7 September 2024

As with St. Peter, so with St. Paul. He preached a very eloquent sermon in Athens. Whilst he is there, he preaches in the synagogue with the Jews and in the market-place ‘with those who happened to be there’. He debates with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers and is taken to the Areopagus, a high court on top of a hill, where he preaches his most famous sermon.

He begins with the perfect opening illustration. Having been distressed by all the idols in the city, he praises the Athenians for being ‘extremely religious’ and focuses their attention on the altar with the inscription, ‘To An Unknown God’.

Turning this upon its head, he eloquently declares, ‘What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is God of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands …’

He not only illustrates his sermon with references to the city but also Greek poetry. His sermon centres on the resurrection of Christ and it has a clear message of repentance. At one point, he describes the spiritual life as a search for God in which we ‘perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us’.

The sermon is not only challenging but encouraging. Whilst it didn’t produce three thousand converts, there were at least two new communicants – Dionysius, the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris! We cannot determine the numbers. This is God’s work and he calls both men and women into his Kirk and even celebrates them in Raphael’s priceless art!

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