Acts 17:16–34: “Athenian Apologetics” at the Areopagus

Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to Acts 17. The title for today’s message is “Athenian Apologetics.” And let me illustrate what follows in today’s passage with the following aphorism: “If the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail.” 

Well, the Apostle Paul is good with a hammer. He knows how to hammer home the gospel with his Jewish brethren. But Paul is not a one-trick pony. The audience in Athens in Acts 17:16–34 is quite different from his typical Jewish or God-fearing interlocutors. And so Paul has to use a different tack in Athens. 

Instead of starting his gospel-work with a shared understanding of who God is and the truth of the OT, Paul has to go back, way back, to the very beginning. He’s got to start with the basics—there’s one God. How basic is that? There’s one God, and he doesn’t exist in idols made by human hands. And what we learn in today’s passage is how we can use different tools in our “apologetics toolbox” to get the gospel to those who need to hear it.  

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But first, let’s review and get up to speed with where we are in the book of Acts. When we last saw Paul, he was getting thrown out of Berea in Acts 17. In fact, Paul has been thrown out of multiple cities in Macedonia. That was the regular pattern on this second missionary journey. It went something like this: 1) Paul preaches the gospel, 2) some people get saved, 3) other people get bent out of shape, 4) the church gets planted, and 5) and then Paul gets thrown out of town. That happened in Philippi. It happened in Thessalonica. And it happened in Berea. 

Just as a refresher, look at Acts 17:13.

13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. 14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed. 

So Paul gets chased out of Berea. And as we pick up on his journey in Acts 17:16, we see that he lands in Athens. This city is about two hundred miles south of Berea (see map below).

Paul Travels to Athens - Click for Slide

Athens is a long way from where Paul was. And it’s a different region of the Roman Empire altogether. Paul is no longer in Macedonia; he’s in Achaia. So Paul has been essentially ejected out of Macedonia. And now he finds himself in the famous city of Athens.

Now let me say just a little bit about this city, Athens. Athens was the ancient center of Greek culture and society. Its heyday was about three to five hundred years before Christ. And Greece, for a time, ruled the world. Athens was particularly renowned in ancient Greece for its philosophy, art, literature, science, athletics, architecture, and military. Even today some of Athens’s grandeur can be seen. Below is a picture of the Parthenon, a very famous structure, which you can go and visit today. 

The Parthenon in Athens - Click for slide

Athens was the city of the great philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Athens was the birthplace of democracy. But despite Athens’s reputation, it was not as prominent a city in Paul’s day as it had been in previous centuries. The power structure in the ancient world had moved from Greece to Rome. 

But even though Athens wasn’t the great political and military power that it once was, it was still an intellectual power. It was a place where philosophy and the human intellect flourished. A good corollary to Athens in America is the city of Boston. Boston used to be the center of the American experiment. But it got trumped by other cities. And now it is known primarily for its educational institutions (e.g., Harvard, MIT).  

Well Athens in Paul’s day was a lot like that. And it was a place, as we’ll see in just a second, where the gospel was desperately needed. 

Look at verse 16.

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, 

Waiting for who? Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy to rejoin him (see 17:15).

16 Now while Paul was waiting for [Silas and Timothy] at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 

Now let me just paint you a picture of what Paul experienced in Athens. Because I don’t want you to think wrongly that Paul was a little Jewish boy from Jerusalem that had never been to the big city. No, Paul grew up in Tarsus, a pagan Roman city. Paul had travelled extensively throughout the Roman Empire. This wasn’t his first rodeo in a city full of idols. He wasn’t prudish about idolatry. 

But the pervasiveness of the idols and the idolatry in Athens was so disturbing for Paul, that his spirit was grieved inside of him. So this idolatry was even more egregious than any other place that Paul had visited. 

Listen to this. This is a statement from Clinton Arnold’s commentary on Acts. This’ll give you a flavor of what Paul was experiencing in Athens. “As Paul journeys into the heart of the city, he feels a sense of awe at the impressive architecture and grandeur of the immense buildings from this center of Hellenistic culture. What he only heard about previously, he now sees firsthand. Entering the city, the [temple of Hephaestus] first comes into view. This is a beautiful Doric style temple dedicated to the god Hephaestus and the goddess Athena built between 449–444 B.C.” 

