17:18-22 Who were the Epicureans and Stoics, and what do the words Areopagus and Mars Hill refer to?
17:18-22 Who were the Epicureans and Stoics, and what do the words Areopagus and Mars Hill refer to?
Epicureans were materialists who taught that man's chief happiness lay in pleasure or bodily ease.
They did not deny the existence of God, but they believed that He was totally unconcerned with mortals. They believed that the soul dies with the body - there is no future retribution. Stoics held to the view that sin was simply an error of judgement easily rectified by a change of opinion.
They did not think in terms of obedience to a personal God. They taught that the goal in life was to reach a place of indifference to pleasure or pain. Areopagus and Mars Hill both refer to the same place - an elevated open space in Athens where the Great council of the Athenians sat.
In Bible times it was the supreme tribunal of justice. "In the midst of Mars Hill" in V22 simply means that Paul stood in the midst of the judges in court there. He was not on trial, only being asked to explain his doctrine.
Paul made full use of this opportunity to proclaim the living God in contrast to all the lifeless pagan deities the Athenians worshipped, and how He purposed His plan of salvation for mankind through His son, Jesus. Paul's teaching flatly contradicted the doctrine of the Epicureans and Stoics, and some believed on Him (CP V22-34).