Leon's Message Board

Today completed our biblical study tour of Turkey and Greece, as we have traveled in the steps of Paul and John.  Our flight is to leave early tomorrow (Mon) morning.  We have all profited from the trip, and our understanding of Scripture in its historical and geographical context has been enhanced.

On Friday our group stood on Mar’s Hill in Athens.  During the 2nd Missionary Journey, it was in this area that Paul addressed the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers. While an invitation to speak to them sounded potentially promising (Acts 17:19), Luke informs us, “For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing” (v.21).  It turned out that these people who were looking for novelty were not looking for truth.  Paul wrote of those who are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7).  Sadly, when Paul spoke of the resurrection of Christ, the Athenians mocked (Acts 17:32). A few responded favorably, but the message of the Gospel was quickly dismissed by most of the hearers there.

Today’s photo shows the Areopagus (Mar’s Hill), which is situated slightly below the acropolis.  Ares was the Grecian mythological god of war; “pagos” means “a rocky hill.” Thus Areopagus means the “Hill of Mar’s; hence, Mar’s Hill.

Areopagos (Mar's Hill) at Athens.