"We don’t have to wonder if Paul would have argued against evolutionists—because Acts reveals the surprising answer.
the whole crowd of philosophers.
Epicureans were the evolutionists of the day! They typically held to a belief derived from Epicurus that there were no gods that intervened in the world. They believed that these gods, like men, were made of matter and that over long ages atoms, the basic component of all matter, gave rise to life and that life gave rise to higher life such as mankind.Sound familiar? It should because in its basic form their beliefs mimic the evolutionary worldview of today.
You can see why the Epicureans opposed Paul! They didn’t want God to exist, and they did not want him to be the Creator. Rather, they believed that people ultimately came from matter.
Paul responded to these claims right from the start. In Acts 17:24, Paul defines God as the “God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth.” He refutes the Epicurean ideas that a relational Creator God does not exist and that there is a spiritual realm, refuting their materialistic thinking.
Paul explains the true origin of life and refutes that atoms came together to form life of their own accord. But notice how Paul actually goes further in a presuppositional argument here. If the Epicureans start with matter, where did the matter come from? Paul reveals that God created it (“everything”). Paul, through the beginning of verse 29, continues to explain that all people come from one person (one blood) and that person came about as a result of God." AIG
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 17:18)In the greater context, we find Paul forced into a debate with Epicureans and Stoics. In fact, because they disagreed with him, they take him to Mars Hill (the Areopagus) to defend his views in front of
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| Epicurus |
Epicureans were the evolutionists of the day! They typically held to a belief derived from Epicurus that there were no gods that intervened in the world. They believed that these gods, like men, were made of matter and that over long ages atoms, the basic component of all matter, gave rise to life and that life gave rise to higher life such as mankind.Sound familiar? It should because in its basic form their beliefs mimic the evolutionary worldview of today.
You can see why the Epicureans opposed Paul! They didn’t want God to exist, and they did not want him to be the Creator. Rather, they believed that people ultimately came from matter.
Paul responded to these claims right from the start. In Acts 17:24, Paul defines God as the “God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth.” He refutes the Epicurean ideas that a relational Creator God does not exist and that there is a spiritual realm, refuting their materialistic thinking.
Paul explains the true origin of life and refutes that atoms came together to form life of their own accord. But notice how Paul actually goes further in a presuppositional argument here. If the Epicureans start with matter, where did the matter come from? Paul reveals that God created it (“everything”). Paul, through the beginning of verse 29, continues to explain that all people come from one person (one blood) and that person came about as a result of God." AIG