Paul is led up a 512 ft. hill, Mars Hill, also known as Areopagus, and there he faces the Epicureans and the Stoics (and others). These intellectual giants represented the philosophical thinking of the day in which Paul lived. And when these PhD’s saw Paul, they sneered and considered him a vain babbler (seed picker). They had given Paul audience merely to amuse themselves by listening to what he had to say.

Now, the Stoic religion, founded by Zeno (c. 300 B.C.), was rooted in the art of living wisely. Their teaching suggested that the ultimate principle of the universe and the ideal of the ethical life is to live in harmony with reason. Reason will keep each man under control. God was thought to be the indwelling reason, the soul of the universe and apart from it, God had no existence. So according to stoicism, the fundamental injunction laid upon man was to follow the law of nature and maintain self discipline by listening to the voice of reason.

I think the Stoics made a good point because if we investigated the doctrines and practices of most of the major religions, we will find something comparable to the teachings of Christianity. We can look at Buddhism or Confucianism or Hinduism and find teachings against murder, stealing, adultery and so forth. And so the Stoics believed there was something in our natural thinking process that would lead us to do the right thing. Paul contemplated this philosophical leaning and came up with