The Epistle to the Athenians

The Epistle to the Athenians

1 Corinthians 2: 1&2 NKJV
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

I hope no one actually tried to find the epistle to the Athenians, because there isn’t one.  My question is, why not?  Paul went there on his second missionary journey, and it was the city he visited right before he went to Corinth, which we read of in the two epistles written to the Corinthians.  So why not Athens?  Athens was the former Greek capitol and still a prominent city under Roman rule.  Athens was the Greek center of many things – philosophy, education, art, literature, and more. It was also the center of their pagan religion based on the Olympians gods and goddesses.  Paul went there and visited the center of learning and tried what I consider a good tactic to introduce the Gospel to the Greeks.  They had statues to all sorts of gods and goddesses and had one to, “The Unknown God,” to be sure they didn’t leave any out!  So Paul called their attention to this statue and said, in essence, let me tell you about this “Unknown God” and then laid out the Gospel to them.
   At first glance, this was a good idea.  He tried to reason with them intellectually, as they were the intellectual elite of the most intellectual city on the Greek peninsula.  But, as it turns out, it wasn’t a good idea.  Paul’s message was received and debated by these high-brows and then they dismissed it like so many other arguments they’d heard, and it failed to hit their hearts.    
   I think, (and this is my opinion here,) that the Gospel can’t be reasoned out with the mind.  The Gospel requires the action of the Holy Spirit to be effective, and appealing to the intellect interferes with His work.  Just a few verses before Paul’s admission of weakness in what we call chapter two, he made a statement in chapter one about this very idea.
1 Corinthians 1:23
but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
 Why is it foolishness?  The work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a sinner is not in his head but in his heart.  I’ve had the privilege to witness to many people over the years and I’ve seen people being pursued by God.  None of them really understood what was happening to them, because the changes being made in their lives to bring them to salvation were happening in their hearts, about 18 inches below their brains.
   In 1 Corinthians 1:22 Paul makes the declaration, probably learned from his encounter in Athens, that the Greeks seek wisdom.  The story of a convicted rabble-rouser dying on a torture device in a little rebellious province of the Roman Empire to save you from your sins and from eternal damnation is not something easy to explain to someone seeking wisdom.  In fact, to quote Paul, it’s foolishness.
   When Paul got to his next stop, Corinth, he found a sinful city.  Corinth was a seaport and a center of trade and lots of money changed hands daily.  Religion didn’t play much of a part in the everyday life of the Corinthians.  Paul was, I imagine, embarrassed by the reaction he got in Athens.  He did what we need to do when we fail at some task; he turned to God.  He drew strength from God and when he faced the task of bringing the Gospel to this sinful city he did it God’s way.  I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  
   He goes on to give the secret to witnessing:
Verse 3: I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
Rather than try to win them with the force of his personality or persuade them with his dazzling intellect, he came to them knowing he was not able to accomplish his task with his own power.
4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
And that sums up witnessing better than any words I can write.
   We never, anywhere, read of a church in Athens.  I suppose there was one, but it never seemed to make an impact on the world.  The church in Corinth did.  It still is because the words Paul wrote to them are still with us and still influencing lives today.
   When you witness, remember the lesson Paul learned the hard way.  You must prepare with prayer and let God go before you and begin to work on their hearts.  When you witness, remember it’s all about Christ and not about you and it’s not about your church.  When you speak with them, let God guide your words.  Depend on the Word of God and don’t be afraid to quote it frequently.  When God, in His Sovereign will, begins to pursue a sinner, He allows us to be partners with Him in that pursuit.  We may even get to be there at the birth of a new Christian.  This is an awesome privilege and we need to be prepared to meet the challenge.


Stephen Cram                            October 2, 2011                     Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8