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Commentary on "Worship in the Early Church"
Day 4: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - Paul on Mars Hill
Overview
This lesson contrasts Paul's witness on Mars Hill with Peter's sermon at Pentecost. The lesson describes how the difference in audiences results in a difference in methods. Unfortunately, when it comes to understanding worship in the early church, this lesson has the same fatal flaw as the previous one. Paul's talk on Mars Hill was not part of a Christian worship service. There are many lessons that we can draw from Paul's message to these non-believers, but these are lessons in witnessing to non-believers rather than lessons in how to conduct a worship service.
Observations
The lesson does a fine job of outlining Paul's approach and message when presenting Christ to these non-believers. It rightly points out how he spoke to them in their own "cultural" language; quoting a pagan author, emphasizing "natural theology", even pointing out the concept of a temple devoted to an unknown god.
The lesson is inaccurate in claiming that Paul "did not have much success with them". Scripture doesn't give us sufficient details to state how successful Paul was or was not. What we are told in verses 32 and 33 is that "some" mocked him, "some" joined him, and "others" wanted to hear more. This doesn't sound much different, and perhaps a little better, than how the Jews responded to Paul when he taught the Gospel at the synagogues. The conclusions of the lesson are not based on Scripture alone.
Like the previous lesson, this one inaccurately portrays Paul's teaching at Mars Hill as taking place during a worship service and then asks for lessons that we can apply to our services based on this sermon. In fact, this lesson goes so far as to specifically ask "How can we make our worship services more seeker-friendly?" Using the Mars Hill example as a model for seeker-sensitive worship services is blatantly ignoring the fact that the events on Mars Hill are not a worship service. By confusing worship and witness we do a poorer job of both.
Summary
The "seeker-sensitive" movement is a new fad in Christianity. It lacks historical roots, and more importantly, it lacks Biblical roots. It is a poor handling of the Word of God to suggest that Paul's message on Mars Hill was a "worship service" and that we should be drawing lessons from this account for organizing our own worship services. When Paul describes what he emphasized teaching to believers he said:
I Cor 2:1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (ESV)
If we are seeking a Biblical answer for what message should be prominent in worship services, "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" would be an excellent reply.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised August 22, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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