Project 119: Acts 17:16-34
| Project 119 | Dr. Wayne Splawn
What is the gospel message at the heart of our Christian faith? Paul succinctly answers this question in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 where he writes:
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.
(1 Corinthians 15:1-5)
The good news is that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, was raised from the dead, and appeared to those who were eyewitnesses of the resurrection. The gospel message at the heart of our faith concerns the mighty act of salvation God accomplished on our behalf through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. A Christian then, is someone who believes in the God “who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not” (Romans 4:17).
This emphasis on the resurrection of Jesus was at the heart of the message the apostles proclaimed throughout the book of Acts. I would encourage you to read back through Acts and underline every mention of Jesus’ resurrection. Or, to take it a step further, I would encourage you to do the same thing while reading through the entire New Testament. You will come to see how important the resurrection is to our faith. Paul certainly focuses on the resurrection here in Acts 17:16-34. And some people in the crowd mock Paul for his belief in the resurrection. After all, as they knew all too well, people who die do not come back to life. The resurrection is a radical belief that God overcame sin, death, and hell through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and many simply find this truth unbelievable.
Is it possible you have lost sight of how radical our belief in the resurrection truly is? In our culture, Christianity has become so enmeshed with ethics, politics, and morality that we are in danger of losing sight of the miracle that is at the heart of our faith. Before we try to live like Christians, we must first consider whether we believe in the radical truth that God raised Jesus from the dead and that in accomplishing this work of salvation everything has changed.
Acts 17:16-34 (ESV):
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from 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.