Acts 17:27, commentary and pictures

God set the times and dwelling places of all nations made of one blood so that people would reach out for Him and find Him. He is not far from any person, for He gives life and breath and all things and sustains all who depend on Him. He is not shut up in temples made by hands or in any one holy place, so no pilgrimage, offering, or outward act can earn His favor, but all can seek and find Him where they are. His invitation is open to every age, rank, race, and land, even to the lowliest and to honest seekers among the heathen who follow the light they have. Paul held this truth before the philosophers at Athens as proof of one Creator Father and the brotherhood of mankind, calling idolaters to turn from graven images to the living God who commands all to repent.

Paul's Address at Athens

Paul spoke these words standing in the midst of Mars Hill before the men of Athens, including Epicurean and Stoic philosophers and the council of the Areopagus, after he had seen their altar inscribed to the unknown God. He declared to them the unknown God whom they ignorantly worshiped. There he met science with science, logic with logic, philosophy with philosophy, and eloquence with eloquence, presenting the truth with power. By knowledge and eloquence he put to silence the arguments of proud philosophy.

With tact born of divine love he did not make a direct attack on their heathen deities and great men, lest he irritate his proud listeners and bring himself into danger as Socrates had been brought into danger. Instead he carefully drew their minds away from heathen deities by revealing the true God who was unknown to them. He spoke to a proud, self-sufficient people marked by knowledge, refinement, and art yet sunken in vice and shame. They were devoted to art and pagan worship, ignorant of the God who created the universe, and worshiping in superstition, yet some among them were longing for greater light and reaching out toward the Infinite.

He proclaimed the unknown God as the Lord of heaven and earth who made the world and all things in it, who does not dwell in temples made with hands and is not served by human hands as if needing anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things. He set this before heathen idolaters as evidence of Christianity of heavenly origin, meeting every class from men of renown to idolaters. His purpose was to turn them from worshiping the Godhead as gold or silver or stone graven by art and man's device to the living God, showing that since humans are His offspring they live and move and have their being in Him. He declared that God now commands 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.

His reasoning met their logic and philosophy and could not be refuted, and his words silenced his hearers, but few accepted the gospel. The labor was not wholly in vain, for Dionysius, one of the most prominent citizens, and some others accepted the message, became converts, and united themselves fully with the believers. The account of his words and of his attitude and surroundings was preserved to be handed down through all coming generations as a treasure of knowledge for the church and a witness to unshaken confidence, courage in loneliness and adversity, and victory gained for Christianity even in the very heart of paganism. The small result showed that human wisdom even of learned men is not enough and that something above the world's wisdom must come from a higher source, so that afterward he determined to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, because a short lifetime leaves time for nothing else, and workers need wisdom that is divine, with the Spirit sanctifying every intellectual development in order to convict and convert sinners.

Words About Seeking God

God made of one blood all nations of men to live over the whole earth, and fixed their appointed times and the boundaries of their dwelling places. Through all His dealings with men His purpose of grace and mercy runs like a thread of gold, for He arranged their times and bounds beforehand with the purpose that they should seek the Lord, feeling after Him and finding Him.

Feeling after Him pictures reaching after Him, for seeking Him is reaching toward Him and He is not confined to a temple but is accessible to all. That feeling is the soul beginning to reach toward God beyond a time-bound and sense-bound view of itself, and that reaching is responding to the words of Christ Jesus.

Finding Him is promised to those who seek with the whole heart, and every person must individually seek the Lord until finding Him and then follow on to know the beauty of His character. Though He is close to every person, He is to be sought, and He can be found because He is near and is not far from every one of us.

God's Purpose for Nations

Through all dealings with men runs a purpose of grace and mercy like a thread of gold, for the times before appointed and the bounds of habitation were determined beforehand so that nations should seek the Lord and feel after Him and find Him, though He is not far from every one of them. Where and when nations would live was arranged with this intent, that people might reach out for Him and find Him, and all who will may enter into covenant and share the purpose of honoring their Creator. In an age of caste when the rights of man as man were wholly unrecognized, this sets forth the great truth of human brotherhood.

All people whatever their race were made from one and have a common Father, as brothers and sisters who should care for one another. The saving invitation is not limited by national or territorial boundaries, but people of every nation are to seek Him and may find Him. People of every age, rank, nationality, and religious background in every land are invited to seek God and find Him because He is near to every person, with no human distinction making anyone less worthy or less able to come to Him.

Even the most simple are still invited by the God who calls all the earth to fear Him and commands all inhabitants of the world to stand in awe of Him to seek Him and find Him, because He is not far from every person. Even the lowliest are invited to seek Him and find Him because He is not far from any person. Even among the heathen, those who worship without full knowledge may respond to the light they have through kindness and help to others, and the honest in heart seeking Him amid error and unbelief can find Him as the light of truth reaches them through a living messenger in the proclamation of the everlasting gospel. Those who have not heard the message of salvation but are ready to receive its light will hear it, will not perish, and will receive a blessing for doing the works of God.

