An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 17:22-34, with the title of “Believe,” for Sunday, October 13, 2024. A video version of this lesson is available on YouTube at : (pending publication today)

INTRO: On June 26, 1963, during the height of the Cold War, John F. Kennedy gave a speech in Berlin Germany, while Berlin was surrounded by the Soviet Union and East Germany. Twice in his speech Kennedy used the phrase, “Ich bin ein Berliner” (pronounced “ish bin ein Bear-leener” as Kennedy had it in his notes!) “I am a Berliner”. Why would he do that? He was seeking to “connect” with his audience, of almost half a million citizens of the embattled city.

It’s the same reason that Kamala Harris, J.D. Vance, and Tim Walz keep saying things like: “I grew up in middle class family.” They’re using that phrase attempting to “connect” with their audience. 

Today in our passage from Acts 17 we see how the Apostle Paul used something he saw in the culture around him in Athens Greece to connect with his audience there. 

CONTEXT

Paul, Silas and company are on what is called the Second Missionary Journey. Last time in Chapter 16 we saw how God closed the door for them to minister any more in Asia (modern Turkey) but led them to go to Europe. They went to Philippi, where they had the first convert to Christianity in Europe, Lydia, and then were arrested and led the Philippian jailer and his family to Christ before leaving town. 

Chapter 17 opens with them evangelizing in Thessalonica, where some people were saved before the Jews drove them out, and the same thing happened at Berea. 

Again, I think it’s important for you to have a map like this so your  group can see where these places are, and give them a mental picture:

In :16 Paul had now come to Athens, the great cultural center and city of Greece, and he was waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him. Verses 16-21 tell how Paul started talking to some of the Greeks, first in the synagogue and then in the marketplace, so they took him to the “Areopagus” where they asked him to share with them about this new belief he was proclaiming. 

Areopagus literally means “Hill of Ares,” the Greek god of war. In Greek mythology Ares was tried for murder on this hill — really a rocky marble hill next to the famous Parthenon in Athens. The Romans call Ares “Mars,” so many call this “Mars Hill.” It’s a place where murder trials were held, so a lot of people would gather here — it was a good place to speak to a lot of people. 

On this picture you can see the Parthenon at the top, and the white, rocky place at the bottom with the tourists on it, is the  Areopagus, or Mars Hill.

This is where Paul spoke his message there, which is the bulk of our focus passage in Acts 17 this week.

OUTLINE

I. The Connection (:22-23)

II. The Message (Witness) (:24-31)

III. The Response (:32-34)

TEXT:

I. THE CONNECTION  (:22-23)

22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.”

What did Paul do here? Just like John Kennedy, just like speakers today, he found something in the culture around him that everyone was aware of, that he could refer to as a link that would “connect” him with them as his audience, and might make them more apt to listen to his message. 

There are a lot of ways that Christians in general can connect with people today:

— Through literature. C.S. Lewis in Surprised By Joy wrote:  

“In reading Chesterton, as in reading MacDonald, I did not know what I was letting myself in for. A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere — “Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,” as Herbert says, “fine nets and stratagems.” God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.”

— Sports heroes might be another. There are many Christians in college and pro sports who might give someone a “nudge” to listen to the message. 

— Through disasters: SBC Disaster Relief, Samaritan’s Purse give great opportunities to connect with people.

You/your group can think of many others. This should be part of each of our churches’ strategies too: we should each ask ourselves as churches: “What can we do as a church to ‘connect’ with people in our community?” that will build a bridge for us to share the gospel with them.

There are almost unlimited ways that we can connect with people in our culture. The important thing is for us to purposefully try to do it! 

I know a couple who just moved to Bulgaria and bought a home in a city there in order to reach people for Christ. They are actively seeking ways to “connect” with people in that city. The wife is connecting with people through a ministry to special needs children. The husband is connecting with people as he seeks to repair and update their home, and he invites people to help him. The children are also connecting with other children and families as they make friends. In all these ways this couple is seeking to build bridges and connect to the people around them.

We may think, “Yes, this is what missionaries do.” We expect them to do that. But what we need to realize is that this is what we should ALL be doing, wherever we are. ALL of God’s people are to be ambassadors for Christ; some are ambassadors for Christ in foreign countries; others of us are ambassadors for Christ here in the States. But we all have the same assignment! We are all to seek to connect to people in the culture around us, to reach people for Him. 

So a good question you can ask to help your group apply this scripture would be: ??? “What are some ways WE could seek to build bridges to people right here where we are in our culture today???”

Is there something we individually can do? Is there something that we as a class could do? What can our church do? Make sure you apply this message.  Let’s seek to connect to people in the culture around us, to seek to reach them for Christ, just like Paul did here in Athens. 

