Paul Preaches in Berea and Athens

This chapter is based on Acts 17:11-34. 

At Berea Paul found Jews who were willing to investigate the truth. “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.” 4TC 121.2

The Bereans studied the Bible—not from curiosity, but to learn what was written there about the promised Messiah. As they compared scripture with scripture each day, heavenly angels enlightened their minds. 4TC 121.3

Today, if those who hear unpopular Bible truths proclaimed would follow the example of the Bereans, there would be a large number loyal to God’s law. But when these truths are presented, many are reluctant to study the evidences offered. Some assume that even if these doctrines are true, it is not important whether they accept the new light. In this way they become separated from heaven. Those who are sincerely seeking for truth will, in the light of God’s Word, carefully investigate the doctrines presented to them. 4TC 122.1

Filled with hatred, the unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica followed the apostles to Berea and stirred up the rabble’s excitable passions against them. The believers were afraid there would be violence, so they sent Paul to Athens, accompanied by some Bereans who had recently accepted the faith. The enemies of Christ could not prevent the gospel from going forward, but they made the work of the apostles very hard. Yet Paul pressed steadily onward. 4TC 122.2

When Paul arrived in Athens, he sent the Berean believers back with a message to Silas and Timothy to join him immediately. Timothy had come to Berea before Paul left there, and he had remained with Silas to teach the new converts. 4TC 122.3

The Great City of Paganism

Athens was the capital city of heathenism. Here Paul met with a people famous for their intelligence and culture. Statues of gods and deified heroes met the eye everywhere, while magnificent architecture and paintings represented national glory and the worship of heathen gods. The senses of the people were charmed by splendid works of art. Massive sanctuaries and temples involving immense expense were everywhere. Sculptures and shrines commemorated victories in war and the deeds of celebrated men. 4TC 122.4

As Paul looked at the beauty and saw the city completely engrossed in idolatry, his spirit was stirred, and his heart went out in pity to the people who. Despite their culture, they were ignorant of the true God. Paul’s spiritual nature was so much alive to the beauty of heavenly things that the glory of the riches that will never perish made the splendor surrounding him look valueless in his eyes. As he saw the magnificence of Athens, he was deeply impressed with the importance of the work before him. 4TC 122.5

While he waited for Silas and Timothy, Paul was not idle. He “reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the market place daily with those who happened to be there.” But the apostle was soon to meet paganism in its most subtle, alluring form. 4TC 123.1

As an unusual teacher, Paul was setting new and strange doctrines before the people. Some of the great men of Athens found Paul and started talking with him. Soon a crowd gathered. Some ridiculed the apostle as someone far beneath them socially and intellectually. They jeered, “‘What does this babbler want to say?’ Others said, ‘He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.’” 4TC 123.2

The Epicurean and Stoic philosophers and others who came in contact with him soon saw that Paul had a store of knowledge greater than their own. His intellectual power commanded the respect of the educated, while his earnest, logical reasoning held the attention of all in the audience. He was able to meet all classes with convincing arguments. So the apostle stood unflinching, matching logic with logic, philosophy with philosophy. 4TC 123.3

His heathen opponents reminded him about the fate of Socrates, who introduced strange gods and had been condemned to death. They counseled Paul not to endanger his life in the same way. But when they saw that he was determined to accomplish his errand among them and to tell his story no matter the cost, they decided to give him a fair hearing on Mars’ Hill. 4TC 123.4

Paul’s Impressive Oration on Mars’ Hill

This was one of the most sacred spots in Athens, regarded with a superstitious reverence. In this place men who acted as judges on moral as well as civil questions often carefully considered matters connected with religion. Here, away from the noise and bustle of crowded streets, they could hear the apostle without interruption. Poets, artists, philosophers—the scholars and sages of Athens—addressed him: “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.” 4TC 123.5

The apostle was calm and self-possessed, and his words convinced his hearers that he was no shallow babbler. “Men of Athens,” he said, “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: 4TC 124.1

