Athens: The Challenge of the Gospel. Acts 17:23-34
Acts 17:23 NASB ÒFor while I
was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an
altar with this inscription, ÔTO
AN UNKNOWN GOD.ÕÉÓ
The Òunknown godÓ is just another one of their gods
that participate in the being of the universe. He is not a distinct god, so
Paul is not compromising the gospel by saying ÒYour god and my God are really
the same.Ó They are not the same God. What he is doing is pointing out the fact
that they have an idol to an unknown god shows that they have
God-consciousness. They are aware that there is a God out there but they are
suppressing that truth in unrighteousness. What Paul wants to do is tweak it.
He wants to say some things that are either going to create a reaction or there
are going to be some who are going to respond.
In biblical thought God is totally separate, there is
no derivative being, He creates everything. All existence is created by Him out
of nothing, ex
nihilo creation. Paul recognizes that the god that they envision is just
another one of their gods, not a distinctly different god, not a creator God
who created ex
nihilo.
Paul doesnÕt ever validate their concept of deity by
equating the pagan idea of God with the biblical idea of God. He is not going
to assume that when they say, ÒI want God,Ó that what they mean by that is what
he means when he is talking about God. He spends a lot of time clarifying who
God is and pointing out that this idol isnÕt representing the true God but is
evidence that they know that there is a God. He is going to teak that knowledge
of God. We get that from Romans 1:18. Those who are negative to God are truth
suppressors. Everybody is a truth suppressor until they understand the gospel
and believe. Until a person believes in the gospel there is no indication that
he is going to change. It is easy to say of someone that they are so hard, they
will never believe the gospel. That what would have been said about Paul five
minutes before he became a believer. So we canÕt prejudge, and we donÕt know
how long it is going to take. We just have to be faithful in expressing the
gospel.
The wrath of God is revealed against truth suppressors
because what may be known about God is manifest (revealed) in them. So that
means no matter who I am talking to, they know in their heart of hearts that
God exists. Paul just wants to say some things to get that knowledge of God to
start vibrating a little bit, and then get either a positive response or a
negative reaction. We see both happen here on Mars Hill.
Romans 1:20 NASB ÒFor since
the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and
divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been
made, so that they are without excuse.Ó Standing before the great white throne
judgment there is no excuse. Why? [21] ÒFor even though they knew God, they did
not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their
speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.Ó The more their heart is
darkened the harder their hearts become. Only the Holy Spirit can penetrate
that, we just have to do the best we can to try to generate a little activity.
Paul also uses certain features of
commonly held belief as a way of tweaking their God-consciousness. He is going
to say some things that are commonly believed in terms of the religious beliefs
of the masses. He is not using because he is saying it is true, he is using it
because the reason it is there in the culture is because there is truth that
has been suppressed but there is still this knowledge of God that bubbles up
everywhere. These different sayings is just evidence that there is some truth
there being suppressed, and so Paul is simply using that as a way to surface
the God-consciousness that is already there. The common ground that Paul
appeals to isnÕt reason or experience but the suppressed truth of the knowledge
of God.
Typically in the methodology of
defending the faith what we appeal to is one of three things. Most people donÕt
appeal to the Scripture as the ultimate authority, because the unbeliever
doesnÕt believe in the authority of Scripture. They say, ÒI am going to appeal
to something he thinks has authority; I am going to appeal to reason.Ó But his
reason is flawed; his reason is autonomous. Therefore it is irrational
ultimately. So what they are doing is slipping over into the human viewpoint
side of the game thinking, ÒI can win them by using their assumptions.Ó No,
they canÕt. If you have a bad starting point you are going to get a bad ending.
Sometimes that works but that is only because people arenÕt real bright and
they are not thinking things through logically. It is not that the gospel isnÕt
rational but it is not starting from their rational starting point that human
reason alone can determine truth.