Temple of Hephaestus - Click for slide

“Just across from this is the Stoa of Attalus, a two-storied colonnaded building.”

Stoa of Attalus (rebuilt in the 1950s with money from American donors) - Click for slide

“Towering above all, however, is the magnificent Parthenon, a Doric temple dedicated to Athena Polias (447–438 BC) and sitting atop the Acropolis as a crown. The rectangular temple measures 228 feet by 101 feet (23,000 square feet) and includes Doric columns that stand thirty-four feet high with a diameter at the base of six feet. The columns support a roof made of richly ornamented slabs of marble depicting a variety of scenes. Inside the temple stands a thirty-nine-foot high statue of Athena.”

Parthenon on the Acropolis - Click for slide

The Acropolis itself, a large limestone plateau measuring 1050 feet by 512 feet and rising 512 feet high, stands impressively at the center of the city… Also on the Acropolis is the Erechtheum for the worship of Athena and Poseidon [and] the temple of Athena Nike… As Paul takes in all of these grand sights, he first passes through the Greek Agora (‘market place’) and then the Roman Agora [“Ancient descriptions testify that the marketplace was virtually lined with idols”]. Standing prominently in the Roman market is a forty-foot octagonal structure housing a waterclock and sundials known as the… ‘Tower of the Winds’ because it contains carved representations of the eight wind gods.”

Tower of the Winds - Click for slide

John MacArthur writes, “Every public building was dedicated to a god, and statues of gods filled the city.” A pagan writer named Petronius sarcastically said it was easier to find a “god” in Athens than a man. The Roman author Pliny reckons that in his day the city of Athens had at least 73,000 statues. “The streets lined with idols of false deities, framed by the architectural magnificence of the Parthenon and the Acropolis, were dazzling to the eye.”

Do you get the picture of what Athens was like in Paul’s day? There were gods and references to gods everywhere in Athens. Because 

But Paul wasn’t dazzled! He didn’t walk around Athens like some gawking tourist. He was grieved by the prevalence of idols and idolatry. It’s the grief that a person feels when he or she sees people trapped in bondage. Paul’s spirit was provoked inside of him because of the bondage of this idolatry.

Let me ask you this, church, have any of you ever been provoked by the false religions of this world? Has the Holy Spirit inside of you ever grieved over idolatry? I can think of two instances in my life where that has happened. One was when I was in Kuala Lumpur, and I visited a Hindu holy place. It was this monastery built into a cave by the ancient Hindus. And it was a freaky place full of idols and worshippers and also tourists like me who cluelessly walked through this “holy” site. And there were all these rituals that the Hindu monks were doing. And there were idols strewn all over the place. 

And I remember being grieved by the bondage of these rituals. And also, I remember this vividly, there were monkeys everywhere. And the tourists would purchase snacks and bottled water and ice cream. And as you were walking around, these monkeys would come up to you and steal food out of your hands. And you couldn’t do anything about it because the monkeys were sacred. One of those monkeys could be one of your reincarnated ancestors. And I remember grieving over the bondage of that false religion. 

The other time, I remember grieving in my spirit over idolatry… are you ready for this? … It was at Soldierfield in Chicago. I used to work at the stadium, and I would walk about a mile from the train station to the stadium. And it was not uncommon for me to see people draped in sports paraphernalia, drunk, fighting, and absolutely obsessed with their sports team. And they didn’t come to Soldierfield to have a good time and watch their favorite team play. They came for a worship service. They came to venerate their idols!  

Now it doesn’t really matter if your false religion is Hinduism or Roman polytheism. It doesn’t matter if it’s football or politics. Sometimes people worship false gods. And sometimes people worship God’s good gifts like food, sex, marriage, family, or football. And all false worship should grieve us! 

Write this down as the first point from the text.

1) False religions should grieve us and provoke us into action (Acts 17:16–18)

“Pastor Tony, I’m so glad that we don’t struggle with idolatry in our day!” Listen, an idol is anything and everything that we put in the place of God. God said, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exod 20:3). 

