Paul – Adam Hamilton

Paul’s Speech to the Athenians

David Burns on October 7, 2015

Luke tells us in Acts 17 that a group of philosophers began to argue with Paul. They took him to the Areopagus (Mars Hill), where some of their leaders asked Paul to explain his beliefs. Here we have a chance to see the rhetorical and oratorical skills Paul had learned as a young man in Tarsus. I find this to be one of Paul’s most compelling speeches or sermons in Acts. It gives us a sense of Paul’s approach and message when sharing Christ with those who worshiped the Greco-Roman deities. His words are found in Acts 17:22-31. Paul began with an affirmation of the people: “I see that you are very religious.” I take this as Paul’s positive way of setting up the “case” for Christ, rather than criticizing Athenians for their pagan beliefs. I think this points to Paul’s genius in sharing Christ. Too often Christians today feel compelled to criticize nonreligious people or those whose religion is different from their own. Paul did not do this. Paul went on to find a point of connection between the Athenians’ faith and his own. He noted that he had seen an altar “to an unknown God.” Once again, Paul did not criticize this altar but saw in it an opportunity to connect the God he proclaimed to a god they already admitted might exist. Paul then affirmed something central to Judaism and Christianity: God is the maker of all things and, as such, does not live in temples made by human hands. (Even Solomon, upon building God a temple, acknowledged as much.) The people at the Areopagus would have agreed with this assertion as well. Paul went on to note that the entire human race derives its existence from God, and that God “gives life, breath, and everything else” to us. Again, Paul’s listeners would have nodded their heads in agreement. At this point what Paul said was consistent with similar conceptions of God held by other Greek philosophers. Then Paul noted, “God made the nations so they would seek him, perhaps even reach out to him and find him. In fact, God isn’t far away from any of us.” In other words, the unknown or hidden God actually hopes to be found. This God came to reveal himself to us in Jesus and is quite near, as near as the air we breathe. I’m reminded that the Greek word for heaven signifies the sky—the area beyond the clouds—but also the air or atmosphere that is all around us. The pagan gods might live on Mount Olympus, but the God proclaimed by Paul was very near. Paul then offered two quotations from the Greek poets, poets he no doubt had studied in his hometown of Tarsus: “In God we live, move, and exist” and “As some of your own poets said, ‘We are his offspring.’” The first quotation may have come from the Greek poet Epimenides, who died in the sixth century b.c., and the second quotation from the Greek poet Aratus, who died in 240 b.c. Once more Paul was making the case for his faith by anchoring its truths in things the Athenian philosophers already believed. “We are his offspring” refers to the idea that all human beings are children of the one God, whether they acknowledge this or call upon his name. “In God we live, move, and exist” points, I believe, to the concept that we as human beings are dependent upon God, that God is the source of life and all that sustains it. Only after gaining such strong agreement on his case did Paul offer a brief and gentle critique of the Athenians’ worship of deities made of gold, silver, and stone. Worshiping such gods in the past was a mistake they made that Paul said God would overlook. (This and much of the rest of Paul’s speech demonstrates a God who is patient and merciful.) It’s curious to note that the quotations from Aratus and Epimenides originally referred to Zeus. Paul, like other Jewish scholars before him, adapted Greek references that were originally written of Zeus, substituting the Hebrew and Greek words for God in their place. Paul was not saying that Zeus was the same as God, only, I believe, that when anyone spoke of the greatest or highest god, whether they knew it or not, they were referring to the God. Finally Paul noted that with the coming of Christ, God sought to reveal himself to humanity. Therefore God is calling the human race to repent, or as the Common English Bible translates it, “to change their hearts and lives” (Acts 17:30). The Greek word for repentance is metanoia, which literally means “to think differently afterward,” that is, to change one’s mind after an encounter with Christ, resulting in a change of heart and behavior. Some listeners sneered at Paul’s words, but a few became believers, including a member of the Areopagus and a woman named Damaris. In Athens there is a street named in honor of Damaris. Tradition holds that she was martyred for her faith, and she is celebrated as a saint in the Orthodox Church. Paul’s ministry in Athens did not result in great numbers of converts. Though few came to faith under Paul’s leadership in Athens (and likely in many other cities where he preached as well), those who did come to faith would lay the foundation for a church that ultimately affected millions and millions of people. Athens would eventually become one of the important centers of Christianity, but it started with what Paul may have felt was a failed mission. Today’s post is an excerpt from The Call: The Life and Message of the Apostle Paul.

Paul’s Sermon in Antioch

David Burns on September 17, 2015

Luke tells us in Acts 13:14 that Paul and Barnabas arrived in Pisidian Antioch. It seems likely that they arrived in town several days before the Sabbath, during which time they became familiar with the city. And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it.” (Acts 13:14-15) Paul stood, gestured with his hand, and started to talk. What follows in Acts is the longest recorded sermon from Paul that we have in the New Testament. What Paul did in Antioch became his modus operandi. He entered a town and began teaching in the synagogue. When the Jewish communities gathered in the synagogue, there almost always were some Gentiles who joined them for prayer and exhortation, Gentiles who were drawn to the monotheistic Jewish faith with its emphasis on a God of justice and love who created all things and ruled as King of the universe. The New Testament refers to these Gentiles as “God-worshipers” or “God-fearers.” Such persons were included among the people of the synagogue and the Jewish community, to a point. It was only as the men underwent circumcision and possibly a form of baptism—a ritual bathing—that they became full converts; until then they seem to have been welcomed and yet retained a lesser status. It was these Gentile God-worshipers who found the gospel Paul preached to be so compelling. Paul’s message in the synagogue at Antioch began by recounting Israel’s story, a story that each person in the synagogue would have known by heart. Then he proclaimed that Jesus was the long-awaited Savior from God, but he added that the leadership in Jerusalem had not recognized this and instead condemned him to die. Their actions, Paul noted, fulfilled the words of the prophets. Paul proclaimed that Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried, “But God raised him from the dead!” (Acts 13:30). Paul concluded his sermon with these (and other) words: Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38-39) I like the way Eugene Peterson captures this last sentence in The Message: “Everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God.” Let’s consider the meaning of the gospel Paul proclaimed. According to Paul, the fundamental problem with the human condition is sin. Paul uses the word fifty-two times in his letters. The Greek word he used, hamartia, means literally to miss the mark. A similar Hebrew word for sin that is often used in the Old Testament means to stray from the path, which assumes there is a path we’re meant to walk on. Paul uses hamartia several different ways. It is first an orientation of the human soul. We have a tendency to stray from God’s path, to miss God’s target for our lives. We don’t like rules. We don’t want to be told what we can do or cannot do. If the speed limit is fifty-five, I want to drive sixty-five. If there is a sign saying, “Do not touch,” I suddenly have the desire to touch. Or, similarly, if there is something I’m supposed to do, often I dread doing it. In his letter to the Romans, Paul puts it this way: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate….I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:15, 19). So sin is an orientation. But for Paul, sin is also an external influence that lures us away from God’s path, as he writes in Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Sin is an orientation or human tendency, and it is an external influence. It is also, according to Paul, every act in which we turn, intentionally or unintentionally, away from God’s will for human life. We’re called to forgive, but we harbor resentment. We’re called to faithfulness, yet we struggle with desire for our neighbor’s spouse. We’re called to show kindness, yet how easily we speak harsh words and practice selfish deeds. Tens of thousands go to bed hungry, yet many of us are overweight. Nearly all the problems plaguing humanity today have sin at their root. Injustice, racism, the lure for and misuse of power, war, totalitarianism, materialism, infidelity, abuse, addiction, and so many more problems are caused by straying from God’s path—they are all hamartia. Paul famously notes in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The condition of sin separates us from one another and from God. It harms our relationships, brings pain to our world, and leaves us alienated from God. Paul preached that Jews and Gentiles needed a savior—not a savior to deliver the Jews from the Romans, for as long as there is sin in the world there will be conquering and occupying powers; nor a savior like Caesar, who would enforce Rome’s peace by the power of her legions and with the threat of utter destruction. What human beings need is a Savior who could save them from themselves. Jesus, Paul proclaimed, came to save us. He came to deliver us from sin, to win forgiveness for us, to call us to a new way of life, to change our hearts and minds, and then to deliver us from death and to eternal life. He came to call humanity to be a part of God’s empire, which Jesus called the Kingdom of God. Today’s post is an excerpt from The Call: The Life and Message of the Apostle Paul

Who Is Your Barnabas? Whose Barnabas Are You?