Or we go to experience, the historical
argument to validate Scripture. Now there is a historical argument, an evidence
for the truth of Scripture but that is not our foundation for proving truth. It
is different. Our starting point is the fact that the unbeliever we are talking
to already knows that God exists. We donÕt really need to prove it to him. And
if we tried to prove it to him on his terms weÕd have a problem. How much
empirical evidence can I marshal to convince him that God exists? He is going
to say, ÒIt doesnÕt matter how much evidence you marshal because it wonÕt
convince me, because I already know God exists. And I have been suppressing it
for thirty years. It is not about evidence; it is about my hostility to God.Ó
The issue isnÕt lack of data; the issue is rejection of data. It is an ethical,
sinful problem; it is not an intellectual problem. He is not an unbeliever
because he is not smart enough; he is an unbeliever because he is in rebellion
against God. He doesnÕt want the truth. So when we witness to unbelievers we
donÕt sacrifice the true common ground because we think it will be easier.
Success in evangelism should be
determined by several factors. This is really important. How many years did
Noah evangelize his generation? 120 years. How many people responded and
believed the gospel. None. Was he successful? Absolutely. We live in a world
that says success is measured by some kind of quantifying element. How many
people did you lead to the Lord? You havenÕt been very successful, have you?
No, I have been eminently successful. I have never compromised the view of God
as the ex
nihilo creator of the world. I have never stepped over into rationalism or
empiricism to prove the Bible is true. I have never sought some authority
higher than God (reason or experience) to prove that God exists. I have never
compromised the gospel and have always given it as clear as I could. I have
been very successful. See, all we can control is our own decisions and our own
actions. We canÕt control other peopleÕs decisions and actions. So success
isnÕt measured in terms of conversions, it is measured in terms of our attitude
toward the unbeliever, in terms of our humility. Success is evangelism is
measured by how well we present the gospel, not how many times we have a
positive response.
So Paul goes on in his opening to
focus, once he has established this common ground being the knowledge of God
(within all of us), to describe who this God is. He doesnÕt compromise that.
Acts 17:24 NASB ÒThe God who made the world and all things in it,
since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with
hands.Ó
So his starting point with these
intellectual philosophers is not passages from the Old Testament talking about
the Messiah. His starting point goes back to creation because they have to
understand God correctly. Then they have to understand the problem of sin. Then
they can start talking about the need for salvation. We donÕt just jump into
talking about Jesus. It is interesting that before God sent Jesus He took over
2000 years to prepare the human race for the gospel, for the coming of the
savior, so they would understand what would be going on—at least through
the revelation given to the Jews first.
He makes the point that God is the one
who made the world, that everything in the cosmos, which could conceivably
include more than the world. He makes that clear when he says, ÒLord of heaven
and earth.Ó Nothing is the product of chance; nothing is the result of
randomness. God showed intelligence, forethought and planning and made
everything in the world.
Paul says of God that He is the
Lord—kurios. This word kurios can mean owner, master, or
sovereign ruler. That is the idea here. Paul is talking about God as the
sovereign ruler over His creation as the creator. As a result He is the Lord,
the ruler of heaven and earth. He has authority over what He has made. Then his
point is that He doesnÕt dwell in temples made with hands.
If God made the heavens and the earth
He canÕt be part of that universe system, He has to be separate from the
universe system. That flies right in the face of their chain of being frame of
reference. So God isnÕt part of the process, which means God can break through
the process of natural physical laws and raise someone from the dead.
Paul is getting this from Old Testament
truth, not from their view of God. He says God doesnÕt dwell in temples made
with hands. In other words, He is not submissive to human things; He is not
under manÕs control. This idea that God is not under control of man or does not
dwell in things made by man comes out of the Old Testament, specifically it
comes out of a statement made by Solomon as he prepares to build the temple. 1
Kings 8:27 NASB ÒBut will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold,
heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house
which I have built!Ó Even in the Old Testament the Jews realized that the
temple as the house of God was just a dwelling place for a finite
representation of God, but that God in His omnipresence was greater than the
universe, filled the universe and more, and His presence could not be contained
in a human building.
There is a scene about 400 years later
on in the time of Isaiah. Isaiah 66:1, 2 NASB ÒThus says the LORD,
ÒHeaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you
could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all
these things, Thus all these things came into being,Ó declares the LORD.