God Near Every Person

He is not far from any person and is not shut up in temples built by human hands, nor is He more in one temple, shrine, or place than in another. He can be sought and found because He is near to all, and He is accessible to all.

Wherever He has placed people to live He surrounds them and hears them there, so they can seek Him and find Him without traveling to a holy place. Pilgrimages, offerings, outward religious acts and objects, and prayers to the virgin and saints cannot secure His favor, because He looks on the heart. He is near because every person depends on Him to live, for He gives breath, keeps the body working, provides food and everything else, gives life and sustains all, and no one can live independent of Him, so that claiming independence from religion and spirituality is shameful. Though the true God is beyond human images and does not depend on people, He gives to all life and breath.

Sin has darkened vision so that human wisdom alone fails at the search, and man cannot correctly read nature or perceive in it God and Christ whom God sent, but puts nature above God. Fallen man stands in the position of the Athenians who set up altars to an unknown god, worshiping in ignorance and setting up worship of nature. Idolatry of nature and idol worship is the invention of men who know not God and try to hide the knowledge of the true God. Since humans are His offspring the Godhead is not like gold or silver or stone graven by art and human device, but is the Lord of heaven and earth who made the world and all things in it and gives to all life and breath and all things. Lifeless graven images moved only by human power cannot in the faintest sense represent His glory, and they leave their worshipers superior to what they worship. Though intelligent and learned, idolaters are ignorant of the God who created the universe and worship in superstition, while He as Deity is independent of man and needs nothing from human hands to add to His power and glory.

Nature should instead lead people to seek and recognize its Creator rather than treating created things as God. The most effective way to teach those who do not know God is through His works in nature, which makes clear the difference between idols made by human hands and the true God who made heaven and earth. Lessons taken directly from nature carry simplicity and purity of the highest value for the heathen and also for children, youth, and all students, since the beauty of nature itself turns the soul from sin and worldly attraction toward purity, peace, and God. The God who made the world is an ever-present supremacy who is here, who has not left the world to the jurisdiction of men, retired from action, or left it to domination by human agencies, but can take all and lead them aright. Out of boundless love God assumed humanity in His Son, who made propitiation for the sins of the whole world, so that Christ is close to every person and will freely cooperate with and gladly receive all who receive Him as Saviour.

Seeking God in Life

Just before Christ came, those who loved God saw the danger in the struggle for wealth and power while teachers turned minds to earthly things and weakened virtue and purity through self-sufficiency and pride, and they longed for enlightenment from heaven and a direct message from the heavenly courts. Their reaching after God was met when the fullness of time came and God sent His Son to redeem those under the law that they might receive adoption as sons.

True, God-centered education leads the young and all learners to seek the Lord, to reach out to know Him, and to find Him because He is near to everyone. That knowing is personal experience with God in His word, gained through Scripture study, earnest prayer, and quieting other voices and interests so His message becomes clearer and brings rest, peace, joy, and life. It does not come from instruction crowded with ceremonies and material that does not lead to Him, nor from outward religious activity, nor from material and plans of human organizations which cannot contain or replace it.

His nearness does not remove the need to seek Him and accept His terms, for out of boundless love God assumed humanity in His Son who made propitiation for the sins of the whole world, so Christ is close to every person and ready to be found, received, gladly welcomed, and freely cooperated with. Finding Him requires coming on God's ground rather than one's own, giving cordial assent to the conditions of salvation and complying with the terms on which He deals with human agents. Those who come must receive Christ as Saviour, trust Him rather than looking to the world for wisdom, success, and recognition, renounce the world's favor, friendship, and fellowship, obey His Word and do all His commandments, and make Him all and in all, with friendship measured by His dominion and doing whatever He commands. Coming to Him requires no journey into heaven to bring God down nor into the deep to bring Him up, no bodily movement and no violent exercise of mind, but submitting the human will to supreme wisdom on the ground of the great atoning sacrifice, being reconciled to God's will, and walking in obedience and fellowship.

The Lord is not far from the soul who seeks Him, and the door is open for every son and daughter of God to come to Him and to take Him with them in every place. He can be a Companion even in the busiest places amid confusion and rush of business, giving a quiet resting place to those who trust Him. Those who cherish a Thus saith the Lord when Satan presses his suggestions are drawn into the secret pavilion of the Most High, whose presence is their safeguard. Many are left to themselves in places of temptation because they do not set the Lord ever before them and do not take God with them in every place, especially where He is least thought of and where the lamp of life most needs to be carried by unbroken faith and communion, and if He is left out of sight and faith and communion are broken the soul is in positive danger and integrity will not be maintained.

Those in God's service who seek Him with the whole heart shall find Him, and after much earnest prayer for guidance they will speak fewer words, be less forward in advancing human opinions, and weigh matters more carefully. Because the God who made the world is an ever-present supremacy who is here, who has not left the world to the jurisdiction of men nor retired from action nor left it to domination by human agencies but can take all and lead them aright, questions of religious experience and strife and variance among those who profess to obey and serve Him are to be settled in the fear of God with His nearness in mind, even though sin has brought apostasy, rebellion, and discord into His fair domain.