“Success” on Mars hill

At Mars hill, Acts 17:32-34

At Mars’ hill in Athens, Paul had a focused message, Jesus Christ and him crucified – buried and risen. Yet his message also accounted for where to begin in the knowledge of his hearers. Accordingly, he begins with things known to the crowd, whether religious Jews familiar with the Scriptures (Acts 13), a peasant farming culture (Acts 14), or cultured Greeks trained in philosophy (Acts 17).

Paul preached the message of Jesus Christ to a very different crowd of listeners in Athens, than previously – neither Jews, Gentile fearers of the living God, nor provincial farmers. These are Greek philosophers of pride and culture. Notice how the message at the synagogue at Antioch begins steeped in Old Testament history, with which the Jews would be quite familiar. In Lystra, it concentrates on God as creator who gives the gifts of agricultural success – the rain and fruitful seasons which put food on their tables. With Greek philosophers, he starts with what they know (vs. 22-23) and begins to bring them from that knowledge to hear about God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 31). He references things with which they would be familiar: the idolatrous religion, the idea of a creator God, declarations by their own writers, and the implications of all this (God is not an idol made of silver, gold, or stone). Then he preached repentance toward God, and the living (resurrected) judge of the quick and the dead.

Verse 32: It may be said that Paul’s message was interrupted when these Athenians heard and reacted to “the resurrection of the dead.” The responses to Paul’s message varied.

• Possible Epicurean attitude: “some mocked”
• Possible Stoick attitude: “We will hear thee again”

“…the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified…unto the Greeks foolishness…” I Corinthians 1:22-23. The first response exhibits the wisdom-seeking Greeks mocking the preaching of the resurrection as foolishness. In contempt, they scoffed at this message of Paul. The second reaction may be considered a polite response – quite likely the “politeness” of an elitism which retains an appearance of open-mindedness while from its high perch of pride looking down on the babbling preacher. “We will hear thee again” also pertains to the Athenian curiosity of desiring to hear “something new.”

Since man by sin has lost his God, he seeks creation through;
And vainly strives for solid bliss, in trying something new.[1]

Verses 33-34: After receiving the generally negative and noncommittal responses, Paul left the Aeropagus. However, there was a third response – “certain men clave unto him,” that is, they continued with Paul and heard his message. In consequence, some of them believed. Two of these are named:

1. Dionysius the Areopagite
2. a woman named Damaris[2]

Though Paul’s appeal is “unsuccessful” in broad terms, a remnant is saved. “…but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (I Corinthians 1:24). Whether many or few, God’s deliverance of a soul from the power of darkness is a success. Called “the Areopagite,” Dionysius must have been a member of the council that met at Areopagus (cf. v. 19). He and Damaris are only mentioned here in the Bible, but “The Lord knoweth them that are his.” This event at Mars’ hill and follow-up concludes Paul’s ministry in Athens, and lays the groundwork for his departure to Corinth.

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[1] “Something New,” The Southern Harmony, William Walker, 1854, p. 254. 

[2] By the late 4th century, a tradition of uncertain origin and questionable merit had developed, that Damaris was the wife of Dionysius. “And that Areopagite, an inhabitant of that most superstitious city, followed the apostle, he and his wife – was it not owing to the discourse which they heard?” John Chrysostom (ca. AD 347-407), De Sacerdotio (On the Priesthood), Book 4, chapter 7. “Yet from this number also the Apostle did not depart without success, since even Dionysius the Areopagite, together with his wife Damaris and many others, believed.” Ambrose of Milan (AD 340-397), Epistle 63, chapter 22. On the other hand, Augustine – after mentioning Dionysius – calls Damaris “mulier quaedam nobilis” (a certain noble lady). Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430), Sermon 150, chapter 2. These traditions promulgate new ideas that are not confirmed by the Scriptures.