ÒBut to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and
who trembles at My word.Ó
This is picked up by Stephen in his
sermon just before he was stoned by the Pharisees. Acts 7:47-50 ÒBut it was
Solomon who built a house for Him. However, the Most High does not dwell in {houses} made by
{human} hands; as the prophet says: ÔHEAVEN
IS MY THRONE, AND EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET; WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL
YOU BUILD FOR ME?Õ says the Lord, ÔOR WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR MY REPOSE? ÔWAS
IT NOT MY HAND WHICH MADE ALL THESE THINGS?ÕÓ Stephen combined the statement made by Solomon with the
statement of Isaiah.
PaulÕs emphasis all through this is on
God as the ex
nihilo creator, the sustainer; the one who is absolutely independent of His
creation, who does not need human beings for anything. That idea also showed up
in various Greek notions of deity as independent, but it still incorporated within
this chain of being. Even though they had certain notions of an independent god
he is not truly independent because he is part of this chain of being. What is
also in the background here is that because God is the ruler of the heavens and
the earth He is the one who oversees the distribution of blessings to both the
good and the evil. This is what is known as common grace, that God brings rain
upon the good and the evil, a certain amount of blessing to those who are His
and those who have rejected Him. This is seen in Luke 6:35 NASB ÒBut
love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your
reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is
kind to ungrateful and evil {men.}Ó
When we give and somebody slaps us in
the face, when he isnÕt grateful when we think they should be, too often we say
we arenÕt going to do anything for that person anymore. That is not grace
orientation. Grace orientation is that we do it because it is the right thing
to do, because that person is a human being in GodÕs image and we need to do
what we can to take care of them. For even God is kind to the ungrateful and
the evil person.
Paul goes on to point out that GodÕs
creation of the human race ties all human beings together. Acts 17:26 NASB
Òand He made from one {man} every nation of mankind to live on all the face of
the earth, having determined {their} appointed times and the boundaries of
their habitation.Ó So all human beings are related. We are all made from one
blood: first Adam, then the descendants of Adam until the flood. Then the human
race narrows again to the descendants of one man and his wife. They had three
sons, and all of the descendants of mankind go back to the descendants of those
three men—Ham, Shem and Japheth.
This passage is one of the critical
passages in the New Testament for understanding the divine institution of
nations. It is not just an Old Testament concept. It is a New Testament reality
because these divine institutions are designed for all human beings whether
they are believers or not. This is important to understand.
What is a definition of a divine
institution? This term has been used by Christians as far back as the time of the
Puritans. It isnÕt a term coined in recent history. It has been used to refer
to absolute social structures (and we could say moral and ethical structures)
that were established by God and embedded within the social makeup of human
beings. It is part of making the image of God work. Thus, these are for the
entire human race—believers and unbelievers alike. They are unbreakable
realities designed for the preservation, protection and prosperity of the human
race. No culture that has knowingly, conscientiously violated these principles
has ever survived. And when many cultures that do advance start failing the
prosperity test one of the things that happens is that they start violating
these divine institutions. They think they can remake these social absolutes.
We see that today.
The first divine institution is
individual responsibility. We are all accountable to God for our actions. In
each divine institution there is an authority structure. People are responsible
for the decisions they make, how they live their life, and they are going to
reap the consequences of their good decisions, and they are going to experience
the heartache of their bad decisions. When we interfere with that by trying to
create, for example, a socialist utopia, then what we do is end up destroying
many other things. There are a lot of unintended consequences. Welfare destroys
individual initiative and individual responsibility. It is only on the basis of
recognition of personal responsibility that we can be motivated to achieve great
things. But when people are given everything as a sort of handout there is no
motivation to develop, to pursue, to build and to have success.
The second divine institution is
marriage between a man and a woman. Homosexuality is wrong, it is self-destructive
and it will destroy society. No society has ever succeeded that allows and
legalizes homosexual relationships and homosexual marriage. It may have been
tacitly accepted but never formally legalized. The problem is, once you start
legalizing one set of sins where are you going to stop. Before long if you are
going to be consistent you are going to have to legalize everything. Then that
leads to pure anarchy and the destruction of a culture.
