| The Stoic and Apostle Paul |
Creation date: 22-Nov-2025 |
| Paul's Visit to Athens and Mars Hill Speech |
Last updated: 23-Nov-2025 |
| A A A help |
|
| 1 | The Philosophies of the Grecians |
| 2 | The Apostle Paul on Mars' Hill |
| 3 | The Greek Mind Understood Sowing and Reaping |
At the time of the Book of Acts, the Gospel was being received in many areas such as Greece with keen interest. The intellectual culture of the Grecians were very philosophical people with thousands of gods and beliefs that were often against the loving true God. Additionally, there was resistance against the ideals of life after the physical death of the body.
The notable philosophers that still have some minor influence even in modern-times were Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, and Euripides; along with the Athens Greek Playwright Menander.
Amongst the different philosophies, there is Stoicism which has a very wide encompassing belief in a god that immersed itself in the affairs of people and nature. Stoicism was founded in the Agora of Athens. Many of the leaders of the different philosophies wrote hundreds of books and pamphlets on the observations and theories.
There is the proof of the sincerity of the Grecians in their belief systems with the criminal death of Socrates in 399 BC with the charges of:
Socrates is famous for his statement, "It may be that God can forgive sins, but I do not see how", where we know the answer is from the Purpose of All History that started in the Garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve failure, that was remedied by restitution sin payment by Jesus Christ's death on the Cross for the forgiveness of sins with God's glorious finality after the Great White Thrown of Judgment so that ALL things can be made perfect in God for us that are in Jesus the Christ.
| 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 | 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the
dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21
For since death came through a man, the
resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be
made alive. 23 But each in his own turn:
Christ the first fruits; then at His coming, those who belong to Him. 24 Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. 25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put everything under His feet.” Now when it says that everything has been put under Him, this clearly does not include the One who put everything under Him. 28 And when all things have been subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all. |
The Apostle Paul went to Athens and used the beliefs of the Greek to understand there is a true God.
The Apostle Paul, when speaking on Mars' hill, utilized the Stoic beliefs of the "unknown god" to give an inspiring message for the listener to recognizes the True God as read in Acts 17:22-31.
| Acts 17:22-31 | 22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye unknowingly worship, him declare I unto you. 24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. |
The Apostle Paul also quoted the 3rd Century BC Greek from Athens, that was a playwright, in one of Menander's works.
| 2 Corinthians15:33 | Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character. |
One of the greatest revelations that God has built into His Creation dealing with the actions of all people that have Salvation and those that do not have Salvation is absolutely everyone during their life will:
| The following is an excerpt from the topic on
Sowing and Reaping There are many Psychologists that are trained in analysis of causality, reaping and sowing in people's lives in therapy sessions, that will speak about the undeniable consequences that patients do not always recognize for their actions in life. In 2024, while listening to an interview with the well-known Psychologist Jordan Peterson, he also confirmed negative causality and "God is not mocked" with the comment that we do not get away with anything. Jordan went on to state that when having a patient honestly review any past actions in life, that could have happened decades before, will show those actions had direct consequences of the future based on positive or negative decisions. This author is paraphrasing Jordan's analogy, to the best of my memory, of the consequences from a past decision on a choice to take the easier downhill path when we should have taken the Godly uphill path. |
| Galatians 6:7-10 | 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people. |
Even in the Stoic Wisdom philosophy of application of knowledge to live a virtuous life, the Stoic wisdom reflects the scriptures even if the Stoic person does not recognize the correlation when they worship their unknown god that controls people's destinies. The Apostle Paul in the Book of Acts on Mars' hill addresses the people that had an altar to the "unknown god" and thousands of other gods. These people, that worshipped the unknown god along with so many others, were part or influenced by the Stoic Philosophy founded around 300 BCE according to many Biblical Scholars. In modern-day beliefs by those that follow the Stoic philosophy, that can be called a type of religious belief, the Stoic recognize a god controlling outcomes in people's lives with these axioms and many others:
|
What to read next?
The Crucifixion Psalm, Abraham's Location with Isaac, Risen - 4 Gospels and is there a discrepancy on Easter? and Noah's Ark rests the day before Christ's Resurrection. What is Salvation? Is it is possible to lose Salvation? We have eternal life. Evolution is not real. When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it. Rewards in heaven. Do we Tithe? What does the 3rd Commandment tell us? What is Grace and Mercy? Is there an Age of Accountability? Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?