ICEL Acts 17: Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship – and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. New International Version

ICEL Acts 17: ‘The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. New International Version

ICEL Acts 17: God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 “For in him we live and move and have our being.” As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.” 29 ‘Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by human design and skill. New International Version

ICEL Acts 17: In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.’ 32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, ‘We want to hear you again on this subject.’ 33 At that, Paul left the Council. New International Version

ICEL Acts 17: Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. New International Version

ICEL Conversion Acts of the Apostles 17:22-34 Jack McDonald M&Ms Anglican Church Leuven 29 June 2014

ICEL Last week: Robert Innes, next Anglican bishop in Europe: Keeping the Good News good! Today: If the Good News is good, what will follow? Conversion

ICEL Example of conversion is Paul preaching to the Athenians at the Areopagus in Athens.

ICEL Paul is very clever: 1. 1.He identifies common ground with the Athenians: language - Greek flattery ("I see how extremely religious you are in every way") awareness of their culture and texts ("For 'In him we live and move and have our being'... 'For we too are his offspring' " - Paul quotes from Greek Stoic philosophers and Aratus (d.240 BC)) natural theology common to all humans ("The God who made the world and everything in it... does not live in shrines made by human hands... he himself gives to mortals life and breath and all things... so they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him" - textbook natural theology!)!

ICEL Paul is very clever: 1. 1.He identifies common ground with the Athenians: 2. 2.Having established common ground, Paul then gives a clear, punchy Christian message: Clear summary of the Gospel ("Because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged 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 builds on universal natural theology with Christian revealed theology) offers them something real ("What therefore you worship as unknown, I now proclaim to you.") 3. 3.On this occasion, Paul expounds the Gospel of Jesus, but doesn't mention Jesus by name!

ICEL There are clear lessons to the modern church from Paul in Athens. This sermon is about one word, a key word: ) Metanoein ( μετανοε ῖ ν) Acts : "While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere... To repent (KJV, NIV, ESV) To turn away from their evil ways (GNB) To make a radical life-change (The Message) To rethink our lives (The Voice)

ICEL What does metanoein mean? English-speaking world has a problem! 1382: First English translation, by John Wycliffe, wasn't from Greek but from the Latin Bible ("Vulgate" translated by Jerome 382): he translated metanoein, via agere paenitentiam, as "do penance". 1525: William Tyndale (martyred in 1536 in Vilvoorde) translated metanoein as "repent", and almost all later English editions follow Tyndale.

ICEL What does metanoein mean? English-speaking mission has a problem! "Repent" is a religious jargon which can close people's ears. "Repent" has a connotation of guilt: any pastor will tell you that ideas of guilt can be explosive and corrosive in people's lives.

ICEL What does metanoein mean? Great Demonstration of metanoein by Jack McDonald!

ICEL Metanoein = To change your direction To change your mind To go in a new personal direction To convert

ICEL Metanoein is key in Martin Luther's thought:

ICEL Metanoein is key in Martin Luther's thought: Luther was a loyal and dutiful Augustinian monk and university professor of theology. He was obsessed by guilt, by the endless duty of doing penance to relieve guilt. Then he suddenly saw that the Gospel required him not to be guilty but to reorientate himself in relation to God and to be set free (Tower Experience 1519).

ICEL Our task in making the Good News of Jesus Christ good: Encourage conversion Encourage people changing direction Change direction about violence Change direction about desire Change direction about who God is Change direction about who Jesus is Change direction about death Change direction about life Imitate Paul Follow Jesus