Good News in the Ruins | World Without End

Acts 17:16-34: Paul waits for Silas and Timothy in Athens. His spirit is provoked by the city drowning in idols. A Roman satirist once said, "It was easier to find a god than a man in Athens."Paul reasons in the synagogue, in the Agora, and finally at the Areopagus (Mars Hill), invited by Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.This is a masterclass in subversive apologetics. Paul uses the Stoic argument structure (God exists, God's nature, God rules the world, God cares for mankind) to lead them to a shocking conclusion: God has appointed a day of judgment, proved by the resurrection of a man.Paul makes five major points: God is Creator, Sustainer, Ruler, Father, and Judge. He quotes their own poets. He acknowledges their altar "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD"—"What you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you."Some mock. Some delay. But some believe, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris.Are we appropriately distressed over the idolatry in our world? Where is our divine jealousy?