Paul In Athens; Acts 17:15 – 34 Part 8

Church History: Date: A.D. 49-52

The gospel had as little success at Athens as anywhere; for the pride of the philosophers there, as of the Pharisees at Jerusalem, prejudiced them against the gospel of Christ. 1. Some ridiculed Paul and his preaching. They heard him patiently until he came to speak of the resurrection of the dead, and then some of them began to hiss him: they mocked. What he had said before was somewhat like what they had sometimes heard in their own schools, and some notion they had of a resurrection, as it signifies a future state; but, if he speak of a resurrection of the dead, though it be of the resurrection of Christ himself, it is altogether incredible to them, and they cannot bear so much as to hear of it, as being contrary to a principle of their philosophy. This great doctrine, which is the saints' joy, is their jest; when it was mentioned to them they mocked, and made a laughing matter of it. Others were willing to take time to consider of it; they said, We will listen again. They would not presently comply with what Paul said, nor oppose it; but we will listen to it again, of the resurrection of the dead.

Yet there were some that believed his message. There were certain men that adhered to him, and believed. When he departed from them, they would not part with him. Wherever he went, they would follow him, with a resolution to adhere to the doctrine he preached, which they believed. Two are particularly named; one was an eminent man, Dionysius the Areopagite, one of that high court or great council that sat in Areopagus, or Mars' Hill. He was a judge, a senator, one of those before whom Paul was summoned to appear; his judge becomes his convert. The account which the ancients give of this Dionysius is that he was bred at Athens, had studied astrology in Egypt, where he took notice of the miraculous eclipse at our Savior’s passion, that, returning to Athens, he became a senator, disputed with Paul, and was by him converted from his error and idolatry; and, being by him thoroughly instructed, was made the first bishop of Athens. The woman named Damaris was, as some think, the wife of Dionysius; but, rather, some other person of quality; and, though there was not so great a harvest gathered in at Athens as there was at other places, yet, these few being brought upon there, Paul had no reason to say he had labored in vain.