Acts 17:23

"For as. passed along, and observed the objects of your worship,. found also an altar with this inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this. set forth unto you"For as. passed along" Walking through the streets of your town. "Observed the objects of your worship" Their temples, shrines, images, and statutes. "There were from 2000 to 3000 notable idols in the city, some have calculated" (Reese p. 627). Various professed "Christian" religious bodies claim that their images, representations of Jesus and so on are not objects of worship, but rather they help the worshipper identify better with God, that is they are aids in worship. Paul did not accept that argument, for the pagans had made the same argument in justifying their images. Paul realized that when people make an image or representation of what they worship that they end up attributing powers to the image itself. "I found also an altar with this inscription, to an unknown God"

Such altars actually did exist! "Pausanias who traveled extensively in about A.D. 175 and wrote in his 'Tour of Greece' that he found near the harbor. number of temples, together with "altars of the gods named Unknown'" (Stott p. 284). Many people in our "modern" enlightened society treat God in the same way. They will pray to God will the following attitude, "God, if you exist, if you are there,. have never been much of. religious person, but if you do exist,. just want you to know that. do believe--if you are there". The Athenians had an altar to an "Unknown God", just in case they had missed one, and. good number of people have always professed faith in God, not out of conviction, but their lip-service to God is rather. kind of spiritual life-insurance policy. "Just in case God really does exist,. want to make sure it is on record that. did believe in Him". This altar to "the Unknown God" did not make them right with God. Worship offered in ignorance is not. substitute for true worship. Hence we cannot say that the sincere religious actions of the Hindu, Buddhist, Moslem, Native American Indian, Protestant or Catholic excuses them from believing and practicing the truth.

Acts 17:23 "What therefore ye worship in ignorance" The very fact that such an altar had been erected in Athens was. concession by the Athenians that they did not know all truth. In fact, it said more than that. The presence of the altar admitted that the Athenians were not sure if they had found all the gods or the true God as yet. The altar admitted the short-comings of their own religious systems--for it had not revealed all the truth to them. Their own gods could not tell them if others gods existed. "What Paul picked out for comment was the Athenians' open acknowledgement of their ignorance" (Stott p. 285). "This. set forth unto you" The true God that you have missed. "In these words there is an answer to the slander that he was just. seed-picker. If he is explaining something that they admitted they did not know, he could hardly have picked up this information from them" (Reese p. 628). In addition, Paul could not be charged with introducing. "new religion", for he was only telling them about the God that they had already been worshipping in ignorance. Paul did not have the attitude that is popular among mainline liberal denominations that the sincere religious person outside of Jesus Christ is saved. Paul did not leave these people in their ignorance, and he did not view them as saved either. Rather, the gospel is the message that all (even the religiously sincere but mistaken), must hear to be saved (Mark 16:15).

THE SERMON

As we examine this speech, consider how much of the sermon contradicts the basic belief's of both the Epicureans and Stoics. Notice where Paul begins with these people. Since these people did not believe that the Scriptures were the Word of God, Paul must begin with them at. very basic level. Before he can talk to them about Jesus, he must start with the basic concept of One True God.