Veni Vidi Preachi - He Came, He Saw, He Preached
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15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
In Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of 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 would like 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 the latest ideas.)
22 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.
24 “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. 27 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.’[b] 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. 30 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. 34 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.
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12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
The thought came to me when I was reading this passage, that it is structured a bit like the famous Julius Caesar quote “Veni Vidi Vichi,” I came I saw, I conquered. In St Paul’s case, He came, He saw, He preached veni, vidi, preachi
1 He Came - Where Paul had come to (a geographical context)
2 He Saw - What Paul Saw (his discernment)
3 He Preached - What Paul Said (preachi)
He Came
Athens was a cultural capital of the world. The Agora was known as a ‘marketplace’ but far more than that. It was the main public space in Athens (and in Greece). Crowds went there (modern-day tourists still go there. I (KB) was there in 1978). It was a marketplace for Art, Business, Philosophy etc.. Paul goes there because his faith is not a private faith. Today society expects our faith to be private (keep it to yourself). You can believe you are saved, fulfilled, at peace, Christian but keep it private.
Paul didn’t go just where the believers were, he went where people were, he went to a hotbed of paganism, there was a god for everything, but it wasn’t the done thing to tell others they need your god. There was an expectation to keep it to yourself - private.
When Paul was at the Areopagus he raised his voice to say Jesus is the only true way. That is a challenge for us today to pray for boldness to speak of the risen Jesus as the Good news for all people.
He Saw
Statues: Aphrodite (of beauty) (North West Agora), Apollo (of healing, Art & Music), Ares (Areopagus - The Hill of Ares) was the god of War and Power), Parthenon (a tribute to virgin goddesses). There were statues all over the Agora. But Paul noticed something deeper. Underneath all the art all the finance, the philosophy, the Political power; was IDOLATRY. The real problem was not bad things but what good things had become. Idols. Paul also spoke about this to the Romans.
Rom1:22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being….
We can make an idol out of anything; job, sport, art, home, cars even family. All good things but when it becomes your meaning and purpose of life it is an idol. Barry White sang ‘My first, my last my everything.’
For Christians, Jesus is our meaning and purpose, our everything. You can still have passion for these things, sports, garden, family but you do them differently ‘as unto God.’ Colossians 3:23 ‘Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to people.’ Everything is for God, God comes first. Paul saw idolatry in everything around him and Acts 17:16 says he was greatly distressed. John Stott called it ‘Holy jealousy.’ Pray that we will see as Paul saw and be attuned to God’s holy jealousy. Let us challenge ourselves to notice and react as Paul did, and see idols everywhere; music, art, sport, philosophy, academia. Pray in those situations and proclaim the truth we know - Jesus.
He Preached
He Preachi the good news (v18) of Jesus, his life, death and the resurrection and called them to repentance (Acts 17:30).
There was a pandemic in Athens, 600 BC and Greek/Cretian Philosopher Epimenides had a brain wave - release a flock of sheep in the city and wherever they lay down they were to be sacrificed to the nearest statue of a god. If they lay down near no god the sheep was sacrificed to ‘the unknown god’(Wm Barclay Illustration). Epimenides born in 596BC was a contempory of Pythagoras who was born 570BC
Paul quotes Epimenides the Greek Philosopher who wrote about God: ‘In him, we live and move and have our being.’
But the God Paul speaks of is not a distant God. The resurrection is proof that the risen Christ is a personal/relational saviour, not an unknown god: a risen Lord. The Ascension is proof that the Risen Christ is at the Right Hand of the Father. Pentecost is the proof that the Holy Spirit of truth (John 16:13) has come and dwells within us when we open our hearts to him. Paul Preached the importance of a personal relationship with the living Jesus. He said the altar of an unknown god was impersonal, hard and cold as marble.
Our Lord Jesus is a friend like no other. Is that how you feel about him too?
What a friend I've found,
Closer than a brother,
I have felt your touch,
More intimate than lovers,
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, friend forever Delirious!