Marriage allows for the perpetuation of
the GodÕs creation principles from one generation to the next. And that takes
place within the third divine institution, which is the family—mother and
father raising children. No society has ever achieved any level of greatness or
lasted very long that was built on matriarchy. The cultures that have survived,
that have conquered and have been prosperous have always been based on a
marriage where the male was the leader. The Soviet Union did a lot of
experimentation with role shifting between men and women, and it almost always
led to a collapse. God made men to be men and women to be women. There are a
lot of thing women can do better than men and men might be able to do better
than women, but that is not necessarily in areas where God designed for them to
function. There are differences—physical and soul differences—and
God has drawn lines as to what men should do and what women should do and He
doesnÕt want those violated.
One of the areas that is constantly
under attack today is the area of keeping women from teaching men. 1 Timothy
2:8-15 makes it very clear that women are not to teach males in the realm of
spiritual truth, neither are they to have authority over men. These are not the
same thing.
Later on God instituted two more
institutions. One is government—judicial government. It is established by
the covenant with Noah in Genesis chapter nine, which occurs some 250 years
before the tower of Babel. You can have government without nations. There were
no nations between Noah and the tower of Babel. What generates national or
tribal divisions is the scattering of the languages. Now everybody has to break
out into different groups because they canÕt understand each other. That is the
fifth division—nations.
The first three divine institutions all
occurred before sin. They are designed to promote productivity and to advance
civilization. When they are violated productivity is reversed and civilization
turns barbaric and perverse. They are designed to promote growth, whereas
divine institutions four and five are instituted after the fall and designed to
restrain evil.
So Acts 17:26 tells us that God has
made every nation. Part of GodÕs distinction is to divide up the nations.
Internationalism is therefore wrong, both based on the tower of Babel in the
Old Testament and this verse. The UN is a blasphemous act of man shaking his fist in the face of
God, as was its predecessor the League of Nations. The fact that the UN
has a messianic complex is indicated by the fact that it has carved out of the
stone at the entry way the passage in Isaiah chapter two: ÒAnd they will hammer
their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will
not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.Ó That is
a description of what will take place in the messianic kingdom; it is not
something that can be executed by man before the messianic kingdom. The fact
that the UN has the text from Isaiah chapter two in its entry way is a
statement that we
are going to do what the Messiah is going to do: ÒWe are the Messiah.Ó So the
promotion and acceptance of the UN is a blasphemous act against God.
ÒÉhaving determined {their} appointed
times.Ó When they will rise up and when they will fall. All nations, including
the United States of America, will have a period of ascension and a period of
decline over the course of their history. IÕm afraid that we are living in this
nationÕs period of decline. There is no guarantee that any nation is going to
last forever, and after the Rapture occurs every nation is going to support the
Antichrist. All the Christians will be gone, their influence will have left,
and so they will follow evil like everyone else. ÒÉ and the boundaries of their
habitation.Ó There are boundaries to nations established by God. And when we
come along and want to have open borders as a result of our internationalism it
is going to lead to absolute national calamity and national collapse. It is
economic self-destruction. The fact that we canÕt protect and secure our
borders is just a sign of the greatest hubris of a nation in history. God has
clearly appointed national boundaries and they need to be kept secure if we are
following any kind of biblical thought—living within the creatorÕs
creation and according to His rules. When we suppress that in unrighteousness
then we will never see security and prosperity again.
Acts 17:27 that they would seek God, if
perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each
one of us.Ó
The reason that God has established
these borders is that they should seek the Lord. God wants people to seek Him.
He is not hiding. He has made knowledge of Himself within them; He is not
hiding it. Who is doing the suppressing in Romans 1:18, 19? It is human beings.
God has done all of these things within creation and supervises and sustains
creation so that people will seek the Lord.
The word for ÒgropeÓ is an interesting
word. It is the Greek word pselaphao.
It is used only four times in the New Testament. It is normally translated to
touch or to handle something. But it is used here in Acts in a metaphorical way
to refer to like blind man groping in the dark trying to find his way. And so
it pictures a spiritually blind person trying to find God. Yet the Scriptures
says God is right there and the knowledge of Him is evident within.