To The Unknown God

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you.” With all their general knowledge, they were ignorant of the God who created the universe. Yet some were longing for greater light. 4TC 124.2

With his hand outstretched toward the temple crowded with idols, Paul exposed the errors of the Athenians’ religion. His hearers were astonished. He showed that he was familiar with their art, their literature, and their religion. Pointing to their statues and idols, he declared that God could not be compared to these graven images. These images had no life, moving only when human hands moved them, and those who worshiped them were superior in every way to the things they worshiped. 4TC 124.3

Paul drew the minds of his hearers to the Deity whom they had called the “Unknown God.” This Being needed nothing from human efforts to add to His power and glory. 4TC 124.4

The people were carried away with admiration for Paul’s logical presentation of the attributes of the true God. Eloquently the apostle declared: “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. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” 4TC 124.5

In that age when human rights were often unrecognized, Paul proclaimed that God “made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” All are equal, and every human being owes supreme allegiance to the Creator. Then the apostle showed how, through all God’s dealings with humanity, His purpose of grace and mercy runs like a thread of gold. He “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.” 4TC 124.6

With words borrowed from one of their own poets he pictured God as a Father, whose children they were. “‘In Him we live and move and have our being,’” he declared; “as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 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.” 4TC 125.1

The Great Philosophers Rejected the Gospel

In the ages of darkness before the birth of Christ, the divine Ruler had not held the heathen fully responsible for their idol worship, But now He expected repentance, not only from the poor and humble, but from the proud philosophers and princes. “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.” As Paul spoke of the resurrection from the dead, “some mocked, while others said, ‘We will hear you again on this matter.’” 4TC 125.2

So the Athenians, clinging to their idols, turned from the light. Boasting of their learning and refinement, they were becoming more corrupt and more content with the vague mysteries of idol worship. 4TC 125.3

Some who listened to Paul were convicted, but they would not humble themselves to accept the plan of salvation. No eloquence, no argument, can convert the sinner. The power of God alone can make the truth go straight to the heart. The Greeks sought after wisdom, yet to them the message of the cross was foolishness. 4TC 125.4

In their pride of intellect we can find the reason why the gospel met with little success among the Athenians. Worldly-wise people who come to Christ as lost sinners will become wise unto salvation, but those who boast of their own wisdom will fail to receive the light and knowledge that He alone can give. 4TC 125.5

In this way Paul met the paganism of his day. His labors in Athens were not entirely fruitless. Dionysius, one of the most prominent citizens, and some others accepted the gospel. 4TC 125.6

The Athenians, with all their knowledge, refinement, and art, still were sunken in vice. Through His servant, God rebuked the sins of a proud, self-sufficient people. The words of the apostle, as recorded by the inspired writer, bear witness to his courage in loneliness and opposition and to the victory he gained for Christianity in the very heart of paganism. 4TC 126.1

Truth to Be Taught Tactfully

If Paul’s stirring speech had been a direct attack on the gods and the great men of the city, he would have been in danger of being executed like Socrates. But with a tact that came from divine love, he carefully drew their minds away from heathen gods by revealing the true God to them. 4TC 126.2

Today the truths of Scripture are to be brought to the attention of the great men of the world, so that they can choose between obedience to God’s law and allegiance to the prince of evil. God does not force them to accept truth, but if they turn from it, He leaves them to be filled with the fruit of their own choices. 4TC 126.3

“The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” (1 Corinthians 1:18, 27.) Many great scholars and statesmen, the world’s most eminent people, will turn from the light in these last days. Yet God’s servants are to communicate the truth to these men and women. Some will take their places as humble learners at the feet of Jesus, the Master Teacher. 4TC 126.4

In the darkest hour there is light above. Day by day God will renew the strength of those who love and serve Him. He places His own infinite understanding at their service, so that they will not go wrong. The light of God’s truth is to shine amid the darkness that enfolds our world. 4TC 126.5

There is to be no discouragement in God’s service. God is able and willing to give His servants the strength they need, and He will more than fulfill the highest expectations of those who put their trust in Him. 4TC 126.6