Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Acts 17:22-34, Paul's Sermon to the Athenians



I love Paul's sermon to the Athenians:

Acts 17:22-34:

" Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 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. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

"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 hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

"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 man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 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 all men by raising him from the dead."

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." At that, Paul left the Council. A few men 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.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

That is a great one! It's hard to pick a favorite out of Paul's letters and sermons.

Gayle said...

Hello Eyes!

Thanks for posting this. Jesus did raise some from the dead, and I wish he would come back and raise some of the "living dead" out of their stupor. I'm talking about those who would do away with Christianity if they could. They need His help badly.

VerityINK said...

Wonderful words--we need a leader like that today! How are you getting on, hon?

Dun Habin PMS said...

My son was in Greece last year for a World Changers mission trip. The first Sunday was spent having their service on the Aeropagus! I've seen the pictures, Mar's Hill to be more specific. Then they had a day trip to Corinth! My daughter and I have museum reproductions of some of the pottery found there! It's beautiful, white on an Aegean blue ground, dolphins and designs.
Good morning, G*D bless and Maranatha!

tmw