II. THE MESSAGE (:24-31)

:24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

You could either point out some highlights/OR you could ask your class to call out: “What all do you see here that Paul explained to the Athenians about the true God?” You might make sure to include the following:

— First, he calls Him “The God who made the world and all things in it.” This is foundational to who God is. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” God made everything. The Hebrew word “bara” in Genesis 1:1 is only used of God. Only He creates “ex nihilo,” “out of nothing.” Because He is our Creator, He is our authority; we owe everything to Him; we are accountable to Him. 

John Quincy Adams (son of President John Adams, and who would become president himself) wrote to his son George from his ambassadorship in Russia:

“It is so obvious to every reasonable being that he did not make himself, and that the world which he sees could as little make itself, that the moment we begin to exercise the power of reflection, it seems impossible to escape the conviction that there is a Creator.” (James Traub, John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit, p. 183)

This idea that God is Creator is another of those “commonalties” that most people hold. A few atheists try to protest, but the vast majority of people look at creation and believe there is a God. Paul said THAT is the God I am proclaiming to you; the God who made the world and everything in it.

— Then he points out the superiority/difference between the idols they worshipped, and the one true God: (:24b-25) he said He “does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things”

Now, there are some who criticize Paul’s message at Athens, saying that he didn’t use scripture in his message. Either here or elsewhere in the lesson you could ask your group: 

??? WHY do you think Paul did not quote scripture in this message???
(The answer is likely something like, because these Greek philosophers were not Jews, who held to the Law, Psalms, and Prophets as God’s word. So saying, “Genesis 1:1 says ….” would not have the impact on them that it would on someone with a Jewish background. Paul adapted his message for his audience — a good model for us too!)

But it is not as though Paul was not teaching Biblical principles here. No, he did not say “Genesis says …”, but he DID use scriptural principles in what he shared on Mars Hill. And this point is one of them. He said in :25, “nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything”

This is right out of Old Testament scripture! 

In Psalm 50:7-8 God says: “Hear, O My people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you;I am God, your God. “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.” But then He adds in :10-12 “every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. 11 “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine.12 “If I were hungry I would not tell you,
For the world is Mine, and all it contains.”

This is just what Paul is saying here in Acts 17: God isn’t served by human hands, as though He needs anything. He made the world; He needs nothing. 

— Then the second part of :25 says that “He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;” God doesn’t “need” anything; rather He GIVES everything! There is Someone that we need to give thanks to for all that we have — and the “Someone” is the One True God. Like James 1:17 says “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” 

— :26 speaks of the sovereignty of God: 26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” 

I love the scene in the classic movie “Chariots of Fire,” where Eric Liddell, the Christian runner who refuses to run on the Sabbath, answers a British politcian who is pressuring him to run for king and country. The old pol tells him: “In my day it was king before God.” Eric Liddell responds: “God made countries; God makes kings, and the rules by which they govern. And those rules say that the Sabbath is His. And I, for one, intend to keep it that way.”  Liddell had the attitude that Acts 17 refers to here: GOD is sovereign over kings and countries. HE determines their appointed times. Ask Nebuchadnezzar, whom He humbled to become like an animal, how quickly He can take it away!

— In :27 he shares how mankind’s purpose is to seek God: “that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him …”. This reminds me of the great statement in the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “What is the chief end of man?” “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” THIS is what we are here for: not to get rich, not to find pleasure, not to “make a name for ourselves” — we are here to SEEK GOD! The problem, as Romans 1 shows us, is that most of us seek Him in the wrong way.

— Then in :28 he says, though our job is to seek Him, He is not far away: “for in Him we live and move and exist.” God’s not an idol in some particular spot; He’s everywhere. As Psalm 139 says “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence.” Again, Paul may not give “chapter & verse” quotes, but this sermon is not “un-Biblical;” it is full of truths from the Old Testament Scriptures.  

— Then he does something interesting in the second part of :28; he QUOTES a pagan poet:  “as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’” Why does he do that? You might even think this would be “out of place” — why quote the world? It’s what we talked about in the introduction: he’s seeking to CONNECT with his listeners, by using something from their culture as an illustration.

We might do the same thing when we quote a familiar passage from Shakespeare (a poet!) or a line from a movie, or from a contemporary song. Is it “wrong” to quote “worldly” things like that? No, not unless Paul was wrong for quoting this poet here. They are just illustrations, ways to connect with people, to try to help them understand the truths of the word of God.

Then after all this background, Paul really gets to the “meat” of his message, the gospel, in 30-31:

— In :30 he says “Therefore … (because of all this background) … God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.”  “Repent” is a key word in the Gospel, as Paul mentions in Acts 20:21 says he was “solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Repentance and faith” are two key elements in the Gospel: “repent” means we have been going the wrong way (in our sin) and we need to have a change of mind (the literal meaning of “meta-noeo”) that leads to a change of direction in our lives. We’ve talked about the vital nature of repentance in salvation in several of our lessons. Repentance is an indispensable part of genuine salvation. Jesus said “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3) We need to repent of our sins: of worshiping things besides God; of doing things He has commanded us not to do. 