David Burns on August 26, 2015

As we look at the life of Paul, we must take a moment to turn our attention to Barnabas. Barnabas played a pivotal role in Paul’s early ministry. We first read of Barnabas in Acts 4:36-37: There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”). He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. We learn a number of useful things in this short passage. We learn that Barnabas’s given name was Joseph. We learn that, like Paul, he was a Jew of the Diaspora (a Jew who lived outside the Holy Land), from the island of Cyprus. We learn that he was a Levite. Levites, from the Israelite tribe of Levi, were assigned different roles during the history of Israel, but all were linked in some way to the priesthood, to the Tabernacle and later the Temple, and to the religious laws. Some Levites were priests. Some were musicians. Some were teachers, judges, even accountants. Levites maintained the Temple and the holy things of God. In the Diaspora, Levites were called upon to assist or read Scripture in the synagogue, a practice that is still observed in some synagogues today. Barnabas appears to have been a devout Jew who had come to faith in Christ while in Jerusalem, quite possibly having heard Jesus speak or having been a witness to the Resurrection. Perhaps he was among the three thousand who came to faith on the day of Pentecost in response to Peter’s preaching and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We also learn in the passage from Acts 4 that Barnabas sold a field he owned and gave the proceeds to the apostles to be used to support their work and the needs of the believers in Jerusalem. He clearly was an extravagant giver. Finally, we learn that the apostles gave him the name Barnabas, which Luke tells us means “son of encouragement,” a magnificent name that undoubtedly described his character. We see his character, his habitual efforts at encouraging others, in Barnabas’s interaction with Paul. In Acts 9:27, Barnabas was the one leader in the Jerusalem church willing to take a chance on Paul when all others were afraid of him. Barnabas vouched for Paul and brought him to Peter and James. With Barnabas’s vouching for him, the other disciples were willing to take a chance on Paul. In Acts 11, it’s been at least ten years since Barnabas had put Paul on a ship from Jerusalem to Tarsus in order to save Paul from those who wanted to kill him. Now, Barnabas had been sent by the apostles to see what the Spirit was doing among the new believers in Antioch. Luke reports: When [Barnabas] came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion; for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. (Acts 11:23-24) I love this passage, both for the way Barnabas exhorted the new believers in Antioch and, particularly, for the words Luke uses to describe Barnabas: “He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” Would that each of us could be described by those words! In that one line there’s a three-point sermon waiting to be proclaimed. There’s a focus for an entire year’s worth of prayers: “O Lord, make me like Barnabas, generous, an encourager, a good person. Fill me with your Holy Spirit, and with the gift of faith.” Luke goes on to tell us that Barnabas remained in Antioch leading the church, and “a great many people were brought to the Lord” (v. 24). In just these few short passages, Luke has painted a vivid picture for us of the kind of Christian Barnabas was—and the kind of Christian we might each seek to be—one who leads others to faith; the kind of leader who helps churches transform their communities, who shows kindness, who has a deep faith, who is led by and filled with the Holy Spirit. As Barnabas saw what was happening among the Gentiles and Jews in the huge metropolis of Antioch, the New York City of the eastern Roman Empire, he remembered the educated and passionate young Pharisee he put on a boat for Tarsus some ten years earlier. Who do you think brought this thought to Barnabas’s mind? My guess is the Holy Spirit. For many of us, when we have such thoughts we tend to dismiss them or fail to pay attention. But if, like Barnabas, we listen and pay attention, the Spirit can bring things to our minds that we’ve long forgotten. Luke tells us how Barnabas responded. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people. (Acts 11:25-26) Barnabas went on to travel with Paul on his first missionary journey. It is clear that at the start of the trip Barnabas was the more prominent of the two: Luke regularly refers to them as Barnabas and Saul. But at some point during that first missionary journey, Luke starts referring to them as Paul and Barnabas. Paul’s star had risen; from that time on he received first billing. Barnabas seemed fine with this. In fact, I suspect he delighted in the fact that his protégé was coming into his own. The last time we read about Barnabas is in Acts 15, when Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement and parted ways. It’s clear, though, that without Barnabas, Paul might have lived out his days making tents in Tarsus. It was Barnabas who believed in Paul when he first came to Jerusalem. It was Barnabas who introduced him to the apostles. It was Barnabas who found him during the in-between years and brought him to Antioch. Barnabas never wrote a book of the Bible (though some have suggested he may have written the Letter to the Hebrews), but much of our New Testament would not exist without the encouragement he gave to Paul. All of us need a Barnabas. But it’s important for us to remember that all of us are called to be someone else’s Barnabas too. Part of our mission in life is to encourage others and to see in them what they may not see in themselves. Who is your Barnabas? More importantly, whose Barnabas will you be? Today’s post is an excerpt from The Call: The Life and Message of the Apostle Paul.