For some Americans, their little-g god is money or sex or influence. For others it’s work or family or their independence. Christians can struggle with this too. Your idol can be your hobby or your personal morality or what other people think about you. 

John Calvin said once that the human heart is an idol-making factory. He said, “Every one of us is, even from his mother’s womb, [an] expert in inventing idols.” He taught that we as Christians are continually tempted to make temporal things into ultimate things, and so we must be on guard against idolatry in our lives. We may not go down into our basement and carve something out of wood and worship it. But trust me, we’ve got idols. We’ve got things in our lives that we value more than the God of the universe and we wittingly or unwittingly worship as more significant, more important, or more meaningful to our lives than God. 

That’s why Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:4, “…flee from idolatry.” He wasn’t talking to unbelievers there. He was talking to Christians! And in Colossians 3:5, Paul says “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” That’s why the Apostle John says at the end of his letter to Christians in 1 John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Idolatry should grieve us. But also, it should provoke us into action. “What action, Pastor Tony?” Well, what does Paul do? Look at verse 17. He starts telling people about Jesus. 

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. 

So Paul gets to work. He starts preaching Christ in the synagogue among the Jews and God-fearers. But he also goes to the marketplace, where the hustle and bustle of society takes place. And as he does this, look at verse 18.

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. 

That word “babbler,” by the way, is a derogatory insult. The Greek word means “seed-speaker” or “seed-picker.” It has the idea of someone who picks up scraps of knowledge and ideas from other people and pawns them off as their own. So these Epicurean and Stoic philosophers condescendingly communicate with Paul. And some dismissively say, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others on the other hand assume “He’s preaching about foreign divinities.” In other words, these Greeks are absolutely clueless about what Paul is preaching. They’re lost. And Paul’s a long way from Jerusalem.  

Now let me tell you a little bit about Epicurean and Stoic philosophy. I told you that Athens wasn’t a great political and military power at this time. But it was an intellectual power. And philosophy and philosophers were prevalent. Epicurean philosophers, for instance, built an intellectual system that tried to minimize pain in society and maximize pleasure. They were ancient hedonists. 

The Stoic philosophers, on the other hand, were essentially Greek moralists. They lived disciplined, austere, dispassionate lives. Instead of maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain, they tried to cultivate an indifference to both pain and pleasure, so that a person feels nothing. We use the word stoic today to describe someone who lacks affection and emotion. And that was part of the Stoic belief system.

Now needless to say, both of these systems were in conflict with Judaism and Christianity. Both of these philosophical systems were polytheistic and therefore pagan. The Stoics did believe in life after death. They believed, similar to Buddhism, that we are simply absorbed into a higher existence. The Epicureans, on the other hand, didn’t believe in life after death. So for both of these groups, Paul’s preaching was totally foreign. “One God? One Savior, Jesus Christ? Jesus, the Son of God, resurrected from the dead? Salvation and resurrection for us who believe in Christ?” This was mind-blowing for these individuals. And so Paul’s approach to this group has to be different than the way he approached the Jews in the synagogues. 

The Jews in the synagogue at least knew about Yahweh, and they feared Yahweh. The Jews in the synagogue had anticipated a Messiah. These Greek pagans don’t know anything about Yahweh or a Messiah, so Paul has to start from square one.

And by the way, I think this is helpful for us, because we live in the crossroads of a post-Christian society in America. Some people have recollections of the truth because they grew up in church, or they saw Billy Graham on TV, or whatever. But others have never heard about Jesus. And because of immigration, we have people coming to the States from Buddhist countries and Hindu countries and Muslim countries. And so we need to be sensitive to where we should start. For some, we need to start at Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the world.” For others, who assume that already, we can start in the NT with John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word” (Jesus), and the Word was God! 

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Now watch what Paul does here. He contextualizes his message for the audience. He communicates the truth to them on their level, where they can understand it and respond.

19 And they took him [that’s the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, they took Paul] 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.” 

Here’s a picture of the Areopagus today which means “Rock of Ares.” 

