Paul preaches in Athens about Jesus and the resurrection. Some think he is a "babbler" preaching foreign divinities. Paul is brought before the Areopagus where he notes their altar to an "unknown god" and proclaims this is who he preaches. Paul cites pagan Greek poets who wrote "In him we live and move and have our being" and "We are his offspring" to show God has revealed himself and humans are God's creation. Paul says God commands all people to repent as he will judge the world through Jesus, who was raised from the dead. The document discusses how missionaries can find "redemptive analogies" - aspects of local cultures and traditions that can help explain

1. 14 April 2021
INT-244 Redemptive Analogies
Topic 7

2. Redemptive Analogies

3. Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was
provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the
devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those
who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic
philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What
does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be
a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching
Jesus and the resurrection. (Acts 17:16–18 ESV)

4. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus,
saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you
are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our
ears. We wish to know therefore what these things
mean.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who
lived there would spend their time in nothing except
telling or hearing something new. (Acts 17:19–21 ESV)

5. Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said:
“Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are
very religious. For as I passed along and observed
the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with
this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What
therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to
you. (Acts 17:22–23 ESV)

6. The God who made the world and everything in it,
being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in
temples made by man…He made from one man
every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the
earth…Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we
are indeed his offspring.’ (Acts 17:24–28 ESV)

7. Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think
that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an
image formed by the art and imagination of man…
He commands all people everywhere to repent,
because he has fixed a day on which he will judge
the world in righteousness by a man whom he has
appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all
by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:29–31 ESV)

8. Paul’s Redemptive Analogies
1. Altar to an unknown god (Acts 17:23)
2. In him we live, move, and have our being (Acts 17:28)
3. We are his offspring (Acts 17:28)

9. Athens Plague of 500 BC

10. Athens Plague of 500 BC

11. “In him we live, move, and have our being”
(Epimenides, 5th Century BC, “Cretica”)
“We are his offspring”
(Aratus, 3rd Century BC, “Phaenomena”)

12. I have seen the business that God has
given to the children of man to be busy with.
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart,
(Eccl 3:10–11 ESV)

13. Redemptive Analogies
God, grants general revelation to every man & woman. He
imprinted individual human cultures in a variety of ways. A
missionary can discover how to explain the gospel to members of
a culture if they discover the particular way God imprinted that
culture.
Richardson, Don. (2006). Eternity in Their Hearts. p. 190

14. Eternity in Their Hearts
Don Richardson (1986/2006)

15. Examples of Redemptive Analogies

16. Sawy Tribe in Irian Jaya

17. Don Richardson
1935 - 2018

19. Peace Child

20. Karen Tribe in Burma

21. Karen Tribe & the Golden Book
Burma, 1830
•Legend of a Gold & Silver Book
•Story of the God Y’wa
•Book was lost

22. Karen Tribe & the Golden Book
Burma, 1830
• Y’wa created the world
• He gave people food & drink
• Created the prohibited “fruit of trial”
• Mu-kaw-lee deceived man & woman to eat it
• They became sick, death came to world

23. Karen Tribe & the Golden Book
Burma, 1830
• Sau-qua-la came to British Governor
• Knew white people have the Golden Book
• Asked British to send teachers with the book

24. Red Banners & the Legend of Nian

25. Chinese Lunar New Year (February)

26. Monster Nian

27. Hanging Fai Chun Banners

30. Stan Meyer
480-535-7826
stan.meyer1@my.gcu.edu