General Articles by Mrs. E. G. White

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · May 21, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 20.

General Articles.

By Mrs. E. G. White

The Gospel in Achaia.

ON leaving Philippi, Paul and Silas made their way to Thessalonica. Here Paul preached in the synagogues of the Jews, clearly showing from the testimony of Moses and the prophets that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah. The apostles remained here but a short time; for the Jews, filled with envy at the success that attended the preaching of the gospel, represented that the leaders of the new doctrine were raising a tumult among the people. By cunningly devised falsehoods they aroused the prejudices of the mob, and induced them to make an uproarious assault upon the house of Jason, the temporary home of the apostles. When they had broken into the house, however, they found that the apostles were not there. Friends who had apprehended what was about to occur had hastened them out of the city, and they had departed for Berea.

At Berea, Paul again commenced his work by preaching the gospel of Christ to the Jews. The minds of the Bereans were not narrowed by prejudice, and they were willing to investigate and receive the truths taught by the apostles. But the unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica, not content with having driven the apostles from their own city, followed them to Berea, and again stirred up the lower class to do them violence. They were again driven from their field of labor; and, leaving Macedonia, they went to Athens, one of the chief cities of Achaia.

Paul did not here meet with an ignorant, credulous populace, as at Lystra; but he encountered a people famous for their intelligence and education. Statues of their gods and the defied heroes of history and poetry met the eye in every direction; while magnificent architecture and paintings also represented the national glory and the popular worship of heathen deities. The senses of the people were entranced by the beauty and glory of art. Sanctuaries and temples, involving untold expense, reared their lofty forms on every hand. Victories of arms, and deeds of celebrated men, were commemorated by sculptures, shrines, and tablets.

As Paul saw the magnificence of this grand metropolis, and realized its seductive power over the minds of the lovers of art and science, he was deeply impressed with the importance of the work before him in Athens. It was his duty to bear the tidings of salvation to a people who had no intelligent understanding of God and his plans. The religion of the Athenians, of which they made great boast, consisted, in great part, of art worship, and a round of dissipating amusements and festivities. Genuine religion gives men the victory over themselves; but a religion of mere intellect and taste is wanting in the qualities essential to raise its possessor above the evils of his nature and to connect him with God. On the very stones of one of the altars in Athens this great want was expressed by the inscription, "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." Though boasting of their wisdom, wealth, and skill in art and science, the learned Athenians were forced to acknowledge that the great Ruler of the universe was unknown to them.

While waiting for Silas and Timothy to meet him, Paul was not idle. "He disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him." The great men of Athens were not long in finding out this singular teacher, who presented to the people doctrines so new and strange. The Stoics and the Epicureans encountered him; but they, and all others who came in contact with him, soon saw that he had a store of knowledge even greater than their own. He commanded the respect and attention of the learned, while his earnest, logical reasoning, and his power of oratory, held the promiscuous audience. He was not silenced by the science or the irony of the philosophers, but met them on their own ground, matching logic with logic, and philosophy with philosophy. After exchanging many words with him, and satisfying themselves that he was determined to accomplish his errand among them, and tell his story at all hazards, they decided to give him a fair opportunity to speak to the people.

They accordingly conducted him to Mars' Hill. This was the most sacred spot in all Athens, and its recollections and associations were such as to cause it to be regarded with superstitious awe and reverence. Here the most solemn court of justice had long been held to determine upon criminal cases and to decide difficult religious questions. The judges sat in the open air, upon seats hewn out in the rock, on a platform which was ascended by a flight of stone steps from the valley below. At a little distance was a temple of the gods; and the sanctuaries, statues, and altars of the city were in full view.

Here, away from the noise and bustle of crowded thoroughfares, and the tumult of promiscuous discussion, the apostle could be heard without interruption; for the frivolous, thoughtless class of society did not care to follow him to this place of highest reverence. Around him here were gathered poets, artists, and philosophers,—the scholars and sages of Athens,—who thus addressed him: "May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? for thou bringest certain strange things to our ears; we would know therefore what these things mean."

The apostle stood calm and self-possessed, relying upon the divine assurance, designed for such a time as this, "It shall be given you what ye ought to say." "Ye men of Athens," he commenced, "I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." With all their intelligence and general knowledge, they were ignorant of the true God. The inscription upon their altar showed the strong cravings of the soul for greater light.

With earnest and fervent eloquence, the apostle continued: "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of Heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshiped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us."

The wisest of his hearers were astonished as they listened to his reasoning. His words could not be controverted. He showed himself familiar with their works of art, their literature, and their religion. Pointing to their temples crowded with idols, he exposed the fallacies of the religion of the Athenians, declaring to them that God could not be likened to forms of man's device. The works of art could not, in the faintest sense, represent the glory of the infinite God. He reminded them that their images had no breath nor life. They were controlled by human power; they could move only as the hands of men moved them; and those who worshiped them were in every way superior to that which they worshiped. Pointing to noble specimens of manhood about him, he declared, "Forasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device."

Man was created in the image of this infinite God, blessed with intellectual power and a perfect and symmetrical body. The heavens are not large enough to contain God; how much less could those temples made with hands contain him. Paul, under the inspiration of his subject, soared above the comprehension of the idolatrous assembly, and sought to draw their minds beyond the limits of their false religion to correct views of the true Deity, whom they had styled the "Unknown God." This Being whom he now declared unto them, was independent of man, needing nothing from human hands to add to his power and glory.

The people were carried away with admiration of Paul's eloquence. The Epicureans began to breathe more freely, believing that he was strengthening their position, that everything had its origin in blind chance; and that certain ruling principles controlled the universe.

But his next sentence brought a cloud to their brows. He asserted the creative power of God, and the existence of his overruling providence. He declared unto them the true God, who is the living center of government.

This divine Ruler had, in the dark ages of the world, passed lightly over heathen idolatry; but now, through his Son, he had sent them the light of truth; and he exacted from all men repentance unto salvation; not only from the poor and humble, but from the proud philosophers, and the princes of the earth. "Because He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."

As Paul thus spoke of the resurrection from the dead, his speech was interrupted. Some mocked; others put his words aside, saying, "We will hear thee again of this matter." Thus closed the labors of the apostle at Athens; for the Athenians persistently clung to their idolatry, and turned away from the light of a true and reasonable religion. When a people are wholly satisfied with their own attainments, little more need be expected of them.

Many who listened to the words of Paul were convinced of the truths presented; but they would not humble themselves to acknowledge God and to accept the plan of salvation. No eloquence of words, no force of argument, can convert the sinner. The Spirit and power of God can alone apply the truth to the heart of the impenitent. "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to them that are saved it is the power of God."

The labors of Paul in Athens were not wholly in vain. Dionysius, one of the most prominent citizens, and some others, became converts to Christianity, and joined themselves to him. The words of the apostle, and the description of his attitude and surroundings, as traced by the pen of inspiration, were to be handed down through all coming generations, bearing witness of his unshaken confidence, his courage in loneliness and adversity, and the victory he gained for Christianity, even in the very heart of paganism.

Inspiration has given us this glance at the life of the Athenians, who with all their knowledge, refinement, and art, were sunken in vice, that it might be seen how God, through his servant, rebuked idolatry, and the sins of a self-sufficient people. Paul was in a position where he might easily have spoken that which would irritate his proud listeners, and bring himself into difficulty. Had his oration been a direct attack upon their gods, and the great men of the city who were before him, he would have been in danger of meeting the fate of Socrates. But he carefully drew their minds away from heathen deities, by revealing to them the true God, whom they were endeavoring to worship, but who was to them unknown, as they themselves confessed by a public inscription.

(Concluded next week.)