Paul’s Mars Hill Sermon Series

The context of Paul’s Mars Hill Sermon

When we look at Paul’s Mars Hill sermon given in Athens in Acts 17, he is well into his second missionary journey. His plans were changed early in the journey when the Holy Spirit kept him from preaching the word in Asia and then he received his Macedonian call in Troas. He diverted to Philippi and went from the Philippian jail to Thessalonica and then on to Berea.

Paul met tremendous opposition in Thessalonica. Those that opposed Paul in Thessalonica went to Berea to stir up opposition there and stirred up the crowds when they found out Paul was teaching in Berea that Jesus is the Christ. Paul slipped away from the mob, got in a boat, and went to Athens.

Paul left Silas and Timothy in Berea to continue to do the follow up work there and in nearby Thessalonica. Those who helped Paul get to Athens left him there. Paul sent word back to Silas and Timothy to come as quickly as you can. While Paul was waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy, he went to the Synagogue to reason with the Jews there.

We do not have the message that Paul spoke at the Synagogue in Athens. There is only one verse about Paul speaking to the Jews in Athens (Acts 17:17). We do know what Paul consistently said when he addressed his fellow Jews from his other sermons. We see the consistency from Paul’s sermon at the Synagogue (Acts 13:14-22) and to the Jewish crowd at the Temple in Jerusalem (Acts 22:1-21) and to the Jewish leaders at Rome (Acts 28:17-20).

When Paul spoke to his fellow Jews, he addressed them every time as “my brothers.” He used the Aramaic language when he spoke to his fellow Jews. Paul would tell them his background as a Pharisee and that he studied under Gamaliel and trained in the law. He would tell them how zealous he was for the traditions of their ancestors and how he himself was a persecutor of the church.

Paul would explain how that in his pursuit of persecuting the Christians, dragging them off to prison, that this led him down the Damascus Road where he had his encounter with Jesus Christ. He would consistently tell them how this encounter with Jesus changed his life.

When Paul met Jesus on the Damascus Road, he realized that Jesus, who he was persecuting, is the Messiah, the very one that he and all the Jews were waiting for. It became clear to Paul that Jesus is the awaited Messiah foretold of in the law and the prophets. Paul would take time and show them from the law and from the prophets that Jesus is the Christ.

Paul was also clear that his call to proclaim the gospel and the resurrection of Jesus Christ wasn’t just for the Jews, but that his call was for the gentiles too. He even showed them that this plan for the Messiah was for Jews and Gentiles was told already by the prophets. It wasn’t until Paul told them that his call was to the gentiles that they would stop him right there and here no more. There would be a riot and he would have to be protected from the mob or be torn to pieces.

That was his normal pattern when he proclaimed the gospel to the Jews. He would then announce that since they were rejecting his message he would go to the gentiles. But each time some Jews believed. There is no mention of Jews believing in Athens, but normally that is mentioned when he preached in the Synagogue. That is what had just happened in Thessalonica when Paul preached for three weeks about the resurrection. There in Thessalonica some Jews believed.

In Berea the Jews accepted Paul’s message with great eagerness. But the opposition mob from Thessalonica that forced him to depart from there in the cover of darkness had now come to Berea. Those who troubled Paul in Thessalonica had come to Berea to put a stop to Paul. That is when the Berean believers escorted Paul out of Berea to Athens.

It seems that Paul is by himself in Athens because the new believers from Berea, ones who gladly received Paul’s message of Jesus Christ, who brought him to Athens had already returned to Berea. And Timothy and Silas were still in Berea doing the follow up work there. And we don’t really know where Luke is, so it seems like Paul may have been on his own at this time. And we read that Paul was distressed while in Athens because he found Athens filled with idols.

He was preaching in the marketplace when Paul spoke to the Greeks. In the marketplace the stoic philosophers and other Greek philosophers are debating with Paul publicly in the marketplace and people are wondering what is this that Paul saying.