Paul witnesses to the people and many believe, both Jews and gentiles, but there is always an element of Jewish people who are blinded by the truth and seek to destroy what they don’t understand. IT seems like there is always two responses to people hearing the Gospel; they either believe and are converted, or they disregard the message and become antagonistic.
Among those who are saved are some very wealthy and influential men and women. Women, even though many times they are portrayed as taking a back seat – are quite often prominent in helping to support and promote Christianity.
But as I said before, opposition rears its ugly head and some Jews who are threatened by the success that Christianity is having, stirs up the crowd. The mob that is formed comes after Paul and Silas, but when they find they are not there, they unleash their anger on Jason, a newly converted follower of Christ and haul him and a few others off to prison.
Paul and Silas sneak out of town and head to Berea, where his preaching was well received. They people there wanted to hear more and learn more, but unfortunately, some of the early crowds from Thessalonica hunted them down and once again they had to escape the city. It would appear that Paul was separated form Silas and Timothy for a while.
While in Athens, it almost seems like Paul wanted to wait until they got there before he started preaching, but the overwhelming opulence of Athens did not impress him and all Paul could see was that as beautiful as the buildings and statues and icons were, none of it honored God. It left Paul in a terrible state of distress. He couldn’t wait. And so he starts to preach to the Jews and god-fearing gentiles. His words became very intriguing to some of the philosophers and scholars there and so he is invited to a debate in the Areopagus.
So what is the Areopagus you ask? Well, its name literally translated means “open air hill”. It was also known as Mars’ Hill. (Mars, of course, was one of the Greek gods of mythology.) It functioned as the council or court of justice which met in the open air on the hill.
Since the Greeks didn’t have the Hebrew Scriptures as part of their belief system, Paul had to use a different tactic to convey his message. And so he begins with things his listeners are familiar with, like the altar that has the inscription “to an unknown god” and to things like creation and nature.
He explains how God cannot be contained in buildings or structures that were created by man. He draws the conclusion that they have in fact been worshipping God, but God is not unknown, He is not distant, in fact God wants to establish a relationship again with His creation.
There were those who did believe, along with a few sceptics. But this is to be expected among people that you witness to. Some will get it, others won’t. It is not up to us to choose who will accept and who wont. We are not in the business of saving people, that’s the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Are task – like Paul’s is to just simply share what we know. Talk to anyone who will listen and leave the rest up to God.
It would appear that Paul had some success in Athens and Luke lists several of those who became believers. Can you imagine having your name in the Bible? What an honor that would have been. But these folks, we know nothing more about, but when they needed to make the right decision… they did and so we get to know their names.
Did you notice how Paul left them hungry to hear more? Oh that our preaching would do the same… leave people hungry to hear more. I would suggest that is our prayer for today.
Joy and peace
Pastor Kathy