Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

giving inspiration and gracious possibility to the faith of all the people in the world preparatory to
the momentous responsibilities of the final judgment, when all the world must stand before the
tribunal of that “Unknown God” and give an account of all the deeds done in the body, whether good
or evil. We need not wonder that these profound philosophers revolted at the very mention of the
resurrection of the dead, as they had no revelation, and discarded all Jewish miracles as mere
superstition. Of course, they were stunned and disgusted at the irreconcilably unphilosophical
doctrine of the resurrection. Though Paul approached them so judiciously and favorably, he was
forced, finally, to alienate them, thus making the worst failure of his ministry at the world’s literary
and philosophical metropolis, illustrating the significant fact that unsanctified learning is always a
citadel of Satanic power inimical to God, and sending many smart folks down to hell. The policy of
popular churches in educating heathens before they convert them is wrong, as educated people are
only the more difficult to save. The true policy is to go for nothing but salvation, until you get them
saved, and educate them afterward. It is easier to convert a hundred illiterate, ignorant people than
one highly-cultured infidel, as knowledge is a citadel of power, and with the unsaved always
occupied by the devil. This accounts for Paul’s failure at Athens, not making converts enough to
organize a church. When I was there my guide showed me the superscription of Dionysius on the
very wall of the Areopagus, stating that that was a part of the wall of a church edifice that bore his
name, some inferring that this Dionysius, the Areopagite, went on and built up a church at Athens.
It is more than likely that the church was organized and the edifice built in some after age and named
for Dionysius, the Pauline convert, as there were no church edifices built in the Apostolic churches
until A.D. 150.