Acts 17:22, commentary and pictures

Paul stood on Mars Hill to tell the Athenians that in all things they were deeply devoted to religious worship yet ignorant of the true God. Despite their intelligence, refinement, art and wisdom, they did not know the Ruler of the universe who created all things, though some longed for greater light. Against that ignorance he declared the God they worshiped without knowing as the living Creator, Lord of heaven and earth, who gives life and breath to all, made all nations of one blood, and commands all to repent because He has appointed a day to judge the world by the Man He raised from the dead. He met their idolatry with tact born of divine love, avoiding direct attack and instead drawing their minds from idols to the true God. His argument silenced the philosophers yet won few converts, showing that the highest education and eloquence cannot convict and convert sinners without power from the Spirit.

Setting on Mars Hill

The opening line stands in the midst of Mars Hill, the highest place on the Athenian coast, regarded with superstitious awe and reverence as the place where courts of justice decided criminal cases and difficult religious questions. It was an open-air platform with seats for judges hewn out of solid rock and reached by stone steps, with the temple of the gods and their sanctuaries a little below amid massive architecture, sculpture and statuary of great magnificence.

Paul was conducted there by Epicurean and Stoic philosophers to declare his doctrine to the learned men of Athens who asked what his new teaching of Jesus and the resurrection meant. His hearers were philosophers at the Areopagus who spent their time in telling or hearing some new thing. They brought him away from the public thoroughfares and the tumult of promiscuous discussion so he could be heard without interruption by those who reverenced the place.

He stood there in an hour of solemn responsibility, calm and self-possessed with his heart burdened by an important message. His words convinced his hearers that he was no idle babbler. The address proves he was no novice, but able to meet every class of people from men of renown to heathen idolaters.

Too Superstitious Explained

Paul's charge that the Athenians were too superstitious meant they were deeply devoted to religious worship yet ignorant of the true God, worshiping without knowing what they worshiped, and the same description still fits formal worship that does not know its object. With all their intelligence and general knowledge they did not know the God who created the universe, and their many devotions and altar to the Unknown God revealed both ignorance and a longing in some for greater light and a reaching out toward the Infinite. Their wisdom and cultural achievements did not give them knowledge of the Ruler of the universe.

A lifetime of searching for God by reason and logical argument leaves people ignorant, confused, and superstitious, and true knowledge of God is found only in the Bible. Fallen man in his own inefficiency, depending on human wisdom, surely fails to read nature correctly because sin has obscured his vision. Of himself he cannot interpret nature without placing it above God, and cannot discern in nature God or Jesus Christ whom God has sent. The Athenians were in that position, erecting their altars for the worship of nature for a god they did not know, upon which might well be inscribed To the unknown god.

Paul exposed the fallacies of their religion and its emptiness, for it lacked knowledge of the true God and could not overcome human evil or unite people with God. With hand outstretched toward the temple crowded with idols, pointing to their statuary and works of art, he showed that God could not be likened to forms of man's devising and that graven images cannot in the faintest sense represent the glory of Jehovah. Images of gold or silver or stone graven by art have no life but are controlled by human power and move only when the hands of men move them, so that those who worship them are in every way superior to that which they worship.

Against that ignorance he declared to them the God they worshiped without knowing, presenting before them the majesty of the living God in contrast with their idolatrous worship. He proclaimed Him as the God who made the world and all things in it, Lord of heaven and earth, who dwells not in temples made with hands. He is independent of man, needing nothing from human hands to add to His power and glory, but giving to all life and breath and all things. He made of one blood all nations of men, determined their times and bounds of habitation that they should seek the Lord, in whom we live and move and have being. He now commands all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day to judge the world in righteousness by the ordained man whom He raised from the dead.

Paul's Method and Results

Paul met paganism with tact born of divine love, refusing a direct attack on Athenian gods and great men that would have irritated proud listeners and exposed him to the fate of Socrates. He took up their ignorant worship as his starting point and carefully drew their minds away from heathen deities to the true God whom they did not know. His work on Gentile ground, preaching to Gentiles in their own place before their own temple and in the very presence of their gods just as he preached to Jews in their own place of worship, shows that mission work must come near to people. It must not erect barriers by constantly thrusting upon people that they are wrong, but must present Christ the Truth and the Light in a way that develops truth rather than destroys, until it is seen that salvation is for all nations, tongues, and peoples.

He met false philosophy with true philosophy and eloquence with eloquence, meeting science with science, logic with logic, oratory with oratory, and philosophy with philosophy in discussion of natural religion. By knowledge, persuasive reasoning, and intellectual acquirements in his customary oratorical style he astonished and silenced the sages and philosophers of Greece with arguments that could not be refuted. Signs and miracles gave unmistakable evidence of the divine character of the faith he proclaimed with winning power. Yet winning the argument brought little fruit, for his reasoning from logic, science, and philosophy led few to accept the gospel.

The labor in Athens was not wholly in vain, for Dionysius, one of the most prominent citizens, and some others believed the gospel message and united themselves fully with the believers. That ingathering was a victory for Christianity gained in the very heart of paganism. The disappointment showed that even the highest education and skill in speech cannot reach the highest standard or convict and convert sinners without power from a higher source, the Spirit of God sanctifying every intellectual development. Human wisdom and oratory alone accomplish nothing, and with a short lifetime there is time for nothing else but preaching Christ crucified.

Paul was disappointed with the results at Athens, where his learning, eloquence, ability, theories, and elaborate arguments produced little fruit, so he changed his plan of labor on going to Corinth. There he preached with plainness in unadorned terms, avoiding worldly wisdom and urging the doctrine of salvation through Christ and Him crucified and His mission. His Mars Hill address set forth evidences of Christianity not of human invention, showing his religion came from God with divinity putting its stamp upon it as of heavenly origin, and that no power on earth could quench the light from heaven. His words together with the description of his attitude and surroundings are handed down to all coming generations as a treasure of knowledge for the church, bearing witness of his unshaken confidence and his courage in loneliness and adversity.

He was the same faithful servant before the court of the Areopagus as later in imprisonment expecting sentence from Nero, his character not depending on favorable circumstances. A heart steadfast in God holds to what is unseen and eternal and remains true in both hopeful and discouraging circumstances through hardship.