The Unknown God

Acts 17:22-28

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24  The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,   25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27  that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for
"'In him we live and move and have our being';

When I have read this portion from the book of Acts, I have always thought that the people of Athens were very religious, that they had altars and temples to every god they knew about, and they had an altar set up to cover any god that they did not know, just in case they left someone out. But, today I read something that made their action clear and profound.

The ancient Greeks believed in many gods, thousands in fact, a god for every need, every situation. The gods of Rome and Greece were more like superheros, beings with very human characteristics, but with power to do a lot of damage. But, according to a Greek philosopher, Porphyry of Tyre, who lived AD 234–c. 305, they also believed that there was one god above all others. He wrote, "The first God is incorporeal, immovable, and invisible...neither is vocal language nor internal speech adapted to the highest God." They believed that this God over all other gods was a formless spirit being, distant, invisible, unknowable, a god who did not show himself or reveal himself to humans, who was concerned with humans, and not moved by their plight.

When Paul showed up in Athens, he would have known this. He was explaining to the people that this God who they believed was above all the other gods, was in fact real. He was the creator of everything, Master of all in heaven and earth. But, He is not distant and unknowable, hidden and unapproachable, unconcerned and uncaring. He wants to be known. His hope is that his creatures will seek Him, and, if they do, they will find Him.

It is wonderful to me to see that Paul introduced these people, not to a God they had not heard of before, but to The God they believed was there, but was too hidden, too distant for them to ever know. What hope this would have brought them.

We serve and love the Great God, who has revealed Himself to us.

John 1
  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 
18  No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side,  he has made him known.