Acts chapter 17

vs 23

There is apparently some story that connects with the 'unknown god' altar. I've forgotten it, something about sheep on a hill?It doesn't matter so much, I think - Paul is using this idea more as a contact point for his sermon, rather than calling back to some great story that he assumed everyone knew.

The contact point is that while you might be very religious, you as a city have admitted your ignorance on spiritual things. So let me enlighten you.

vs 24

Including, I might add, the Temple in Jerusalem.

So Paul, in his effort to educate the gentile Athenians on religion generally, starts off with the necessary point that there is a God who created everything, and that he is bigger than a temple.

vs 25

He's also all powerful and completely detached from any human needs or from anything humans can give him. So this God is not a God that can be placated (it is worth noting that so much of ancient religious culture was about placation, not relationship. When Christian missionaries go to tribal cultures, those who become Christian often talk about the freedom they feel from their obligations to placate spirits).

vs 26

So this God isn't a tribal, or national God. He created the whole earth, and all the peoples of the earth. So the God of Israel didn't just create Israel - he had as much of a plan for, say, Greece.

vs 27

"God is not far from any of us" - this sounds so altar call-y. But Paul is making it clear that God had a purpose in his creation of all mankind - that they should seek him, and actually find him! It is not a pointless eternal seeking with no end in sight (I have a feeling that both Epicureanism and Stoicism, with their focus on maintaining a lifestyle through pleasure or self-control, have no end in sight).

vs 28

Apparently the first poem that is quoted is about Zeus, written by a Cretan (and the same poem calls Cretans "always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies" - sounds like Paul in Titus!). The second is about Zeus too, but not as the ruler of the pantheon, but as the Supreme Being of Greek philosophy. So there you go, I didn't know that. Thank you FF Bruce.

The question that is usually raised here is whether Paul is seeking to compatibilise Zeus (even philosophy Zeus) and YHWH, or is he trying to use these poems out of context. The answer has got to be he's using them out of context. Out of context is not always a bad thing - basically, it is possible that someone who, while within a false context (like a false religion) can still say things that are true on a more universal level. Christianity upholds both a contextual truth and an absolute truth.

So what truth was Paul going for here? Basically that people are close to God, both physically and in lineage.

vs 29

This is not a new idea even for the Greeks - there had been greek philosophers who had come to this same conclusion.

vs 30

Ooooh. Now we're getting to brass tacks. Because now Paul is talking not about God, but about what God wants from the Athenians. He wants repentance. He wants an acknowledgement that the greeks have been wrong, and that God is right. And he wants them to then stop living wrong.

Paul's statement that God ignored this ignorance 'in the past' leads us to play some interesting thought games about the nature of God's relationship with the nations. Does this mean that God is more merciful and gracious to those who have not heard about Christ? Or does it only hold for civilisations that existed pre-Christ? The truth is it doesn't matter - our job is not to let cultures go past without hearing the gospel.

vs 31

The obvious question to the last statement is "Oh yes? And if this God wants us to repent, how did he tell you?" And so Paul, in the simplest terms, says that Jesus is the message. He doesn't even name Jesus - Jesus is "that guy who God resurrected".

vs 32

And so ends Paul's talk at Athens. Luke did a great job in summarising it, but we can imagine that Paul waxed eloquently enough on all these points. And although some people thought it was crap, there were some who wanted to hear more.

vs 33

Pointless verse number 53.

vs 34

Paul obviously chatted with them afterwards. While Paul's ministry in Athens does not set fire like some of the others, there is still a result, and that is good. We have two names to put to it, as well. I'm not sure that they mean heaps to us - Dionysius could have been the first bishop of Athens according to tradition. Scholars say that no church was planted, but I have a rough time believing that Paul would have found out about converts, and not discipled them.