Title Paul's Areopagus Sermon/Acts 17:22-31
Content 1. Content:
World mission, God's plan, begins to be fulfilled through Paul's second evangelistic journey.
17:1-9 deals with Thessalonian evangelism, 10-15 deals with Berea evangelism, and 16-34 deals with Athens evangelism.
In this chapter, wherever Paul preaches the gospel, two groups of people (Jews and Gentiles) with different reactions appear, and in Paul's evangelism in Athens, an appropriate method according to the situation was taken into consideration to benefit the mission.
When looking at Areopagus's sermons, Paul took into account the religious and philosophical passion of the Athenians and drew the subject from there.
Knowing that there were Epicurus and Stoic philosophers among his audience, he found the phainomena of the Stoic poet aratus (315-240 B.C.) and the Cretan poet epimenides (6 C.
The sermon proceeded by citing articles they knew well, such as cretica in the 4th line of the poem.
In particular, he tried to approach the audience through a highly ethical and religious Stoic philosophy.
know what you did
* Percy Gadner argued that Paul's sermons in Areopagus contradicted Romans 1.
It is said to be the most unreliable of Paul's sermons in Acts.
2. Content Analysis:
+- Introduction:22-23 -- Attempts at the point of contact between religiosity and the unknown god
+- Body: 24-29 -- God the Creator, Lord of Heaven and Earth
+- Conclusion: 30-31 -- Jesus Christ the Savior
1) Introduction:
Paul refers to the Athenians that they need to be taught about God.
Use the expression "religious".
This is because there were many temples and gods in Athens, and this expression can be understood as a criticism of their reckless superstitious attitude rather than a praise for their piety or religious orientation.
The KJV translates to "too superstitious" and the NIV translates it to "very religeous".
In verse 23, the cry of the altar, “The Unknown God” ( ), can be seen all over Attica, Greece (disgenes period: early 3rd century AD).
It can be seen that the Athenians had a religious zeal to be protected from the curse of unknown gods.
"Religiousness" and "unknown God" became the point of contact of Paul who wanted to inform and convey the one true God.
Instead of establishing a point of contact with them by citing Jewish history or the Old Testament, Paul was trying to preach the gospel with this Greek background.
However, it can be said that Paul did not here identify the God he was preaching with the "unknown god" engraved on the altar.
Rather, since Paul acknowledged that the Athenians themselves were ignorant of the nature of God, he declared that he would tell the truth about that nature.
2) Body:
Paul's priesthood:
Verse 24:
God is not a God among many Greek gods, but He is the only one,
As the Creator of all things, it is a omniscient battle that cannot be limited to temples built by human hands.
He is an omnipotent, omnipresent God.
Verse 25:
As a perfect and full God who lacks in the slightest,
It refers to being the owner.
Verse 26:
God the Creator created mankind as one blood, and
He is an ordained God.
Verses 27-29:
God is the Creator and Almighty God, and this God is near
As a God of revelation, our lives depend on God.
In addition, by mentioning that human beings were created in the holy image of God, the novelty
It shows the attributes of God.
3) Conclusion:
Verses 30-31:
Paul's sermons focus on the progressive revelation of God's redemption and the culmination of redemption in Jesus Christ.
Therefore, his sermons gradually lead to the proclamation of God's commandments and a call to make a decision. The "unknown age" refers to the time before God's revelation was fully revealed through Christ, and God "has not broken" the weakness of life have mercy on
As a merciful God who waits for the time of repentance rather than judgment, in the "unknown age"
He endured even idolatry and continued to reveal himself through nature, but now Christ has come into the world, he atoned for the sins of mankind, and the gospel message is being witnessed throughout the world. It indicates that we must stop and believe in and serve God, the Lord of all.
Also, Paul is speaking of the “ordained man” (verse 31), the Son of man Christ, who came into the world, died and rose again for mankind, and judges the world with justice.
3.Features:
1) Comparison between Paul's sermons and Greek philosophy
+----------------------------------+-------------- --------------------------+
| Paul's Sermon | Greek Philosophical Thinking |
+----------------------------------+-------------- --------------------------+
| 1) There is only one God | Pantheism: Stoic Philosophy |
+----------------------------------+-------------- --------------------------+
| 2) God is the Creator | Everything in the world has existed since eternity |
| | Accidental Set of Atoms: Epicurus Philosophy|
+----------------------------------+-------------- --------------------------+
| 3) Mankind was created from one God | Attica people from the soil of mainland attica |
| and descendants of the same ancestry | We pride ourselves on being different from others |
+----------------------------------+-------------- --------------------------+
| 4) God has created all of mankind's lives | God is not involved in human affairs: |
| Providence | Epicurus Naturalism |
+----------------------------------+-------------- --------------------------+
| 5) God is Lord of Heaven and Earth | Can God be Happy with Human Sacrifice |
| | and human hand carved gods |
| | can create |
+----------------------------------+-------------- --------------------------+
-3-
2) Paul's Areopagus sermons were improvised (?) not included in Paul's evangelism plan.
It can be seen that this is because Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy, and idols spread throughout the city.
It can be said that he preached after seeing this fullness. (Acts 17:15,16)
3) Paul's sermons are more philosophical, logical, and within Christian apologetics than preaching elsewhere.
It has comparative religious tendencies.
4. Conclusion:
In contrast to his attitude at Lystra, Paul took a gradual approach that focused the attention of the Athenians and made them realize that they had something to learn.
Paul continues his sermon technically and logically. He tried to preach a philosophically appealing sermon by citing the poems of Greek poets and showing his knowledge of Greek philosophy and literature.
However, the audience's reaction was poor, and the results were only as expected (v. 34).
The fact that the lives of Athens almost did not respond to the Gospel that Paul preached indicates that they had a prejudice against the Gospel and Paul.
It can be seen that Paul himself admitted that his philosophical preaching had little effect and decided to testify only to the cross of Jesus Christ in Corinth (1 Corinthians 2:2).
This is a good example of how important the Word of God itself is in the gospel witness.
Through Paul's Areopagus sermons, we can find that the audience, the object of the gospel, and the given circumstances are very diverse. However, it can be seen that the core of the gospel is only the resurrection of Jesus Christ and faith in him. The content of the gospel can never change, but it must be flexible according to the circumstances. It is not the gospel and faith that is influenced by the environment, but a firm faith based on the Word is needed, and worldly knowledge is not everything.
We must become the life of an evangelist who bears witness to the gospel without losing prophetic courage and challenging attitude with the attitude of sowing the seeds of the gospel.
* Reference book
Bruce, Commentary on Acts, Seoul: Agape Publishing House 1988
Comprehensive Commentary on Hookma, Seoul: The Christian Wisdom, 1991
Lee Sang-geun, Commentary on Acts, Seoul: Ministry of Education, General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, 1971
Yunseon Park, Commentary on Acts, Seoul: Yeongeumsa, 1975
Irving Jensen, Study on Acts, Seoul: Agape Publishing House, 1981