— But it is not only repent; then he points to faith in Christ in the next part of the message in :31:  “because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” This “Man” of course is Jesus Christ: 100% God, and 100% Man, who came to die for our sins on the cross. Paul says we are all accountable to Him. God will judge the world through Him. As someone has said, the most important question of your whole life is “What did you do with Jesus?” (+x Pilate in Matthew 27:22a, who said “What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?”)

— But how do we know that it is JESUS whom God has appointed? Some says it’s Mohammed; others say it’s Buddah; or the Bab, or Zoroaster — there are so many who claim to be God, or the way to God — how can you know? Some act like we should just “throw up our hands” and can never know. BUT THERE IS A SURE ANSWER! And Paul refers to it here at the end of :31:  “having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

HOW do we know who the real messenger of God is? God says, I’ll show you: I’ll raise Him from the dead!

— This is what Romans 1:4 refers to, when it says that Jesus “was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.”

— This is why the statement in I Corinthians 15:6 is so important, when it says that Jesus was raised from the dead, and “He appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time.” Jesus rose from the dead, and 500 people saw Him alive, and these people went to their graves, many of them under torture, saying they had seen Him alive! The resurrection of Jesus is one of the best attested facts in all history, and it points us to God’s truth: JESUS IS THE WAY — not any of these others! That is the power of the Resurrection.

Nabeel Qureshi had a very strict Islamic upbringing, but some friends at college were witnessing to him. Following a debate at Regent University between Shamir Ally and Mike Licosa, Nabeel Qureshi admitted to Mike, Gary Habermas, and his friend David that the Resurrection seemed to be the best explanation of historical facts about Jesus.

“David couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to jab me. ‘So, Nabeel, are you a Christian yet?’

‘In your dreams!’ I laughed, punching David on the shoulder. ‘We still haven’t looked at whether Jesus claimed to be God, which is a bigger issue to me.  … As far as arguments go, the only thing Christianity has over Islam is the resurrection.’

Gary looked at Mike as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. ‘The only thing we’ve got is the resurrection? Buddy, that’s all we need!’” (Nabeel Qureshi, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, pp. 167-168)

Gary was right! If The Resurrection of Jesus is true — and there were so many witnesses, and so many historical facts which point to its reality — that’s all we need! We don’t have to wonder “which is the true way?” God has shown us, conclusively, what that way is, when He raised Jesus from the dead. The Resurrection was God’s way of saying “THIS ONE is My Beloved Son!”

Despite some criticisms of Paul’s message here by many, I don’t think it was a “failure.” It is powerful, and scriptural, through and through. There is so much truth in it for us, and to share with others. 

To get your group more involved here, and perhaps to make some more application, you could ask them and discuss:

??? Which point in Paul’s message here strikes YOU the most, and WHY???

III. THE RESPONSES (:32-34)

:32 “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.” 33 So Paul went out of their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.”

So what was the result/effect of Paul’s message? We see their responses in 32-34. 

You could get your class involved and let them discover the points here, asking them:   

??? “What all different responses do we see to Paul’s message in :32-34?”??  (or you could just share these points)

(It’s right there in the text:

— (:32a) “some began to sneer”

— (:32b) “but others said, ‘We shall hear you again concerning this.” 

— (:33) “But some men joined him and believed.”

??? Can you share an experience you had/know of about someone who was/is in each of these categories???

(I specifically remember in college, being with a couple of my friends sharing with a guy we went to high school with. One of my friends shared his testimony of how he received Christ. He told this guy: “But Larry, Jesus didn’t just die for me …” But Larry just sneered and said: “Yeah, yeah; He died for us all.” This reminds me of this, “some began to sneer.”)

You/your group can share your experiences of people who responded in these three ways:

— sneering/rejecting

— procrastinating/putting off the decision

— and accepting! 

The thing we need to understand is that people will always respond in these same ways. We see that in Jesus’ Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, where He says when the seed (the gospel) is sown, some gets snatched up — the devil steals the word from the heart; others seem to grow up for a short time, but end up getting choked out and bear no fruit, but then some will receive the word and bear good fruit. We can try our best, use the best methods — but it will always be that way; there will always be these responses when we share. So don’t be discouraged. Be faithful; continue to share the message. Some will believe! 

___________________________________________________

— If you’ll type your email in the “Follow blog via email” blank on my blog home page, WordPress will automatically send you next week’s video and you won’t have to search for it.

— And if you write something in the Comments below, I’ll be sure to pray for your and your group by name this week.

Per my licensing agreement with Lifeway:

— These weekly lessons are based on content from Explore the Bible Adult Resources. The presentation is my own and has not been reviewed by Lifeway.

— Lifeway resources are available at: goExploretheBible.com  and: goexplorethebible.com/adults-training

— If you have questions about Explore the Bible resources you may send emails to explorethebible@lifeway.com