If Paul Were Around Today, Would He Argue Against The Evolutionists?
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, April 10, 2025 (Donate)
So often I get “what if” question that really do not help much at all. After all, “what if” are merely speculation.
But this time, this question fascinated me. And here is why. If we jump back to Paul and consider his missionary journeys, sermons, and epistles, he saw a great number of people and surely encountered a great number of beliefs.
And if we take a closer look at the Scriptures, one verse specifically “jumped” out at me that most rarely think much about. It is:
Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. Acts 17:18 (NKJV)
In the greater context, we find Paul forced into a debate with Epicureans and Stoics. In fact, they take him Mars Hill (Areopagus) to defend his views in front of the whole crowd of philosophers because they disagreed with him. Here, Paul masterfully begins his defense which has gone on to become the basis for creation evangelism.
Epicureans
But the specific thing that grabbed me in this passage is “Epicureans”. Most readers skim past this with the basic understanding that this group of people were obviously not Christians and held to the other views. And though this true, they only know the half of it.
The Epicureans were the evolutionists of the day! They held to a belief derived from Epicurus that there was no God or gods as they would be made of matter too and that over long ages matter (specifically atoms, where we get the name today) gave rise to life and that life gave rise to higher life such as mankind. Though, not all Epicureans left God (or the gods) out of it. Some mixed it.
Sound familiar? It should because in its basic form it mimics an evolutionary worldview of today. Of course, there are some differences from the modern views of evolution (Lamarckian, Traditional Darwinism, Neo Darwinism, Punctuated Equilibrium, etc.[1]), but this is the first time an evolutionary worldview held any prominence with a group of people (around 300 BC)
The Famous Epicurean Mantra
The materialistic Epicureans were well known for their argument against God (and alleged gods) with the problem of evil:
God either wants to eliminate bad things and cannot, or can but does not want to, or neither wishes to nor can, or both wants to and can. If he wants to and cannot, then he is weak - and this does not apply to god. If he can but does not want to, then he is spiteful - which is equally foreign to god's nature. If he neither wants to nor can, he is both weak and spiteful, and so not a god. If he wants to and can, which is the only thing fitting for a god, where then do bad things come from? Or why does he not eliminate them?[2]
Even today, evolutionists try to use this claim without realizing that Christ Himself addressed it:
Matthew 13
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 "but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 "But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 "So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
28 "He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 "But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 ‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn."’" (NKJV)
The existence of evil is no surprise to Christians and God explains this in the Bible. God in Genesis 3 explains the origin of evil…and its final demise at the end of Revelation 20 well in advance.
God will destroy evil just as he said in numerous places, but it will happen at the time appointed by God (harvest) not the timings of the “wishy washy” wants of man to which the Epicureans tried to force God (e.g., if God doesn’t do it NOW then He can’t exist). God is not subject to man, but man to God.
In the same manner that God could have created everything in 1 second, but selected 6 days for the benefit and pattern of man in our work week (Exodus 20:11). God has an appointed time for elimination of evil for the benefit of man. Consider a Christian who comes out of a family of atheism? Had God eliminated the atheistic parents, then it would be an unloving act when God knew that a Christian would be revealed out of such evil[3].
But consider how the Epicureans would answer this question if it were returned to them: “On what basis, in your Epicurean worldview, does evil exist?” They can’t account for evil, define it, or have any reasonable basis to oppose it!
So, they must borrow these concepts of right and wrong from God’s Word. Their own religion can’t account for immaterial concepts like evil, right or wrong, which are not made of matter. The Epicurean must borrow the biblical concept of evil to even attempt to argue against the God of the Bible! So they refute themselves by posing the very thing they think refutes the existence of God!
Paul’s Response To The Epicureans
I guess you can see why the Epicureans opposed Paul! They didn’t want God to exist and they did not want Him to have created everything. Instead their worldview meant that everything ultimately came from matter.
Paul responded to these claims right from the start of his defense at Mars Hill. In Acts 17:24, Paul defines who God is…“God, who made the world and everything in it since He is Lord of heaven and earth”. Then he refutes the Epicurean ideas that God does not exist and that there is a spiritual realm (i.e., refutes their materialism).
Then Paul says… that God “does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything”. Paul refutes that God is limited to materials (idols) and this is proper since God is spirit (John 4:24).[4]
Next Paul says of God…“since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” He gives the origin of life and refutes that atoms “came together” of themselves to form life. 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 (“all things”). Paul through the beginning of verse 29 continues to explain that all people come from one person (one blood) and that that person (Adam) came about as a result of God’s actions. This refutes their views of evolution and established God as the special creator of mankind.
In the rest of verse 29 and 30, Paul reiterates his devastating critique of their materialism that God is not material. Paul also points out that mankind is really acting as the ultimate authority of man-made gods from materials when he says:
“we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked…”
Then Paul gives the call to repent and presents the gospel.
Conclusion – How Should Christians Deal With Evolutionism?
Paul did not compromise his stand on Genesis (alluding to Genesis 1-11) and used it as basis and foundation for the Gospel at Mars Hill in front of the Epicureans, Stoics, and others. He did not say to mix some of the evolutionary ideas the Epicureans were espousing with the Bible, but told them to repent.
So…if Paul were around today, would he argue against the evolutionists? Well, he did in the past…
If you are reading this and not sure what to think about Genesis and how it relates to the Gospel please take some time to read: What does it mean to be saved?
Originally published here: https://answersingenesis.org/apologetics/if-paul-were-around-today-would-he-argue-against-evolutionists/; Updated; and reprinted by permission
[1] For more
on these views see the New Answers Book 3, Gen. Ed.
[2] As
stated by Lactantius, an early Christian who responded to this claim; Lactantius, De Ira Deorum, 13.19.
[3] Romans
8:19 For the earnest expectation of the
creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. (NKJV)
[4] Greek
culture often made images of their “gods” and the Epicureans realized these
idols were made of materials, hence argued against them. So Paul is distancing
God from what the Epicureans were used to arguing against.
