Athens

Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens. He was very upset to see that the city was full of statues of gods. So he went to the synagogue. There he talked with Jews and with Greeks who worshiped God. Each day he spoke with anyone who happened to be in the market place. A group of Epicurean and Stoic thinkers began to argue with him. Some of them asked, “What is this fellow chattering about?” Others said, “He seems to be telling us about gods we’ve never heard of.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus. He was telling them that Jesus had risen from the dead. (Acts of the Apostles chapter 17 written by Luke, a physician, around AD 70, New International readers Version)

Around AD 51, Paul was a Jewish follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, a Roman citizen, and a very able man. Epicureans and Stoics represent, to this day, two branches of philosophy that concern human happiness and the good life. They took him to a meeting of the Areopagus. There they said to him, “What is this new teaching you’re giving us? You have some strange ideas. We’ve never heard them before. We want to know what they mean.” All the people of Athens spent their time talking about and listening to the latest ideas. People from other lands who lived there did the same. The Areopagus was the most prestigious and politically powerful institution in Athens exercising governmental and judicial powers. Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus. He said, “Men of Athens! I see that you are very religious in every way. As I walked around, I looked carefully at the things you worship. I even found an altar with To an Unknown God written on it. Now I am going to tell you about this ‘unknown god’ that you worship. He is the God who made the world. He also made everything in it. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn’t live in temples built by hands. He is not served by human hands. He doesn’t need anything. He himself gives life and breath to all people. He also gives them everything else they have.”
The Areopagus included religious, highly-intelligent philosophers, aware of their known unknowns about the maker of the world and the Lord of heaven and earth. They probably also feared their unknown unknowns.	.
“From one man he made all the people of the world. Now they live all over the earth. He decided exactly when they should live. And he decided exactly where they should live. God did this so that people would seek him. Then perhaps they would reach out for him and find him. They would find him even though he is not far from any of us. ‘In him we live and move and exist.’ As some of your own poets have also said, ‘We are his children.’” “From one man …” A reference to Adam and Eve. Because when and where people live is decided by the Lord of heaven and earth, those who reach out to him are able to find him. “Yes, we are God’s children. So we shouldn’t think that God is made out of gold or silver or stone. He isn’t a statue planned and made by clever people. In the past, God didn’t judge people for what they didn’t know. But now he commands all people everywhere to turn away from their sins. He has set a day when he will judge the world fairly. He has appointed a man to be its judge. God has proved this to all people by raising that man from the dead.”
Because there is a day when the Lord of heaven and earth will “judge people”, that Lord “commands all people everywhere to turn away from their sins”.	.
The Lord of heaven and earth has appointed “a man” to judge “fairly” “all people everywhere.” Neither Biden, nor Xi Jinping nor Putin will be the judge. The Lord of heaven and earth raised Jesus from the dead. This “has proved … to all people” that Jesus – and no other man - will be the judge. When they heard Paul talk about the dead rising, some of them made fun of it. But others said, “We want to hear you speak about this again.” So Paul left the meeting of the Areopagus. A few men became followers of Paul and believed in Jesus. Dionysius was one of them. He was a member of the Areopagus. A woman named Damaris also became a believer. And so did some others. Dionysius, member at the time of the illustrious Areopagus, is today revered in memory as the patron saint of Athens with two basilicas there named after him. Neither he nor Damaris are there. We know where they both are.

Sinner Syvret

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