Paul describes these Greeks as pagans
seeking God in their own imperfect way. They all have God-consciousness but
they are suppressing that truth in darkness, so they canÕt quite get a hold of
God. This idea that God is near us or in us is also present in some of the
Greek philosophers and some of the Roman philosophers as well. But Paul isnÕt
quoting this from a particular Greek or Roman philosopher. This was a common
idea in the ancient world, so he is just using this idea as an evidence of
their God-consciousness that they would recognize and accept as true. And this
is just evidence that they are aware that God exists as something beyond what
they understand with their idols.
It is a concept that has its roots in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 4:7 NASB ÒFor what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him?Ó
Psalm 14:1, 2 NASB ÒThe fool has said in his heart, ÔThere is no God.Õ They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good. The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God.Ó God is looking for people who seek Him.
Psalm 145:18 NASB ÒThe LORD
is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.Ó If you
seek God He will reveal Himself to you.
Jeremiah 23:23, 24 NASB
ÒAm I a God who is near,Ó declares the LORD,
ÒAnd not a God far off? Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see
him?Ó declares the LORD. ÒDo I not fill the heavens and the earth?Ó declares the LORD.
So the picture is that God is one who
is seeking, and willing to reveal Himself to human beings, but they are the
ones who are suppressing that truth in unrighteousness and they are responsible
for their negative decisions.
Acts 17:28 NASB Òfor in Him
we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ÔFor we
also are His children.ÕÓ Commentators have argued for centuries about this.
Some say that this is a quote from Epimenides around 600 BC.
But this was a common idea in the ancient world, that God was near and around.
And again what was Paul is doing is quoting a popular idea to tweak their
God-consciousness, and that this is just evidence that unbelievers have some
sort of awareness of GodÕs existence. He is saying we are His offspring, but
only in the sense of being created by God. We are only children of God if we
accept Christ as savior. John 1:12 NASB ÒBut as many as received
Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, {even} to those who
believe in His name.Ó
Acts 17:29 ÒBeing then the children of
God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or
stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.Ó Since we are part of
GodÕs offspring it dishonors not only God but also ourselves if we make an idol
of God to worship Him.
Then he gives his challenge.
Acts 17:30 NASB ÒTherefore
having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all
{people} everywhere should repent.Ó In the Old Testament God had recognized
that there was idolatry but because of grace, because of His plan, He had
allowed this to go on. But now there is fuller revelation, Jesus has come and
paid the penalty for sin, and so it wonÕt seem as if Gentiles are getting away
with it anymore.
This is the same kind of thing Paul said when he was speaking in Lystra. Acts 14:15 NASB Òand saying, ÔMen, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, WHO MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM. In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.ÕÓ Common grace. God always had a witness.
Now he is going to bring this to a
conclusion as he challenges them.
Acts 17:31 NASB Òbecause He
has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man
whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from
the dead.Ó Notice how he has circled right around and has hit the real sticky
point. In their arrogance they donÕt want to believe that there is a God
outside of the natural laws that they have identified—outside of the
chain of being—who can actually raise someone from the dead. They reject
that completely. Not only is Paul challenging them and saying not only will
there be a resurrection but there will be an appointed time when God is going
to judge them. That judgment has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ (John
5:26, 27).
There are three responses. There are those
who mock him and reject what he says. Then there is a second group that says
they will hear him again on this matter.
Acts 17:32, 33 NASB
ÒNow when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some {began} to sneer,
but others said, ÔWe shall hear you again concerning this.Õ So Paul went out of
their midst.Ó
The third reaction.
Acts 17:34 NASB ÒBut some
men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and
a woman named Damaris and others with them.Ó All through acts we see Luke
pointing out women who were saved. This would be revolutionary in a Jewish
context. In a synagogue at that time the women were on one side and the men on
the other, and the women were basically ignored. Paul never treats women less
than men. He treats them differently because they have a different role, but it
is not a less significant role, not less important.
Paul gets a response and a small group
is established there, then he is going to leave.