Third, another contextual factor in Paul’s place is the sneering tone of contempt seen in verse 18. Here Luke records that the Athenians responded to Paul’s initial comments with, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Literally, they are calling Paul an intellectual “seed picker,” much like a little bird fluttering around picking up disconnected scraps of incoherent information, trying desperately but incapably to put it all together. Do you hear the contempt and condescension? Now we know from the story that some of them actually do hear Paul out and are interested in the gospel. Nonetheless, their disdain and arrogance are clearly evident. The contempt in their words and faces must have been palpable.

This, then is the hostile place Paul faces in his context. What about our place here in North America at the beginning of the twenty-first century? Are people influenced by a society that endorses religious pluralism? Do people have powerful and competing worldviews vying for their allegiance? Do we as Christians experience the same kind of contempt from our culture?

In light of his place, what is Paul’s first response? What is his presentation?

Paul’s Presentation: Constructing a Biblical Worldview
Prior to Paul’s proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, he presents the larger biblical story in order to frame Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. That is, he knows that he must construct an overarching story that makes Jesus’ life, death and resurrection more comprehensible. Thus, his presentation does not start with Jesus’ birth or life (like the New Testament Gospels), but he begins further back in the Bible story, at Creation.

But before we look at Paul’s presentation of a biblical worldview, I’d like to make a few minor but helpful comments about his overall approach. Notice Paul’s initial impression and attitude when he walks into Athens. In verses 16 and 17 of Acts 17, we read that Paul was “greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols” and that he immediately set out in his evangelism in the marketplace and synagogue. He wasn’t intimidated by Athen’s reputation as a world-class intellectual center, nor was he overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the task of evangelizing all these lost souls. He assesses the idolatry and he engages in evangelism. And this is why he gets an invitation to the Areopagus to address the intellectual leaders of the city.

In verses 22 to 31 Paul begins his presentation of a biblical worldview.

First, he presents his hearers with the fact that God is creator of “the world and everything in it” (17:24). There is only one creator and he created everything. This distinction between the creator and his creation immediately rules out the notion of pantheism, or the belief that God can be identified within and through created things. This distinction also means that all of God’s creation, including mankind, owes him everything. As king over his creation, he reigns and rules.

Second, Paul states that “God is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands” (v. 24). After establishing God as creator of all, Paul insists that God is sovereign over all. His control, authority, and power extend to everything God has fashioned with his own hands. This rules out the notion that a god or goddess had control over particular domains, whether the sky (Zeus) or sea (Poseidon). Thus, the God of the Bible that Paul presents cannot be located in just one temple; he is much bigger.

Third, we hear from Paul that God is independent of us. That is, he is the God of aseity: “he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything” (v. 25). Aseity is a theological word that comes from the Latin a se, which means, “from himself.” God is so utterly “from himself” that he does not need us, he is independent of us and our thoughts. He does not need us to exist or to be content.

Fourth, the opposite is true: We are completely dependent on God. “He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (v. 25b). Paul reminds us that without God’s acts of creation and providence, we cannot survive. Whether we recognize it or admit it, he is our life, our breath, and our everything. As we know from the Bible, God created us in his image to rule the world he created. We are utterly and completely dependent on him.

Fifth, after painstakingly discussing his doctrine of God, Paul now turns to the doctrine of man. In verse 26 Paul argues that all nations descended from one man. Paul knows that the solution of the God-man, Jesus, only makes sense if the problem of sin that plagues all mankind started from one man—our father Adam. While he undoubtedly expanded on this idea in other places (cf. Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15), here Paul establishes that we all share this one father.

Sixth, for the first time in his presentation, Paul makes an explicit statement about the collective problem that stems from our one father, Adam. He makes this case by simply stating that God created mankind to know Him. God created the world and man within it for the purposes of relationship and fellowship; that some would reach out for him and find him (v. 27). While he will soon talk about sin explicitly, Paul sets up that truth with the notion that mankind as a whole decided to rebel against God’s original reign over their lives, defiantly deciding to live their lives without him.