22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” 32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Commentary
Vs. 22-23 22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:
The Apostle Paul then standing in the midst of Areopagus now begins his address to them but not by condemning them for their idolatry, but rather by acknowledging that through it these Gentile peoples in their ignorance of the One true God were in fact seeking to know Him. “Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you…”
Vs. 24-25 24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
The Apostle Paul begins at the beginning, by stating that it is God who made the world and everything that is in it; not Darwin, not science, not evolution; but God who is Lord of heaven and earth, created all things according to His own Will and by His own Power (vs. 24). Having then declared by the Spirit of the Lord that God is the Creator of all things in heaven and earth, the Apostle Paul now also declares that God does not dwell in Temples. Now this is also very important to understand since throughout human history mankind has always placed their “gods” in temples. However, the One true God cannot be contained to a Temple, nor is He dependent upon mankind for anything, since He gives life and breath and sustains all things according to His own Will and means (vs. 25). Therefore, King Solomon in his dedication prayer of the Temple he built in Jerusalem first acknowledged this in his prayer when he finished building the Temple in Jerusalem for God’s Name (1 Kings 8:27). Similarly, Stephen when he witnessed to the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ before the Sanhedrin at his trial likewise declared that God does not dwell in Temples, (Acts 7:48-50 quoting from Isaiah 66:1 and Psalm 102:25), since that would make Him subservient to, or dependent upon man. And so, though there was Temple in Jerusalem, it was not to house God, (or contain Him), but to give witness to God so that the whole world might seek His face there, and come to know Him according to His Word, which was to be declared and reveal Him there.
Vs. 26-28 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
The Apostle Paul having declared God as the Originator of all of Creation now goes onto to declare the origins of our beings, our persons, our races, and our nations, saying that from one blood, that is God through the first man Adam has created: “every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.” Thus, God is the God of history, directing individuals, peoples, and nations, both raising them up, and bringing them down, (even establishing the boundaries of their dwellings), all according to His own Sovereign Designs and Will (vs. 26). Its an incredible insight that the Apostle Paul brings forth before the Areopagus counsel. Now this God does not as an indifference to the individual or humanity, but so that we should seek the Lord in hope, that we might in our own stumbling ways might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any of us (vs. 27). For truly God does He hide Himself from anyone who truly seeks to know Him, indeed He has gone through great pains to reveal Himself in His creation, even in us when we display the attributes of God like love and kindness, righteousness and justice, mercy, faithfulness, forgiveness etc. Therefore, the Apostle Paul says that in Him, in God alone we live and move and have our being, thus even when we do not know Him, it is He who makes all that we are and do possible, just as some of their Greek poets have said, “we are the offspring of God”, thus even they at some fundamental level realized it was God who made them, and sustains them (vs. 28).
Vs. 29 “Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.”
Having brought the revelation of the One true God to them first through creation, and then what even their poets have said, “that we are His offspring,” the Apostle Paul now moves quickly to refute all idols and idolatry, since they do not move and have breath, nor is there any life in them, therefore they can never represent the Divine Nature, instead all they represent is the creative “genius” of man, not God (vs. 29).
Vs. 30-31 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
In God’s longsuffering and love He for many generations overlooked the nations idolatry, but now in these last days with the appearing of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ (who is the expressed Image of God), who first lived amongst mankind before being Crucified by them, He now commands all people everywhere to repent and turn to Him in faith. For God has appointed a Day on which He will Judge the world in righteousness by this Man Jesus Christ, whom He has ordained as Judge of the living and the dead. “He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” The message then is clear there is but One God and One whom God has appointed not only as the heir of the worlds, but also the One whom He has committed all judgment too, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ who will Judge all the nations and the peoples individually within them. Therefore, repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is what God now commands of everyone, everywhere!
Vs. 32-34 32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Now with the Apostle Paul’s preaching to them the Resurrection of the dead some of the so called “enlightened” people there only mocked, while others not having their hearts already hardened by their own idolatry, or their eyes already blinded by their own “wisdom,” wanted to know more, saying to Paul, “We will hear you again on this matter.” And so, with Paul’s preaching to the Areopagus council completed he departed from among them (vs. 32-33). Now even though Paul’s preaching seemed to fall on mostly deaf ears, there were some men who joined him and believed, two of which are named Dionysius the Areopagite, (thus one of the council members), and a woman named Damaris, along with others with them. The Apostle Paul’s time there then waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy arrival to him then was not spent there in vain. Make the most then of every opportunity afforded you by God and let Him worry about the results, you just be faithful to Him and share Christ as opportunity presents itself. For success is never to be measured by “numbers,” but by ones faithfulness to God.
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.
No comments:
Post a Comment