Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
(Full Passage Acts 17:15-34)
Paul
uses the natural desire of man to worship a god to point a group of
philosophers from Athens to the one true God. Paul was teaching
something new, and for a group of people who were always looking for
something new, I'm sure they began to listen out of the sheer novelty
of the idea. He begins by complimenting them on their desire to be
religious, then focuses in on the area they themselves claim not to
know, the unknown god. Paul teaches them of the true God and points
out why the other gods are false. Last, he challenges them with the
concepts of judgment and resurrection. Some listeners “sneer”,
but some want to hear more and become followers. Paul used his
understanding of humanity’s innate spirituality as a way to talk to
a group of non-believers who could have been considered unreachable
due to their polytheistic beliefs.
Lord, thank you for giving us an innate desire to worship you. Please help us to find that desire in others and point them to you. Amen.
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