Areopagus (Mars Hill) - Click for slide

The Romans called this place “Mars Hill.” From this vantage point you could look out on the entire cityscape of Athens and see all of the architectural wonders of the city. This was a place in Athens where philosophers philosophized. It was a place where the intellectually elite of society mused and pontificated great ideas. It was an ivory tower. It was a think-tank. That’s where they took Paul. 

And Luke says in verse 21,

21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. 

I think this was a bit of a slam by Luke on the Athenians. In other words, he says instead of getting a job and doing something productive, these guys just like to talk about the latest philosophical fads. And so here comes Paul talking about this “new god” Jesus, and his resurrection. “Hey, that’s cool. That’s new. Let’s hear what he has to say.”

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: 

Now I can only imagine how intimidating this must have been for Paul. Here he is at this prominent place in the city. He rises to his feet in front of the city’s leading intellectuals. All around him, he is surrounded by breathtaking architecture, grand edifices, and a myriad of gold, silver, and marble idols. Would you be intimidated in that setting? I would be. 

Paul has just gained a hearing with the smartest people in the city on the city’s biggest stage. What’s he going to do? Well, he’s going to do the same thing he’s been doing everywhere else he’s gone. He’s going to preach the gospel. Except, he’s going to do it a little differently than he might with a room full of Jews. 

“Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 

Okay, that’s one way to describe them. This is what’s referred to as a captatio benevolentiae. It’s an effort to win the favor of one’s hearers and thus secure their attention. Paul’s got some tough things to communicate to this audience. But before he does that, he says something to build a bridge to them.

And this continues in verse 23.

23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, 

Now notice how Paul is communicating. We know that these “objects of your worship” have grieved Paul’s heart. Right? So I find it insightful that Paul doesn’t start by saying, “Your idols are an abomination.” Paul’s statement here at first borders on a compliment. “I perceive that in every way you are religious.” And then he talks about the objects of their worship.

I think there’s a principle here for us. It’s important for us, when we interact with unbelievers, to establish common ground and build rapport with an audience. Some might see this as disingenuous, but I don’t see it that way. Paul’s affirming the kernel of truth in this culture (“you’re very religious”). 

And to that you might say, “Where’s the smack-down, Paul? When are you going to tell these pagans to repent?” Well trust me, that’s coming in just a moment. But before he does that, he’s got to earn a hearing.    

23 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. 

Do you see what Paul is doing here? Do you see how shrewdly he uses what they know to explain to them what they don’t know? “I see that you have an ‘unknown god.’ Let me tell you about him!” 

By the way, it was common for Roman cities to have an idol for the “unknown god,” because it helped them cover their basis. “I think we got all the gods. But just in case we missed one, here’s an idol for an ‘unknown god.’ Whew! Glad we took care of that.” This was a culture that was enslaved by their belief system. This was not the freedom that we have in Christ.

Now watch what Paul does next. He’s going to dispense with the preliminary pleasantries, and get down to business. So far, he hasn’t said anything objectionable to this crowd. But watch this. Look at verse 24.

24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 

Now who is Paul describing here? Yahweh, right? The God of the OT. The one true God of the universe. But notice he’s not using OT quotations like he did in the synagogues. This crowd doesn’t have the OT Scriptures as a reference point. Instead Paul summarizes Biblical truth and also uses general revelation to contextualize his message.

Verse 26. 

26 And he [that’s God] made from one man [that’s Adam] every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, 

In other words, there’s one God. And all people everywhere derived from him and also from the same forefather, Adam. This would have been received as an insult by the Greeks, because they viewed anyone who was non-Greek as a barbarian. They, like most people in the ancient world, were ethnocentric.

having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

God created us. God created all human beings. We are all related. And we all can have equal access to God. God is not a tribal deity. God is not a territorial deity of Israel. Salvation is here and anyone and everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender can have a relationship with him.

 28 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.’

Now get this. Paul quotes from two pagan sources here and not from Scripture. First, he quotes from a seventh century B.C. philosopher named Epimenides of Crete, “In him we live and move and have our being.” And then he quotes from a guy named Aratus, a third century B.C. philosopher, who basically said that we are all the offspring of “Zeus.” This would be like me quoting Albert Einstein or Ernest Hemingway or Mark Twain to substantiate the gospel.

