Not being a lay-about, Paul made good use of his time waiting for Silas and Timothy to catch up to him in Athens (Acts 17.16-.20). He conducted a reconnoiter of the great city and in doing so we are treated to a depiction of the culture of ancient Athens.

Paul’s first observation was that the city was full of idols. So he divided his time between the synagogue and the marketplace, giving equal time to the Jewish and God-fearer inhabitants as to the Gentile idol worshipers.

Paul’s second observation was that there were two prevailing philosophies at work among the Gentile population: Epicureanism and Stoicism. The two schools of thought could not have been more different. Like Hedonists, Epicureans believe pleasure is the greatest good. Unlike Hedonism, it teaches the way to attain pleasure is to own little and lead a simple life that is free from fear and bodily pain. In the time of Paul Epicureanism was the primary challenger of another school of thought, Stoicism. Essentially atheists, Stoics believed the universe and nature had a common will and that the highest virtue is to attain a parity of will with nature. Emotions were to be shunned as they lead to bad decisions; being virtuous is all that is required to attain true happiness. They were essentially the Vulcan’s of the first century AD.

Suspicious of any new philosophies, the two groups agreed that Paul should be taken to the council of the Areopagus, a group that oversees ethical and religious concerns and especially visiting lecturers and education. While they may have considered Paul an “show-off” (a more literal translation of “babbler”), they didn’t take matters into their own hands. Instead they decided to bring Paul to the council and see what they made of his proclamations concerning this resurrected Messiah named Jesus, thinking it a new and unauthorized religion.

While the people of the Athens were suspicious of new philosophies and believed the best thinking grew out of the reasoning’s of brilliant men from long ago, there was a group that concerned themselves with nothing else but the latest and greatest of new religions and philosophies. The Athenians were far less uptight than their Roman counterparts regarding unapproved religions and were a perfect audience for Paul’s presentation of the gospel message.

While Paul may have been ignorant of the various schools of thought accepted by the Greeks, he decided to turn the tables on them and proclaim to them the “unknown god”, that is the God they were ignorant of. How did Paul couch the gospel to these educated foreigners? We’ll delve into that next week. For now it should be sufficient to say that all the varying philosophers would soon come to respect Paul’s ability to live out his beliefs, even if his beliefs were contrary to their own.

Not much has changed in the world between Paul’s time and our own. There are a great many philosophies regarding life and how it is best lived. Many of those philosophies continue to be based on the teachings of ancient Greeks. What the Athenians appreciated about Paul, and what the world continues to respect today, is a life that is consistent with the person’s stated beliefs. How often has it been said by unbelievers that the church is full of hypocrites? Are you one of them? Write down the top five beliefs of your Christian faith and write concrete ideas about how to live those beliefs at work and in your home. This is the kind of discipline that develops a genuine, sincere follower of Jesus.