The Yale expositor., 1916-07-13
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDNSOIOOL
LESSON
CBy e. o. SELLERS. Acting Director of
the Sunday School Course In the Moody
Bible Institute OF Chicago)
Copyright by Western Newspaper Union
LESSON FOR JULY Is
PAUL AT ATHENS.
LESSON TExT-Acts l7:is-s4.

Athens! What a name to conjure
with. Athens has always epitomized
the acme OF iEtellectualism, culture,
art, and esthetic accomplishment.
Driven from Berea and alone, Paul fed
to the coast and taking ship crossed
over to the Thessalonian peninsula.
Entering the city-he beholds its stat
uary, meets its philosophers and views
its moral degradation and its myriad
manifestations of heathenism. Out
wardly cultured, molding the thought
OF the world, yet 1t passed from its
pinnacle of power because it knew not
God. Paul saw the pantheism of the
cultured Stoics and the Epicureans,
who because Of their distant and but
little concerned gods, enjoyed the
pleasure of wealth and ease.
I. Paul Brought to Trial (vv. 1921.
Such sights stirred the spirit Of Paul.
The marvel is how Indifferent we may
become in the presence of the great
spiritual poverty of our time. His
spirit stirred within him, when he saw
the city crowded with idols. AS Paul
followed his custom and began bis
preaching in the synagogue he also
took advantage of the opportunity to
10 open-air work in the market place
Here small group and there another.
This he did daily until the teachers
". 49, began to take knowledge of
his presence in their city. Some in
contempt called him a "babbler," while
others concluded that he represented
some new religion, though he set be-
fore them the same message Of saliva
ton in Jesus Christ which had caused
such remarkable results elsewhere.
That they might hear him more fully
and without the interruption of the
mart OF trade, Paul is taken to the
Areopagus, or Mars Hin, where from
time immemorial the greatest Grim
inals had been sentenced and the most
solemn questions of religion set
tled.
~. The Unknown Made Known, wv.
22-29). Such idle speculation ". 2D
was of no value to the Athenians. This
Paul knew, yet he began his address
in a NEST conciliatory manner ". %
r. W. He would win their favorable
attention before he called them to re-
pentance. Keenly observant, Paul had
seen among the many inscriptions one
TO the unknown Cod" and this one
whom in ignorance they worshiped, he
would set forth. Many today are in
blindness, seeking to know God when
he has already been made manifest Ito
be seem. (Jchn 1:1S; John $50; John
1883; II Cor. 4:6) 1t is mans own
fault If he does not know God Rom.
1:20-22, %; ii Cor. 4:4), and no knowl-
edge is more important John 1879,
Paul's opening words in verse "a were
but to seize a well-known object Of
their street decoration and discussions
and with it to lead on to the great
truth he yearned to have them compre-
bend. This caught the philosophers
as well as the idle curious. God is not
a philosophic conception OF the mind.
He cannot be confined to temples
made with hands nor does he need the
services of our hands, seeing he Gre
ated all things and giveth to all things
life. PauPs next point was that He
hath made of one every nation of
men," AS yet how little men really
believe that truth-witness the Euro
pean conflict and the economic, racial
and social differences of this land.
Negro segregation and Asiatic exclu-
sion are but illustrations of our sepa-
ratiCn from the teaching Of the broth
erhoCd OF man. But this brotherhood
is rot alone for altruistic service but
that they should seek God" This
was his great and glorious purpose in
creating the nations OF the earth, in
setting the seasons in motion, to min
lister &c their needs, and in appointing
the bounds CT their habitations; yet |
how far man has departed from that
ideal (Rom. 1929. It is of the high
est importance that men should seek
God and he is not difficult to find for |
those who seek him (Jer. 29:13).
~. What the Athenians Lacked |
wv. 20-3D. Thus far Pauls auditors |
must have followed him keenly, and |
It was the goal toward which he
had been driving SO relentlessly. Such |
sublime conceptions. keen l5gic and
quotations from their writer's won |
their attention. He then delivered
keen thrust at this, the psychological
moment" by calling upon them to re-
pent." The Athenians lacked a realiz-
ing sense CT the personality Of God
that man could have personal and in
innate relations with God or that a |
man could or had risen from the |
dead.
Any candid seeker after truth who
will examine the evidence will be con-
WINGED of the truth that Jesus OF
Nazareth, crucifled upon a Roman
cross, rose from the dead.
These Athenians also lacked the
ability to accept this fact and to yield
their lives in obedience TO IL. and s,
some tried to sneer away the truth
but that did not alter II.