The Acts of the Apostles Acts 17 – Gospel Persuasion, Prejudice And Pride Sunday – May 20, 2018 Many of the slides used in this presentation are prepared by Joe Price and are used and adapted with his permission.

Paul’s Second Preaching Trip Acts 15:41-18:22 Bithynia Mysia Galatia Phrygia Asia Cilicia Syria Paul’s Second Preaching Trip Acts 15:41-18:22

Athens: Ignorance City of Athens: Filled with idols. Acts 17:16 – “It is easier to find a god in Athens than a man.” (Roman Satirist Bloomfield) Acts 17:21, “(Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.)”

Athens: Ignorance City of Athens: Filled with learning and philosophy. Philosophy is a way of thinking about the world, the universe, and society. It works by asking very basic questions about the nature of human thought, the nature of the universe, and the connections between them. QUESTIONS: What is the nature of the universe? What is the purpose of man? What is truth? How do you determine what is right and wrong?

Athens: Ignorance City of Athens: Filled with learning and philosophy. Epicurean: Acts 17:18 – This sect of philosophers was so named from Epicurus, who lived about 300 years before the Christian era. They denied that the world was created by God, and that the gods exercised any care or providence over human affairs, and also the immortality of the soul (No existence after this life). End of living was pleasure … Freedom from trouble, tranquility.

Athens: Ignorance Stoics: The Stoics derived their teaching from Zeno (342-270 BC). His followers were called Stoics because he taught in a stoa (colonnade or covered passageway) in Athens. Everything guided by fate, even God. Reason guides life. Virtue its own reward, vice its own punishment. Denied the immortality of the soul. That the passions and affections were to be suppressed and restrained; that happiness consisted in the insensibility of the soul to pain; and that a man should gain an absolute mastery over all the passions and affections of his nature. Pantheist: Pantheism is the view that the world is either identical to God, or an expression of God’s nature. It comes from “pan” meaning all, and “theism,” which means belief in God. So according to pantheism, “God is everything and everything is God.” https://www.philosophytalk.org/blog/pantheism

Athens: Ignorance Epicurean: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” cf. Luke 12:19; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:32 Stoic: They were stern in their views of virtue, and, like the Pharisees, prided themselves on their own righteousness. In both schools, the concept of the eternity of matter precluded any idea of creation or final judgment. Consequently, the Greeks had no concept of morality and sin as we know it. Their definition of right or wrong was not based on a moral standard.

Athens: Ignorance City of Athens: Filled with learning and philosophy. REVIEW: Philosophy is a way of thinking about the world, the universe, and society. It works by asking very basic questions about the nature of human thought, the nature of the universe, and the connections between them. HOW DO YOU ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS: What is the nature of the universe? What is the purpose of man? What is truth? How do you determine what is right and wrong?

Athens: Ignorance Greece: Athens, Acropolis The famous Acropolis at Athens was built as a home for Athena (daughter of Zeus), the patron goddess of the city.

Athens: Ignorance Greece: Athens, Acropolis, Nike Temple The Temple of Nike located on the Acropolis at Athens. Nike was the goddess of victory. She was looked to as a mediator of success between gods and men.

Athens: Ignorance

Athens: Ignorance Greece: Athens, Acropolis, Parthenon The Parthenon, located on the Acropolis at Athens, is the main temple of the Greek goddess Athena. The name "Parthenon" comes from the term Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). Athena Parthenos was the patron goddess of the city.

Athens: Ignorance The Propylaea is the only entryway into the Acropolis at its western end, and the only opening in the surrounding wall. It was built mostly of pentelic marble. Mars Hill or the Areopagus (one of the places the Apostle Paul preached in Athens) was located at the western approach to the Acropolis.

Athens: Ignorance The Temple of Zeus at Athens. Zeus was the chief god of the pantheon. He was a sky and weather god who is identified with the Roman god Jupiter. Zeus sent lightning, thunder, rain and wind. The thunderbolt was his main weapon. He was the father, ruler and protector of gods and men.

Athens: Ignorance City of Athens: Filled with learning and philosophy. QUESTIONS: What is the nature of the universe? What is the purpose of man? What is truth? How do you determine what is right and wrong?

Mars Hill: Gospel Answers Human Philosophy and Idolatry Emphasis on The Unknown (agnoostos) God -Creative, 17:24 -Self-sustaining, 17:25 -Ruling, 17:26 -Purposeful, 17:27-28 -Merciful and authoritative, 17:29-30 -Judge, 17:31