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22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely spiritual you are in every way. 23 For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26 From one ancestor[e] he made all peoples to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would search for God[f] and perhaps fumble about for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28 For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said,

 

‘For we, too, are his offspring.’

29 “Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

32 When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed, but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 At that point Paul left them. 34 But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

 

Paul’s mission to preach the gospel here brings him to Athens, and by his usual practice, he began by going to the synagogue and the marketplace to debate with the Jews and those Gentiles who were worshippers of God. Those who heard him in the marketplace wanted to learn and debate more, so they invited him to the Areopagus. This was a prominent rock outcropping northwest of the Acropolis, where judicial or governing councils would meet. It also seems to have been the “social media” gathering of the day, as Luke tells us that “Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.”

 

Paul gives us an example of how we can talk about the gospel to those who don’t know it, by finding a common reference point – in this case, the altar marked “to an unknown god”. (According to one story, 600 years before Paul, a terrible plague came on the city and a man named Epimenides had an idea. He let loose a flock of sheep through the town, and wherever they lay down, they sacrificed that sheep to the god that had the nearest shrine or temple. If a sheep lay down near no shrine or temple, they sacrificed the sheep TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.) Paul, taking note that they recognized at least one deity that they really didn’t know, explains just who that God is, and how they might recognize Him.

 

As we talk with people in our daily lives, they may have a sense that a God exists, or that there is “something more” than what we see, but not understand who, or how, or why they know that. Common reference points – like someone asking for prayer or good hopes or vibes – can give us an opportunity to share what we know. Thankfully, God isn’t far from each one of us, whether we know it or not, and every opportunity we have to point that out can help someone to know Him and turn to Him in faith.

 

Lord, keep us alert to the signs of Your presence, in our lives and others, so that when we see You, we can help others to see You, and know You. Amen.

Damon Glassmoyer

jwl1040@gmail.com

 

Prayer Concern: For peace in our divided land, and that we may be peacemakers at all levels of society.