Paul On Mars Hill

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/2gb9v5

Object lessons are great ways to teach. When a tragedy hits an area it is often a good thing to stop and reflect on the loss that occurred. Many times lessons can be gained from a review of that event.

Likewise object lessons can also be effective means of teaching religious concepts. Jesus used objects lessons as He incorporated common people, events and even plants into His teaching.

Paul also came across a great object lesson when he was in Athens. While walking through the city he was able to see the vast assortment of temples and altars. Athens was polytheistic. They believed in many gods.

Of course, Paul didn’t believe in multiple gods. He only believed in the one true God. But rather than work to discredit each of the other gods, he focused on one altar that had been erected to an unknown god.

Not much is known about this particular altar, but we do know that the people there were very careful not to anger any god. So, when a blessing was found they would naturally want to thank the appropriate god. And when that blessing fell where a specific god could not be identified, they simply erected an altar to whatever god was responsible. That’s probably why this altar was found with the inscription, “To the unknown god.”

Here is that reading from Acts 17:16-30.

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. 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.

And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, 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, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Unfortunately for Paul, when they heard of the resurrection most of the crowd began to disperse. They didn’t believe in resurrection from the dead, but some of the people did believe and joined with Paul to learn more.

But let’s not lose sight of Paul’s key to holding their attention. He found something for which they were ignorant, and offered to teach them about their unknown god. What a great object lesson for us to study!

On Our Daily Walk today, may we be keenly aware of opportunities to answer questions and to provide helpful information to those who do not know God as they should. May we stand ever ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about our faith.

Our thought for the day: Although ignorance is no excuse with God, “Being ignorant is not so shameful as being unwilling to learn.”

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.