emphasizing rational element in man with pantheism. In any case, the scholars belonged to the schools, Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, were the greatest intellectuals of the day. They also conversed with the Apostle Paul then there. And as the verse 21 – “Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.” – shows us, the reasoning of Paul was literally something new to them. And they reacted to this, in verse 18, “ … “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities” …” They thought that Paul was introducing some new divine fashion, and it can be said that Paul was disdained and sneered by them. Why? Why is the reasoning of Paul before them something new and strange to them? Why is the Apostle Paul now mocked by them? The verse 18 definitely shows us the very reason of it: “ … he was preaching Jesus and the Resurrection …” But even though the philosophers attempted to devaluate and sneer at the preaching of him, they cannot avoid the power of thrust of the telltale absolutes. The absolutes about their Creator and Sustainer, Jesus, and the climax of His story, Resurrection, declared by the Apostle once hit their inherent sense of their Creator. So the philosophers wanted to hear more about Jesus and the resurrection suggested by Paul, and they led him to their famous and prestigious place and a Supreme Court, Areopagus, which was for a trial and high reasoning among the foremost thinkers then, and Socrates had once been tried for corrupting youth here. Leading him to there is for formal examination of Paul’s preaching. It seems that as introducing foreign god, ‘strange deities’, Paul could not simply be disdained; he was also a threat to Athenian well-being.

What is the content that Paul is reasoning before the greatest philosopher of the day? Yes, Jesus and the resurrection! Paul is a highly well-educated person then. It is not hard for him to reason with the philosophers in agora because Paul is well aware of and proficient in the philosophy and its climate of his day. Paul is a citizen of Tarsus, which is the leading city of Cilicia and famed as a city of learning, and the city is noted for its schools devoted to rhetoric and philosophy. In his early years Paul was also educated by Gamaliel in Jerusalem, where he excelled as a student. His course of study would have included critical course in Greek culture and philosophy. The extensive knowledge of Greek literature and culture is reflected in his letters. So it is manifest that Paul is neither naïve nor obscurantist when it comes to a knowledge of philosophy and Gentile thought. But he cannot take any approach in the light of the unbelievers’ ground in his evangelical arguing. He never tries to preach the gospel according to the unregenerate’ system of thought to persuade or gain them into Christianity. Why? He knows very well that there is never “a common ground” in perception and knowledge of God. There is a totally different mind-set between believers and unbelievers. There is a totally different system of thought between believers and unbelievers. They are totally different lives from each other. It is because this is not the matter of religious tendency, attitude, way of thinking, or one’s background, but the matter of whether or not God visits him or her and gives the new life and Holy Spirit works to regenerate him or her into the new life. They are totally different entities from each other. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). Being Christian means whole personal radical change through a radical conversion. It is a different entity, not just morally improved and intellectual enlightened entity. The fact that unbelievers desperately grasp the defect-punctured and unscientific evolution theory plastering with the plausible technical terms rather than simply believe their Creator’s creation is not the matter of logic, evidence, reasoning, conviction, or science. This is the matter of whether or not they are in Christ through a radical conversion by the Holy Spirit. Two different realms. Two different entities. This is what Christianity suggests. This is not the matter that can be solved by clamoring brotherhood and religious harmony and integration, and criticizing Christianity’s dogmatization. This is the reason why the Apostle Paul directly introduces the gospel orienting Jesus and his resurrection without trying to have any knowledgeable common ground with the unbelievers in his evangelizing. Then what is the ground, or basis and contents of his preaching on Jesus Christ and the resurrection?

In verse 22~31, “So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, 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. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘“In him we live and move and have our being’; as 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. 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.” Here, as the Apostle Paul begins his address, he began by drawing attention to the ‘nature of man’ as an inherently religious being. And in verse 23, he points out the philosophers’ ignorance of God by quoting the inscription on their idols, ‘To the unknown god.’ From verse 24 to 31, he introduces true God as he previously mentioned in verse 23, “ … What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.” He professes one by one God as the creator, God as the sustainer and controller, God as the savior, and God as the judge. And it is exactly in accordance with the Scripture, the Old Testament, or the revelation of God. And then, there is Jesus Christ and his resurrection in the center of his proclamation.

The Apostle Paul is proclaiming God to the unbelievers who are grasping ‘the unknown gods’, which means that they don’t even know their gods’ identity. The unbelievers’ gods can be countless from the religions to money, desires, and pride and so on. In any case, they don’t have attributes as God at all, and as a result of it, the unbelievers cannot identify their gods. From the hopeless phenomenon, the natural outcome is the ‘worship to the unknown gods’ of human beings. Even though they are ignorant of God due to their corruption, they still inherently have religiosity. Therefore they still worship something other than God, their Creator and Sustainer, and they cannot help but to call them ‘the unknown gods.’ The arrow called religiosity should get stuck in the target called God, but the arrows missed the target by a mile. So it is so natural that they don’t know where the arrow is stuck in, ‘the unknown gods.’ In verse 28, the expressions, “ … Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’;as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ is used by Paul to not only demonstrate man’s sense of religion remained in their mind despite of their fall but also demonstrate the fact that this sense is abused. The former one, “In him we live and move and have our being”, is quoted from Epimenides the Cretan and the latter one, “For we are indeed his offspring”, is quoted from Paul’s fellow Cilician, Aratus. Both of the words are made in the sense of considering Zeus as their god. So now Paul is clarifying who He is when they falsely confess “In him we live and move and have our being” and “For we are indeed his offspring” with sense of god. And the stress falls on the man’s absolute dependence on God for his existence. In verse 31, Paul makes the point clear that man is still responsible for the ignorance of God. And Roman 1:19~20 specifies this point; ^“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” Human being is responsible because he possesses the truth, but he is guilty for what he does to the truth.

Before the most distinguished thinkers in the world, to demonstrate true religion, the Apostle Paul is thoroughly based on the Scripture. He clearly speaks God as the creator, the sustainer, the savior, and the judge of the world placing Jesus and his resurrection on the center of his argument. Not only that, he directly points out man’s ignorance of God and the responsibility for the ignorance calling for repentance and change of mind-set. Between believers and unbelievers, there is nothing but collision in their outlook on life, man, the world, and God. There is no common ground or vacuum state between both of the realms, Christianity and non-Christianity. This is a critical and ultimate matter. This is not a matter that can be figured out by vague and superficial love for humankinds and blamed for black and white way of thinking of Christianity. When you live out a Christian life in the world, you should take the revelation of God as your ultimate, first, and the bottom line ground as today’s text teaches us. You should take the different starting point from unbelievers’. Your thinking always should begin at the point that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” In the battle with Goliath, we cannot put the armor of Saul but the very one stone in our hands is good enough. Christianity alone is reasonable and true, and our ultimate starting point is the authority of Christ’s revelation. Everyone, have your illusions that man is good and righteous shattered. Man is sinful, evil, and unrighteous. Only in Christ Jesus, there is hope and life. Always remember that you are Christians who live in the world with a totally different outlook. Without this outlook given through regeneration, you would never appreciate the essence of comfort, healing, and blessing of Christianity. I want to close this sermon with the Apostle Peter’s advice in 1 Peter 3:15 – always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect – I hope you all will always be ready.