Omega Institute of Bible, Theology and Apologetics

Engage: Tactics for Modern Times

Lesson 6

Dan McDonald Professor

Engaging Humanism

Paul in Athens

Introduction

Mankind is shrouded in religion; there are literally thousands of religions. Jack Cottrell states A formal estimate of the number of gods in the many cults of Hinduism is 300,000,000. These are just manifestations of Brahman; whether each has a separate name is uncertain."[footnoteRef:1] Both Darwinism and atheism are religions; ultimately any religion other than Christianity and Judaism are the religion of humanism. Judaism in and of itself is not complete; Judaism was merely the beginning of what would ultimately become Biblical Christianity. [1: Cottrell, Jack. What the Bible Says About God the Creator (Wipf and Stock Publishers Eugene Or 1983) pg3]

Pantheism believes that the universe and everything in the universe is god. Pantheism comes the Greek words pantos meaning everything and theos meaning god. Most eastern religions are pantheistic in nature. In addition, the earth movement spawns from both Darwinism and pantheism. Those who worship the earth believe they are worshiping a god that created herself. This belief is as popular today as it was in the day of Paul: Romans 1:25 (NASB) For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

The word creature in Romans 1:25 is the Greek word (kit-ee-say) which literally means that which God has created, hence the people of Pauls day worshipped the creation instead of the creator.

In addition to Pantheism is Polytheism. Polytheism asserts the worship of a plurality of gods. Polytheism comes from two Greek words, polous which means many, and theos meaning god, hence, many gods. Human philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, along with Polytheism framed the mindset of the culture in Athens in the day a Paul.

Those from a Creation Based Culture

It must be remembered that the Samaritan woman, the rich young man, the Ethiopian eunuch, and the people on the day of Pentecost were from a creation based culture. This was a culture in which monotheism framed the mindset of the society. Monotheism comes from the Greek words monos meaning alone, or single and theos meaning god, hence, the only God.

Only Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are monotheistic. There are cults that are monotheistic in nature, but they are exactly that, cults. Islam is a false religious system which plagiarized its theological foundation from Judaism. Judaism is incomplete, and for the most part isogetes the O.T. scriptures with respect to the Christological prophecies therein and thus maintains a skewed understanding of who the real Messiah is.

The church began on the day of Pentecost with people from a creation based culture! Peters message was a message to people that already understood that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was alone the creator. These were people who, for the most part, were reared in the O.T. scriptures, and thus, Peter only had to take these people from there, to a proper understanding of the Biblical Messiah, Jesus Christ. Peters starting point on Pentecost was in another universe by comparison to Pauls starting point in Athens. Whereas Jerusalem and Pentecost were by their very nature creation based, Athens by its very nature could easily be categorized as an evolution, humanistic based society.

Athens in the Day of Paul

Athens in the day of Paul was characterized as a major center of intellectual and cultural achievement. Along with Alexandria in Egypt and Tarsus in Cilicia (where Paul was from), Athens was one of the three greatest university cities in the known world. Athens possessed a rich history of very influential philosophers. In addition to Socrates and Plato, were Zeno, Epictetus, Epicurus, and Aristotle. It should be noted that the Greek culture and particularly Athens provided the foundation for the civilized Western culture which includes the United States of America.

In the day of Paul, Athens was no longer a major city of commerce, but was a center for the intellectual elite; however, the intellectual elite commanded great influence upon trade and commerce all around the Mediterranean world. People came from all over the Mediterranean to discuss the latest intellectual ideas, and while it is true that the gospel started in Jerusalem, the Athens paradigm is the vehicle that caused it to spread.

Religion in Athens

Athens was named after the Greek goddess Athena, the daughter of Zeus; she was the goddess of wisdom. The Athenian landscape was covered with artistically designed temples, shrines, statues and altars of great beauty erected to the glory of their many gods and goddesses. Within Athens were images of Apollo, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Bacchus, Neptune, Diana, and many more. But within the Parthenon was the most impressive image of all, a beautifully sculptured gold and ivory image of Athena whose gleaming spear point could be seen from 40 miles away.

Here, surrounded by all these temples and idols and in the shadow of the Parthenon Paul delivered his sermon about the God the Greeks admittedly did not know. Acts 17:22 states that Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus, Areopagus comes from two Greek words: Ares meaning Mars, and pagos meaning hill, thus, Hill of Mars or Mars Hill. Every mountain and hill in and around the city had its own god or goddess, and Mars was one of the greater gods. He was the God of war.

Pauls Audience in Athens

Acts 17:19 states, they took and brought him to the Areopagus, one of the most prominent places in Athens, near the Acropolis, (the citadel of Athens that contained the Parthenon). It was the place where the noblest court of ancient Greece had met, and for that reason, the Areopagus is sometimes used with reference to court.

Some people have wondered if Pauls speech was really a sermon or was it a defense before the court? Because v19 says they took him into the Areopagus, it is believed by some that Paul gave a defense. But the procedure does justify that conclusion when compared to other historical narratives by Luke.

The situation had no appearance of a trial, no charges, no questioning, and no judge. Paul was asked and was given an opportunity to explain his teaching. There must have been a crowd present, but of chief concern were the people who invited or summoned him there.

The crowd included some very distinguished men, women, and philosophers, perhaps professors and lecturers at the academy or from one of the schools of philosophy. They inquired about this strange God he had mentioned in the market place (the agora). The spectators also included men who sat on the court, who had power to deal with Paul harshly if they chose to, even ordering his death. Similar circumstances surrounded the death of Socrates 250 years earlier.

Pauls Sermon Challenged the Learned to Consider the Inconsistency of Their Worldview

Because of their lack of commitment to anything significant, they saw no need to harm Paul, unlike the Jews who constantly persecuted Him and often tried to kill him. The lack of anything significant on the part of the Areopagus was largely due to the inconsistency of their worldview. Although extremely intelligent, their worldview was ultimately contradictory, and exposing this was one of Pauls main goals. Consider Isaiah 44:9:20 (Read) & Jeremiah 10:1-6

Outside of Biblical Christianity, is humanism, the Athenians, as intelligent as they were, were humanists, and the worldview of humanism is an inconsistent and contradictory worldview.

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