Bob Boyda <\/b><\/p>\n
Areopagus or Mars\u2019 Hill (knoll in foreground). Acropolis in background.<\/b><\/p>\n
Athens, Greece, furnishes us with much archaeological data from the ruins of the market place in the low lands of the city to its temples, amphitheaters, and especially the Parthenon and temple ruins of Erechtheum on the Acropolis, all of which date back centuries before Christ.<\/p>\n
Adjacent to the Acropolis is a narrow, naked ridge of limestone. It rises some 370 feet above the valley and is separated from the Acropolis by a valley 50 to 60 feet deep. This rock knoll was consecrated to Ares, the god of war. Ares corresponds to the Roman god Mars, hence Mars\u2019 Hill.<\/p>\n
When the Apostle Paul arrived in Athens on his second missionary journey, he immediately began to preach the Gospel\u2014the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Among the many groups of philosophers of that day were the Stoics and Epicurians. They would generally sit in an amphitheater all day long, discussing various subjects delving into life, the mind, the future life\u2014continually seeking to learn some new thing. When they heard that Paul preached the resurrection of the dead, which was new to them, they took him to the Areopagus, or Mars\u2019 Hill, to learn of this new teaching.<\/p>\n
Why the Areopagus, or Mars\u2019 Hill? There were any number of other places they could have taken Paul\u2014many other more comfortable places to sit and listen rather than on a rock hill.<\/p>\n
Mars\u2019 Hill was the \u201cjudgment seat\u201d of Athens. In Greek mythology (according to archaeological findings), this was the place where the<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 3:1 (Winter 1990) p. 11<\/p>\n
Athenian gods and goddesses descended to discuss matters, to make decisions, and to conduct trials requiring verdicts.<\/p>\n
According to mythology (Richard Patrick, Greek Mythology.<\/i> London: Octopus Books.), a most famous trial was that of the god Orestes, charged with the murder of his mother. Orestes sought to bribe other gods to vote for his acquittal. He even tried to \u201cplea-bargain\u201d for a light sentence if found guilty. The vote was a tie, and Athena, the presiding judge, cast the deciding vote. The decision was \u201cnot guilty.\u201d Thus Mars\u2019 Hill became the place where decisions were made.<\/p>\n
Since the Epicureans and Stoics wanted to make a decision concerning Paul\u2019s \u201cnew\u201d teaching about the resurrection of the body (and of Christ), he was taken to the centuries old place of discussion and decision\u2014Mars\u2019 Hill. Paul had a background knowledge of the bribing by Orestes\u2014the politics of decisions and trials, and his sermon on Mars\u2019 Hill concluded with a stinging rebuke of their beliefs.<\/p>\n
In Paul\u2019s famous \u201cMars\u2019 Hill Sermon\u201d (Acts 17:22\u201334), he said, in effect, in verses 30 and 31: \u201cGod has commanded all men everywhere to repent, for He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. There will be no bribery, no plea-bargaining, no arm twisting, no politics, when each of you stand before the God who made heaven and earth. He will then be your presiding Judge. There will be no voting. No decision will be made by a majority verdict. All your wrong\u2014your sins\u2014will be judged by the Man God ordained to render a just verdict\u2014this same Man whom He raised from the dead.<\/p>\n
What a stinging rebuke this was to his \u201cjury.\u201d Paul had brought them face to face with the living God, telling them that they were accountable to Him. There was no avenue of escape. Their philosophy did not add up to Truth. There is always conviction by the Holy Spirit when the Word of God is preached, resulting in a two-fold reaction. Some believe and some don\u2019t. In the case of the \u201cdon\u2019ts\u201d on Mars\u2019 Hill, they interrupted Paul and mocked him because of his message on the resurrection of the dead and a judgment by a \u201crighteous\u201d judge, not by an \u201cunrighteous\u201d one like Athena. However, Paul\u2019s efforts were not in vain. One of the Mars\u2019 Hill judges, Dionysius the Areopagite, and others, believed and followed Paul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bob Boyda Areopagus or Mars\u2019 Hill (knoll in foreground). Acropolis in background. Athens, Greece, furnishes us with much archaeological data from the ruins of the market place in the low lands of the city to its temples, amphitheaters, and especially the Parthenon and temple ruins of Erechtheum on the Acropolis, all of which date back … Continue reading “THE
\nAREOPAGUS, OR MARS\u2019 HILL”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15052\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}