Berea and Athens
157
jealousy for God, whom he saw dishonored on every side, and his heart
was drawn out in pity for the people of Athens, who, notwithstanding
their intellectual culture, were ignorant of the true God.
The apostle was not deceived by that which he saw in this center of
learning. His spiritual nature was so alive to the attraction of heavenly
things that the joy and glory of the riches which will never perish
made valueless in his eyes the pomp and splendor with which he
was surrounded. As he saw the magnificence of Athens he realized
its seductive power over lovers of art and science, and his mind was
deeply impressed with the importance of the work before him.
In this great city, where God was not worshiped, Paul was op-
pressed by a feeling of solitude, and he longed for the sympathy and
aid of his fellow laborers. So far as human friendship was concerned,
he felt himself to be utterly alone. In his epistle to the Thessaloni-
ans he expresses his feelings in the words, “Left at Athens alone.”
1
Thessalonians 3:1
. Obstacles that were apparently insurmountable
presented themselves before him, making it seem almost hopeless for
him to attempt to reach the hearts of the people.
While waiting for Silas and Timothy, Paul was not idle. He “dis-
[235]
puted ... in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons,
and in the market daily with them that met with him.” But his principal
work in Athens was to bear the tidings of salvation to those who had
no intelligent conception of God and of His purpose in behalf of the
fallen race. The apostle was soon to meet paganism in its most subtle,
alluring form.
The great men of Athens were not long in learning of the presence
in their city of a singular teacher who was setting before the people
doctrines new and strange. Some of these men sought Paul out and
entered into conversation with him. Soon a crowd of listeners gathered
about them. Some were prepared to ridicule the apostle as one who
was far beneath them both socially and intellectually, and these said
jeeringly among themselves, “What will this babbler say?” Others,
“because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection,” said, “He
seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods.”
Among those who encountered Paul in the market place were
“certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics;” 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. His intellectual