It's amazing to me how Paul can hold his own with these intellectual elites in Athens. Paul knew his stuff. And Paul knew their stuff too. He knew it well enough to use it against them!

Look at verse 29.

29 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. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

Repent of what? Repent of worshipping idols. Repent of making gods in their own image, when God made them in his image. 

 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; 

Who’s that “man”? Do you know? Paul says in 2 Timothy, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ who is to judge the living and the dead…” (4:1).

he [God the Father] will judge the world in righteousness by a man [Jesus] whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising [Jesus] from the dead.” 

Write this down as #2 in your notes. False religions should grieve us and provoke us into action. But also…

2) False religions should motivate us to proclaim truth (Acts 17:19–31)

Our grief should provoke us into action. And the Holy Spirit inside of us should provoke us to speak truth. When we see people in bondage… when we see people enslaved by false gods and worthless idols and meaningless pursuits… we should be compelled to say, “There’s something better for you! There’s a God who created you! There’s a God who loves you! And he gave his Son for you so that you can have life! And you can have freedom in Christ. And you can have eternity!” False beliefs and false religions should motivate us to proclaim truth.

Now what are the truths that we need to convey in our gospel conversations? I’ll give you a few things that I see from the text. 

1) One Almighty God created everything (Creation Ex-Nihilo)

Paul says, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man” (17:24). God made everything out of nothing. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). Nothing that was created in this world originated from anything other than the One Almighty God of the Universe. 

Some people might say, “That’s so simple, Tony. Who doesn’t know that?” If everyone knows that then why do we construct these convoluted evolutionary systems that try to remove Almighty God from the equation. I think more than ever we need to emphasize this “basic” truth.

2) God is the Uncaused Causer (The Cosmological Argument)

Here’s a basic premise for Christian apologetics. Even the great philosophers of ancient Greece, Plato and Aristotle, believed in an “unmoved mover” or an “uncaused causer.” The argument goes like this 1) Every finite and contingent being has a cause and 2) A causal loop cannot exist. 3) Therefore, a First Cause (or something that is not an effect) must exist, the uncaused causer. And what Paul is saying to this crowd of Greek intellectuals is that the “unknown God” that they worship, he is the uncaused causer. He is the unmoved mover who “gives to all mankind life and breath” (17:24) and “made from one man every nation of mankind” (17:25) and “having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” (17:26). Again you might think this is pretty basic stuff, but this is exactly the kind of stuff that evolutionary theory tries to circumvent.

3) There is an Intelligent Designer and life has purpose (The Teleological Argument)

Every design has a designer, right? Every building has a builder, right? Every construction has a constructor. Every program has a programmer. So who would look out on the intricately designed and constructed world that we inhabit and say that it all happened by chance? “Something blew up and all of this just kind of randomly came together!” Really? Not according to Paul’s sermon here.

And not only does Paul argue for an intelligent Creator, he argues for purpose in his creation. “You are God’s offspring.” “You were made in his image.” “In him you live and move and have your being.”  “You were made to seek him and find him.” Why would you worship gods made of gold, silver, and stone? God made you in his image. You don’t make God in your image! 

4) God took on human flesh, died, and was raised from the dead (Incarnation, Atonement, and Resurrection)

This is the place where the Greeks started to object. They objected in verse 18 when Paul mentioned resurrection. They called him a “babbler” or a “seed-picker.” They object again in verse 32, “When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.” I don’t think that the “incarnation” would have been that big an obstacle for these Greeks. They believed themselves in “gods that took the form of man.” It’s the atonement that they struggled with, and the resurrection. 

5) Repentance and faith in Christ secures our future resurrection

Paul writes, “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” (17:30–31).

6) Christ is returning to judge the living and the dead

That’s a list of core Christian ideas that I identified in Paul’s message. Maybe sometimes you can assume some of these things with your audience when your sharing Christ. Other times you can’t. 

