17:16 保羅在雅典等候他們的時候，看見滿城都是偶像，就心裡著急；
17:17 於是在會堂裡與猶太人和虔敬的人，並每日在市上所遇見的人，辯論。
17:18 還有伊壁鳩魯和斯多亞兩門的學士，與他爭論。有的說：「這胡言亂語的要說甚麼？」有的說：「他似乎是傳說外邦鬼神的。」這話是因保羅傳講耶穌與復活的道。
17:19 他們就把他帶到亞略•巴古，說：「你所講的這新道，我們也可以知道嗎？
17:20 因為你有些奇怪的事傳到我們耳中，我們願意知道這些事是甚麼意思。」
17:21 （雅典人和住在那裡的客人都不顧別的事，只將新聞說說聽聽。）
17:22 保羅站在亞略•巴古當中，說：「眾位雅典人哪，我看你們凡事很敬畏鬼神。
17:23 我遊行的時候，觀看你們所敬拜的，遇見一座壇，上面寫著『未識之神』。你們所不認識而敬拜的，我現在告訴你們。
17:24 創造宇宙和其中萬物的上帝，既是天地的主，就不住人手所造的殿，
17:25 也不用人手服事，好像缺少甚麼；自己倒將生命、氣息、萬物，賜給萬人。
17:26 他從一本（本：有古卷是血脈）造出萬族的人，住在全地上，並且預先定準他們的年限和所住的疆界，
17:27 要叫他們尋求上帝，或者可以揣摩而得，其實他離我們各人不遠；
17:28 我們生活、動作、存留，都在乎他。就如你們作詩的，有人說：『我們也是他所生的。』
17:29 我們既是上帝所生的，就不當以為上帝的神性像人用手藝、心思所雕刻的金、銀、石。
17:30 世人蒙昧無知的時候，上帝並不監察，如今卻吩咐各處的人都要悔改。
17:31 因為他已經定了日子，要藉著他所設立的人按公義審判天下，並且叫他從死裡復活，給萬人作可信的憑據。」
17:32 眾人聽見從死裡復活的話，就有譏誚他的；又有人說：「我們再聽你講這個吧！」
17:33 於是保羅從他們當中出去了。
17:34 但有幾個人貼近他，信了主，其中有亞略•巴古的官丟尼修，並一個婦人，名叫大馬哩，還有別人一同信從。
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[b] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[c]
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
***********
保羅到了希臘哲學的重鎮雅典，但是那些人卻仍被偶像轄制，拜各樣的神還不夠，竟然還加一位「未識之神」。或許會覺得很奇怪，有理性、有思想的人，竟然還拜那麼多偶像？這也說明越有智慧的人，說感受到自己的軟弱和不足，需要有更多得倚靠！
然而真正有智慧的人是要從敬畏耶和華開始，因為人受造有一個非常重要的原則，就是要倚靠上帝而活，若沒有上帝在心中，找再多的替代品都無法滿足人心。而雅典人就是未找到上帝，才會有須許多多的「安慰劑」。
而人找不到上帝的根源還是因為「罪」的緣故，所以上帝透過主耶穌設立救恩，並差派傳福音的人，讓人透過主耶穌的救恩可以回到上帝面前，正如保羅所傳講的：「世人蒙昧無知的時候，上帝並不監察，如今卻吩咐各處的人都要悔改。因為他已經定了日子，要藉著他所設立的人按公義審判天下，並且叫他從死裡復活，給萬人作可信的憑據。」
這位從死裡復活的人就是耶穌基督，祂已經完成了救贖的大功，這是我們唯一得倚靠，是上帝所立的，是最穩當的道路，勝過了虛謊的「未識之神」！讓我們一起來信靠祂，得上帝所賜的永生！
沒有留言:
張貼留言