Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Acts 17,22-34. Jubilate

Acts 17,22-34 2821

Jubilate 038

Mark, Evangelist, Martyr in Alexandria 68

25. April 2021

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, who of Your Fatherly goodness does suffer Your children to come under Your chastening rod here on earth, so that we may be like unto Your only-begotten Son in suffering and hereafter in glory: We beseech You, comfort us in temptations and afflictions by Your Holy Spirit, so that we may not fall into despair, but that we may continually trust in Your Son’s promise, so that our trials will endure but a little while, and will then be followed by eternal joy; so that we thus, in patient hope, may overcome all evil, and at last obtain eternal salvation. Amen. (Veit Dietrich)

2. »The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.«

3. Paul deliberately chose the Areopagus as the site upon which he would publicly preach the gospel to the Athenians because he knew the site’s importance to them. The Areopagus is the „Hill of Ares“ northwest of the Acropolis, which in classical times functioned as the chief homicide court of Athens. Ares was supposed to have been tried here by the gods for the murder of Poseidon’s son Alirrothios (a typical example of an aetiological (origin) myth). In The Eumenides of Aeschylus (458), the Areopagus is the site of the trial of Orestes for killing his mother (Clytemnestra) and her lover (Aegisthus). In Greek pagos means big piece of rock, and areios could have come from Ares or from the Erinyes, as on its foot was erected a temple dedicated to the Erinyes where murderers used to find shelter so as not to face the consequences of their actions.

4. When Paul preached to the Jews in their synagogues, he used their Scriptures as the foundation upon which he proclaims the gospel. The Athenians however had a limited or no knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, so Paul uses their Greek poets and philosophers as the foundation of preaching the gospel to them. Standing in the midst of the Areopagus, Paul said: »Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.« Paul reminded them of their Epimenides of Crete who wrote in 600 bc:

They fashioned a tomb for you, O holy and high Zeus,

Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.

But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,

For in you we live and move and have our being (Epimenides’ Cretica (Κρητικά)). [1]

Paul then refers to Aratus’ poem Phaenomena where he wrote in 300 bc:

Let us begin with Zeus, whom we mortals never leave unspoken.

For every street, every marketplace is full of Zeus.

Even the sea and the harbor are full of this deity.

Everywhere everyone is indebted to Zeus.

For we are indeed his offspring. [2]

Another poet, Cleanthus, also affirmed the last stanza in 300 bc. Paul then interprets the Greek poets by saying: »Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the Divine Being is like gold, silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.« Paul tells the Athenians: It is not Zeus who created the world and mankind, but it is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who created us in His Divine image. It is not Zeus who gives us life eternally and in whom we live and have our being, but it is the very resurrected Jesus who lives eternally and gives us eternal resurrection [3] life.

5. Paul told the Athenians: yes, you have been ignorant of a god, the Most High God, who is higher and mightier than your beloved Zeus. This unknown god is the God of the Jews and He sent His Son, not to punish you like Zeus’ sons Apollo and Ares were apt to do in fits of rage, but to die for you and rise again for you. Many of the Athenians who heard this mocked Paul for at that time Greek philosophy generally denied the resurrection of the dead. Rather they held to the Platonic [4] ideal that one’s soul lived on after death and forever left behind the inferior and corrupt body of flesh.

6. Nevertheless, Paul complemented the Athenians for being very religious. They had shrines and temples throughout the city for the gods of their myths. And Paul notes, they even had an alter to the unknown god. Apollodorus, Philostratus and Pausanias also mentioned this unknown god. Then Paul says: let me tell you about the unknown God; He is now the Known God and His name is Jesus Christ. As the law and the prophets prepared the Jews for the arrival of Jesus, so the poets and philosophers prepared the Greeks for the advent of Jesus. The Greeks were fond of wisdom, and Paul gives them the Wisdom who is Jesus. The Athenians receive Paul’s preaching until he tells them Jesus has risen from the dead. Some mocked and scoffed at Paul for belief in the resurrection. Those who scoffed at Paul were probably Athenians who held to the Epicurean philosophy. The Epicureans did not acknowledge a resurrection for they held that at death the soul is separated from the lusts of the body and is now at peace. But those Athenians who want to hear more about this resurrection were most likely Athenians who followed the Stoic philosophy, for Paul’s proclamation touched on several points of similarity with their own stoicism. Massimo Pigliucci (b. 1959), a modern stoic philosopher, gives a succinct description of Stoic philosophy as: „Briefly, their notion of morality is stern, involving a life in accordance with nature and controlled by virtue. It is an aesthetic system, teaching perfect indifference (apathea) to everything external, for nothing external could be either good or evil. Hence to the Stoics both pain and pleasure, poverty and riches, sickness and health, were supposed to be equally unimportant“ (thoughtco.com/stoics-and-moral-philosophy-4068536).

7. The establishment of the church in Athens is grounded upon the resurrection of Jesus, for some Athenians accepted Paul’s teaching about Jesus and His resurrection. In the immortal Jesus they lived, moved and had their being. They were indebted to Jesus. Jesus taught us in John 15: »Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit« (15,4-5).

8. Jesus then proclaimed: »Greater love has no one than this: that someone lay down his life for his friends« (John 15,13). Jesus laid down His life for both His friends and His enemies, yes, Jesus died for the whole world, for those who would believe in Him and for those who would reject Him. He then became the first fruits of those of the resurrection, for by His resurrection we will also be resurrected on the last day. His love and His forgiveness is for you. Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, our Life and Resurrection; preserve the lives of His saints in and with the gospel, so that we live in You. Amen.

1 Circa 600 bc, Epimenides said: „A grave has been fashioned for you, O holy and high one, the lying Cretans, who are all the time liars, vile beasts, idle bellies; but you do not die, for you live and stand eternally, for in you we live and move and have our being.“ The quote comes from his poem Radamanthus and Minos in which he puts the words in the mouth of Minos, the son of Zeus, regarding Cretans who said Zeus had been ripped apart by a bull, buried and is still in his grave.

2 Ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα, τὸν οὐδέποτ' ἄνδρες ἐῶμεν

ἄρρητον· μεσταὶ δὲ Διὸς πᾶσαι μὲν ἀγυιαί,

πᾶσαι δ' ἀνθρώπων ἀγοραί, μεστὴ δὲ θάλασσα

καὶ λιμένες· πάντη δὲ Διὸς κεχρήμεθα πάντες.

τοῦ γὰρ καὶ γένος εἰμέν. κτλ (Aratus, Phaenomena 1–5).

The poets Aratus and Cleanthus both made the assertion of stanza 5 in 300 bc.

3 αναστασις. The Epicureans presumably mocked Paul at this point in Acts 17,32 because they did not hold to a resurrection for in death the soul is at peace and separated from the lusts of the body, but the Stoics would be more willing to hear more from him as Paul’s proclamation touched on several points of similarity with their own philosophy.

4 Plato (428-347 bc) was an Athenian.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Monday, April 26, 2021

Acts 17,22-34. Jubilate

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