Paul's "In-Between" Time

David Burns on July 28, 2015

He went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him. When the believers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. (Acts 9:28-30) In Acts 9, we find Paul moving back home in his late twenties. The son who was destined for greatness, who was educated in the finest schools in Tarsus and Jerusalem, likely moved back into his parent’s house. How many young adults today can relate to this story? Paul’s return must have caused confusion and disappointment for his parents, and possibly for Paul. We don’t know how long he lived there. In Galatians 2:1, he notes that “after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem,” but there is some confusion as to when the fourteen years started and whether or not it included Paul’s first missionary journey. At the very least it appears that Paul lived in Tarsus for upwards of ten years after his conversion. During that time, Paul likely used Tarsus as his home base, preaching and teaching at synagogues and fledgling churches in the regions of Cilicia and Syria, in what today is southeast Turkey. Note, however, that Paul had been told by the Lord at his conversion that he had an important mission to fulfill, yet for at least ten years Paul lived in Tarsus, likely in his parents’ home as he made tents in his father’s business. While living at home, Paul certainly must have continued to contemplate the meaning of the gospel. He undoubtedly grew in wisdom, which included both head and heart knowledge gained through lived experience. I’ve found that often the greatest wisdom-building experiences are those that come in the midst of disappointment, adversity, and waiting. Our faith often grows deeper, though we may not recognize it at the time. We don’t know if Paul was experiencing a “dark night of the soul” during these ten years, but surely he wondered what had happened to the dramatic call he had heard from Ananias: “You will be [God’s] witness to all the world of what you have seen and heard” (Acts 22:15). It is interesting to note how often in Scripture there is a delay between the moment of God’s call or an experience of God’s presence or a vision that seems to come from God about the future and when these things actually come to pass. Consider Abraham, who was told in Genesis 12 that God would make him “a great nation,” and in Genesis 22 that his descendants would be “as numerous as the stars of heaven.” Abraham was seventy-five when he first heard God’s call and promises. But it was nine chapters later, when Abraham was one hundred years old that Isaac was finally born. There were some challenging years in those nine chapters. The twenty-five years between the vision and fulfillment were the “in-between” time for Abraham and Sarah. Moses, after fleeing Pharaoh’s palace, spent forty years in the Sinai tending goats before God finally called him back to demand the release of the Israelite slaves. David was anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel, but he went through twenty-five years and a whole lot of trouble before he finally assumed the throne. And consider Jesus, who at the age of twelve knew he had a unique relationship with God, but there would be eighteen years of waiting before he was baptized and began his three-year public ministry. Was God at work during Abraham’s twenty-five years of waiting? Were Moses’ forty years in the wilderness wasted? Or David’s twenty-five years, much of it spent avoiding King Saul’s efforts to kill him? And what of Jesus? Was his Father at work in Jesus’ life during those eighteen years when he labored alongside his earthly father? In Paul’s case, he spent ten years wondering what Ananias could possibly have meant and why he still was making tents when there was a big world out there to be saved. Perhaps his sense of calling began to fade during that time. But God was at work during the “in-between” time. How often this pattern has persisted for those whom God uses to change the world. I think of John Wesley, who spent most of his twenties and thirties striving to do God’s will but often feeling like a failure. Finally, after his greatest disappointment, God unleashed him to lead a revival across Great Britain that would leap across a continent and change the world. Have you ever experienced an “in-between” time? Perhaps you are experiencing one now. God is at work; trust that! Keep putting one foot in front of the other! Moses, David, Jesus, Paul, Wesley, and many others did not stop dreaming, thinking, and working as they waited, and in the waiting God was preparing them, transforming them, and readying them for what lay in store. Today’s post is an excerpt from The Call: The Life and Message of the Apostle Paul.