5. What was the setting in which Paul gave his speech to the Athenians? (Have Acts 17:16-31 read.)

⁵ Paul’s speech is indeed powerful and deserving of our careful consideration. Surrounded as we are by gross injustices, we can learn much from it. First note the setting, which you can read at Acts 17:16-21. The Athenians were proud to live in a famous center of learning, where Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle had taught. Athens was also a very religious city. All around him Paul could see idols​—those of the war god Ares, or Mars; of Zeus; of Aesculapius, the god of medicine; of the violent sea-god, Poseidon; of Dionysus, Athena, Eros, and others.

A Challenging Audience

8. (a) What beliefs and views marked the Epicureans? (b) What did the Stoics believe?

⁸ Some Jews and Greeks listened with interest, but how would the influential Epicurean and Stoic philosophers react? As you will see, their ideas were similar in many respects to common beliefs today, even ones taught to youths in school. The Epicureans urged living so as to obtain as much pleasure as possible, especially mental pleasure. Their ‘eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’ philosophy was characterized by absence of principle and virtue. (1 Corinthians 15:32) They did not believe that gods created the universe; instead, they held that life came about by accident in a mechanical universe. Furthermore, the gods were not interested in men. What of the Stoics? They stressed logic, believing that matter and force were elemental principles in the universe. Stoics imagined an impersonal deity, rather than believing in God as a Person. They also felt that fate governed human affairs.

9. Why was Paul’s situation a challenging one in which to preach?

⁹ How did such philosophers respond to Paul’s public teaching? Curiosity mixed with mental arrogance was an Athenian trait then, and these philosophers began to argue with Paul. Finally, they took him to the Areopagus. Above Athens’ marketplace, but below the towering Acropolis, was a rocky hill named for the god of war, Mars, or Ares, hence Mars’ Hill, or the Areopagus. In ancient times, a court or council met there. Paul may well have been taken to a court of justice, perhaps assembled with a view of the impressive Acropolis and its famous Parthenon as well as other temples and statues. Some think that the apostle was at risk because Roman law forbade introducing new gods. But even if Paul was taken to the Areopagus merely to clarify his beliefs or to display whether he was a qualified teacher, he faced a formidable audience. Could he expound his vital message without alienating them?

“16 Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit within him came to be irritated at beholding that the city was full of idols. 17 Consequently he began to reason in the synagogue with the Jews and the other people who worshiped God and every day in the marketplace with those who happened to be on hand. 18 But certain ones of both the Epicurean and the Stoic philosophers took to conversing with him controversially, and some would say: ‘What is it this chatterer would like to tell?’ Others: ‘He seems to be a publisher of foreign deities.’ This was because he was declaring the good news of Jesus and the resurrection. 19 So they laid hold of him and led him to the Areopagus, saying: ‘Can we get to know what this new teaching is which is spoken by you? 20 For you are introducing some things that are strange to our ears. Therefore we desire to get to know what these things purport to be.’ 21 In fact, all Athenians and the foreigners sojourning there would spend their leisure time at nothing but telling something or listening to something new. 22 Paul now stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said: