God’s Word for You
Acts 17:19-21 The door
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, October 16, 2020
19 Then they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to new ideas.)
“Areopagus” is Greek for “Hill of Mars.” Mars or Ares was the Greek god of war, cleverly depicted in mythology as a bully, a coward and an adulterer. The ‘hill’ is really a huge white outcrop of stone with nearly vertical sides 15 to 40 feet above the sloping ground below, some 25 or 30 yards across, standing a little south of the city marketplace. In ancient times, it was the location of city court. In Paul’s time, the court was moved to a covered area of the marketplace, but Paul may well have been taken to the actual stone outcropping, since it was a place where a man could speak to a large group and be heard by all.
At this moment, they opened the door to the gospel. Their polite words gave Paul the opportunity to do two things. First, he had an audience to preach the complete gospel of Christ crucified for our sins and the resurrection to eternal life. Second, by saying that “we want to know what they mean,” they were inviting Paul to explain the gospel in a deeper way, applying it to their hearts, if possible. Many of the Greek philosophers who were present would probably be deaf to much of what Paul would say, tolerating him with amused patience as they prepared to formulate counter arguments in their minds as he spoke. But Paul was hoping that there might be someone who would really listen to him.
Luke takes a moment to explain to us that this is what the Athenian philosophers always did. With little or no original thought taking place in a city that prided itself on its deep thinking, they were hungry and thirsty for anything at all that seemed new.
The door to sharing the gospel isn’t always easy to see. But remember that when you want to talk about Jesus with someone, you don’t need to be able to answer every single question they might have. Your Sunday school faith and your basic knowledge of God’s plan will carry you through. One of the best things you can do is to say that you believe the words of the creed: “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” That statement all by itself will become like a pebble in their shoe. They will start to think about it all the time: They met someone who believes in the resurrection of the human body from the dead. How can that happen? What do I have to do? Remember the question of the jailer up in Philippi: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Even if your audience is as skeptical as a room of Greek philosophers, there might be someone there who will wonder, truly wonder, and will want to know about Jesus. That’s the door being opened, and whether it’s through you or someone else, God will provide the answer.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.