Let me ask you a question in light of this passage—how would you lead a person to Christ? How would you lead a person to Christ who had a Christian or Jewish background? And how would that change if you were sharing Christ with someone from a religious background who had no knowledge of the Bible at all? When do you need to go back to Genesis to share Christ? When can you fast-forward to the NT? When might you share your testimony of how God changed your life? Add some tools to your “evangelism and apologetics toolbox.” 

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Now look at verse 32. What happens after Paul shares the gospel on Mars Hill?

32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.

They mocked Paul. Does that happen sometimes when we communicate truth to other people? You better believe it does. And if you’re not willing to become the aroma of death to some, you won’t have opportunities to become the aroma of life to others. 

A lot of times when people get a whiff of that aroma-of-death smell, it’s easier for them to laugh it off or mock the messenger than seriously consider the implications of the gospel. 

Write this down as #3 in your notes. False religions should grieve us and provoke us into action. False religions should motivate us to proclaim truth. And finally,  

3) False religions should compel us to press on despite derision (Acts 16:32–34)

For these Greeks, this concept of bodily resurrection was especially hard to accept. Many Greeks superstitiously believed that all matter was inherently evil. It’s what’s referred to as dualism. The material world was inherently evil, and the immaterial world (represented by the soul) was inherently good. So if there was an afterlife, then humans would just be these disembodied spirits floating around in the netherworld. Or they would be absorbed into a higher existence. 

But that’s not what the Bible teaches, and that’s not what Paul preached. He preached that our bodies would be raised from the dead incorruptible (see 1 Cor 15). Christ’s resurrection was that way. His resurrection was the first-fruits of our resurrection. And so when these Athenian intellectuals heard about bodily resurrection, they scoffed at Paul. 

Not everyone though. Look at verse 32. 

[S]ome mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 

But look at this. This makes it all worthwhile in verse 34.

34 But some men joined him and believed, 

This word “joined” (Greek: κολλάω) has the idea of “binding closely” and “uniting” with Paul. In other words they forsook their false belief system and hitched their wagon to Christ and the church. There’s no such thing as Christian syncretism. Not in the Bible anyway.  

among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

We never hear about these two people ever again. But they must have been saints that Luke and the early church were familiar with. They became prominent in the church. People knew their names. And Paul keeps preaching the gospel. Paul keeps facing opposition. In this case it was verbal abuse instead of physical abuse. They hurled insults at him instead of stones. But Paul keeps pressing on and preaching the gospel.   

Now let me ask you this question. Is Christ important enough to you that you would be willing to be mocked for your faith? Is he? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that most of the people in this room won’t ever be stoned or beaten or even imprisoned for telling people about Jesus. Maybe I’m wrong about that. But that’s just my hunch for most of us. 

Some of you might endure physical abuse for your faith, in this country or another. But I’m going to guess that most of you won’t. But I’m going to say this. I believe that all of you will at some time in your life be mocked or insulted or alienated or ostracized by friends and family. 

And some of it will come from people who say this, “You really believe this stuff. I mean I’m all for going to church and you know living a moral life and all that. But you really believe this.” 

“Yes, I do. And you need to believe it too.” “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” 

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I’ll close with this. C. S. Lewis said once that “[Christianity] if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

The key word that I’ve used today is the word “apologetics,” which is the discipline of defending the faith. That’s a part of what Paul does in Athens. But Paul doesn’t engage in apologetics to make faith in Christ respectable in the eyes of the Athenians. Neither is he interested in adding Jesus to the pantheon of gods in the Greco-Roman religious system. Syncretism is not an option! Christianity is of infinite importance or it’s of no importance. It cannot be moderately important.  

Let me say it even more bluntly than that. Either Christ is everything to you, or he’s nothing. In the words of Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, “Christ is either Lord of all, or he is not Lord at all!”

The reality though is the Jesus is Lord of the universe, whether you acknowledge him or not. And you are either submitted to his lordship, partaking in his kingdom from now and for eternity. Or you are at war with the Lord of the universe, and therefore a recipient of his judgment from now and for eternity. Which way are you going to go? Are you going to go the way of the Athenians who mocked the gospel and mocked the resurrection? Or are you going to go the way of Dionysius and Damaris who embraced faith in Christ?