In recent years “Mars Hill” has become a popular name for American churches, including some well-known megachurches. Mars Hill is the place in Athens, Greece, where the apostle Paul once addressed an assembly of leaders, as recorded in Acts 17. Churches adopting this name aspire to communicate the Gospel to the world as effectively as Paul did in his famous speech on Mars Hill.
Paul came to Athens, a city where many gods were recognized and worshiped, proclaiming that there is only one true God, and that this God had sent Jesus of Nazareth to bring salvation to the world. Jesus had been put to death by Rome, but he then had been resurrected, and those who became his followers would themselves be resurrected to eternal life.
Paul’s message was comprehensible, if controversial, in the synagogues of Athens. But his talk about the Jewish God and a resurrected Messiah seemed strange to Greeks in the Athenian marketplace. Some accused him of teaching about “foreign gods,” the same charge for which Socrates had been prosecuted 450 years before. The Athenian judicial council detained him, asking him to give an account of his teaching. Although they were unlikely to prosecute him, they wanted to make clear that they were in charge.
Paul spoke boldly before the council, characterizing the Athenians as superstitious and ignorant with regard to matters in the divine realm. One key piece of evidence was the existence of altars in Athens dedicated “to the unknown god.” These altars had been built a few centuries before during the time of an epidemic in Athens. The Athenians wanted to make sure that they hadn’t offended some deity of which they were unaware. Paul asserted that this “unknown god” was the Creator of the world, the God of Israel.
Paul went on the say that the Athenians had no excuse for their ignorance. In support of his position, he referred to the words of some Greek writers and philosophers. He stated that God did not need anything and required no rituals to be carried out in his honor (Acts 17:25). Instead, God provided for humans as philosophers like Seneca (c. 4 BC-65 AD) had written. Seneca had also said that “the god is near you, he is with you, he is in you,” a point Paul made in verse 27.
He added that humans are children of God, as Aratus, a Stoic poet from the fourth century BC, had written (Acts 17:28). As a result, God should not be served superstitiously through idols of wood and stone (verse 29).
By speaking boldly and engaging with Greek thinkers and writers, Paul captured the interest of the council. Many still were alienated by his discussion of resurrection from the dead (verse 32), but at least one member of the council, Dionysius, found his arguments convincing (verse 34). After examining Paul’s speech, we can see why Christians take it as a model for engaging with today’s culture.
Bio: Doug Ward is a mathematics professor at Miami University, where he has taught since 1984. He and his wife Sherry live in Oxford, Ohio. He is an elder at Church of the Messiah in Xenia and an avid reader.
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