Paul's Speech at Athens

Being Called

Acts 17:16–18 NKJV

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

Paul is in Athens, waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him.

He sees that the city if given over to the worship of idols.

Literally, the city is filled with idols.

So what does Paul do?

He opens a discussion in the synagogue and in the market.

He discusses, reasons, both with Jews and Gentiles.

Paul gets noticed.

Some philosophers hear Paul and wonder what this babbler, (literally, word picker), is talking about.

Acts 17:19–21 NKJV

And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

So they brought Paul to the Areopagus,

TheHill of Ares,

They wanted to know what Paul was teaching.

Because, not unlike today, there are those who are simply looking for something new.

Some new word or doctrine that will make all the difference.

Paul’s Speech

Acts 17:22–23 NKJV

Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:

Notice, Paul did not start out with:

REPENT, for the end is near.

Or by calling them heathens.

He notes that they are very religious,

Even having an alter to an unknown god.

Let me introduce Him to you.

How many of us, when we encounter someone who is “spiritual” or atheistic, are more likely to start an argument than an introduction?

How do you react when someone who disagrees with you “comes out swinging”?

Acts 17:24 NKJV

God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.

Paul starts right off with some context.

God made the world and everything in it.

He is Lord of heaven and earth

[kurios /koo·ree·os/] - Owner of heaven and earth

He doesn’t need your temples,

Or anything made by your hands.

Paul sets the stage by showing the this God the Athenians do not know is a big deal.

Bigger than they could imagine.

Acts 17:25 NKJV

Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

This God you don’t know, doesn’t need you.

He doesn’t need your idols to be worshiped.

He gives live, breath and all things.

The very life you have comes from Him.

Acts 17:26–27 NKJV

And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

Not only has this God you’re looking for made everyone,

They are of one blood.

We often talk about different races,

But there is only one race, the human race.

He determines where and when the live.

We think that we are in control,

But we are not.

He set the times and places of our being,

So that we should seek HIm.

We should see the grandeur of creation and look for its creator.

We grope for God,

Because we are small, limited beings.

He wants us to find Him.

Even though He is close, we find it hard to find Him.

Acts 17:28 NKJV

for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

We think of ourselves as independent,

But it is in God that we live, and move, and exist.

Even some of the Greek poets have said that we are God’s offspring.

Acts 17:29 NKJV

Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.

If we are offspring of God, why do we try to find Him in inanimate things?

The Athenians had their idols of gold, silver, and stone,

The Israelites had their golden calf,

What are you worshiping?

Do you worship the words on paper, or its creator?

Acts 17:30–31 NKJV

Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

There is a day of judgement coming.

Are you ready for it?

God, in His mercy, has allowed time for people to repent,

But He will not wait forever.

God has ordained a righteous judge.

Christ the Lord is that judge.

God raised Him from the dead,

And THAT got the Athenian’s attention.

Acts 17:32 NKJV

And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.”

There will always be those who mock God and others who want to hear more.

There are plenty today who mock God and His ways.

Think of those who follow Jesus as backwards and foolish.

Our job is to spread the Gospel, not make people abide by it.

As the parable of the sower teaches us,

Some seed will fall on the road and be trampled, who other will fall on good soil.

We may never know which soil our seed will fall on,

But our responsibility is to scatter the seed and leave the increase to God.

Acts 17:33–34 NKJV

So Paul departed from among them. However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Paul did not argue, he did not press for more time.

He simply departed.

And yes, some believed,

But not all.