House Church Talk - Re: Real Christians

[Glenn Frank]

On 9/16/04 6:55 PM, "RoyalHeirling at aol.com" <RoyalHeirling at aol.com> wrote:

> Perhaps Paul was just being weak among the weak, under the law among those
> under the law, and intellectual with the intellects, so that he might save
> some. 
> I thought his discourse was to inform them of the only God to which they
> referred to as the unknown god. Am I mixed up here?


I know that is the typical view of the passage when he speaks to the
Areopagus, And I am sure it was Paul's intent to win them to Christ by
showing them who God really was... But it seems to me when you look at the
results of it, the way people just got all philosophical about it and liked
discussing it for the sake of the philosophical implications... It never got
down to their heart. And if we take paul's words to the Corinthians about
his visit to them after having been in Athens... It seems one can almost
hear his emphasis and maybe regret for having delved into the philosophical
too much... For he wants to know Christ and his death on the cross and
preach that to them. Get to the crux of the issue.

I'm sure that what Paul gave to the philosophers of Athens was where they
were at... And they ate it up because they liked  to discuss new ideas...
But they were not really confronted by it and they did not turn to Jesus
because of it.

While there is validity in trying to bring the message of the Gospel to
people where they are at, I think Paul realized that getting back to the
basics means relying on God's power, not on eloquent speech or fancy
words... Or deep philosophical rhetoric.

I think maybe that too many people have wanted to model all their ministry
after the model of mars hill... And never find themselves going back to the
simple basics that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians.


Glenn