GRECO-ROMAN PHILOSOPHY AND PAUL’S PREACHING
AT “INTELLECTUAL MOUNT ZION”
(“In the fullness of time” Acts 17.16-21; I Corinthians 2.1ff.)
Introduction: Consider the significance of Greek intellectual contribution to the world of the
“appropriate time.”
A. Greek Intellectual contributions to the world of the “appropriate time”.
1. Greek Science in general (contra Babylonian, Egyptian, etc.)
2. Greek Philosophy
3. Greek Physics
4. Greek Mechanics
5. Greek Astronomy
6. Greek Medicine
7. Greek Mathematics
B. What is to be learned concerning the need for special preparation in order to address a given audience? Communication theory and preparation to fulfill the commission.
S Source M Message R Receiver
C. What is the relationship between preaching Christ and the need for knowledge control of non-Christian thought? (Does Paul suggest a neglect of study?)
D. Does Paul infer a disparagement of human learning in his Athenian message?
E. Analyze the audience of each extant preaching event in the Book of Acts—2.14-40; 3.12-26;
7.2-53; 10.34-43; 13.16-41; 17.22-31; 20.18-35; 22.1-21; 24.10-21; 26.2-23; and 28.25-28.
F. Type of audience: (1) Jews, (2) God-fearers, (3) Epicureans, (4) Stoics, et.al. What did these audience believe?
G. Greece was beyond creative age. Rome had made Greece a Roman territory in 146 B.C. In order to honor the fading glory of Greece’s past, Rome left Athens free. The authority there was not the demos (people) as at Thessalonica and Ephesus, but the council – Areopagus.
H. Epicurianism (Epicurus ca. 342-? B.C.) was materialistic. It was based on the atomic theory of Democritus (i.e., matter = atoms and atoms are eternal). Epicurians believed in gods, but they were transcendent and unconcerned with human affairs. Their ethic was concerned with happiness not pleasure (popular idea of sensual pleasure—eat, drink and be merry, is a false caricature.
I. Zeno (ca. 336-264 B.C.) was the father of Stoicism from Stoa Poikile – painted portico in
Athens. The Stoics were also materialists, yet believed in the divine and reality of spirit. Yet, spirit was nothing but living matter! They were Pantheists, i.e. god = everything; therefore, no

Immanent/Transcendent. Immortality was nothing more than reabsorbing of all existence into the fire of the divine spirit.
J. Stoic Exclusiveness and contempt for the common man; a pathos or apathy – indifference or refusal to be identified with human suffering; Stoics gloried in human hybris (pride) and this was shame to the Christian way of life.
Thesis of Paul’s message: False knowledge of God leads to wrong ethics and idolatry! The initial dispute which led to the message is the first recorded instance of his seeking out a pagan or non-Jewish audience.
I. We must consider the following five categories:
A. Stoic theory of Theologia Naturalis.
B. Stoic theology vs. Old Testament Theology.
C. Paul’s use of Stoic idioms in vss. 24-29.
D. Man’s relationship to God in vss. 28-29 – Stoic and Biblical.
E. Paul’s polemic against idolatry.
II. Stoic Theologia Naturalis
A. Man’s reason participates in the divine logos.
B. Origin of Man’s knowledge of God is within man himself.
C. Structure of man’s nature contains the seeds of inevitable knowledge of God.
D. Stoic concensus omnium.
E. Given Stoic epistemology (i.e. theory of knowledge) the existence of God and man’s knowledge of that existence was inevitable.
III. Stoic Theory of the Relationship of Knowledge of God and Ethics
A. Stoic concept of natural law (and order and determinism)
B. Sin and evil are ascribed to man’s agnoia (lack of knowledge); also Greek and contemporary attitudes
IV. Old Testament and Stoic Philosophical Theology (see Romans 1.18ff; Acts 14.15ff; I
Thessalonians 1.9ff.)
A. Paul’s purported efforts to prove God’s existence, see vs. 26.
B. Stoic humanitas (Unity of Man) vs. Old Testament doctrine of the unity of man.
C. Paul asserts that God is creator (Greek word poiein and Hebrew word bara)
D. Stoic kosmos plus logos vs. Paul’s use.
1. Stoic – without logos no – kosmos
2. Bible – without God no – kosmos
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E. Stoic kosmos and Paul’s phrase “all the things in it.” Paul consistently employs kosmos to speak of the “fallen world.”
V. Stoic Idiom – vs.. 24-29
A. vs. 24 –29
B. Stoic poet Aratus ( Phainomena , 5) This poem is a pantheistic, astronomical poem.
C. Stoic idiom and Paul’s conclusions from their use.
VI. Thesis of Speech up to vs. 30 is an attack on False Knowledge of God and its resultant
Idolatry
A. Man cannot worship God unless he possesses true knowledge of God.
B. Presents Christ in vs. 30. Note results:
1. Was Paul a failure?
2. Did he try to philosophize rather than preach Christ?
James D. Strauss
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