Acts 17:23

For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. FOR AS I PASSED BY, AND BEHELD YOUR DEVOTIONS, [ ta (G3588) sebasmata (G4574) humoon (G5216)] - rather, 'the objects of your devotion,' or 'your sacred things;' referring, as is plain from the next words, to their works of art consecrated to religion. I FOUND AN ALTAR WITH THIS INSCRIPTION, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, [ agnoostoo (G57) theoo ...

− 23._To the unknown God. _I can well grant that this altar was dedicated to all strange gods; yet I cannot yield to that which Jerome saith, that Paul did, by a certain holy wiliness, attribute that to one God which was written of many. For seeing the superscription [inscription] was common in every man’s mouth, there was no place for subtilty, [craft;] why did he then change the plural number? Surely, not that he might deceive the men of Athens, but because the matter did so require, he said, that he brought doctrine concerning an unknown god. And after he hath showed that they are deceived, because they knew not what god thee ought to worship, and had no certain godhood in a great leap of gods, he doth now insinuate himself, and doth purchase favor for his doctrine. Because it was an unjust thing to reject that which was uttered concerning a new god, to whom they had already given ove...

22-31 Here we have a sermon to heathens, who worshipped false gods, and were without the true God in the world; and to them the scope of the discourse was different from what the apostle preached to the Jews. In the latter case, his business was to lead his hearers by prophecies and miracles to the knowledge of the Redeemer, and faith in him; in the former, it was to lead them, by the common works of providence, to know the Creator, and worship Him. The apostle spoke of an altar he had seen, with the inscription, "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." This fact is stated by many writers. After multiplying their idols to the utmost, some at Athens thought there was another god of whom they had no knowledge. And are there not many now called Christians, who are zealous in their devotions, yet the great object of their worship is to them an unknown God? Observe what glorious things Paul here says of that G...

Verse Acts 17:23. _BEHELD YOUR DEVOTIONS_] σεβασματα, _The objects of your_ _worship_; the different _images_ of their gods which they held in religious veneration, sacrificial instruments, altars, c., c. _TO THE UNKNOWN GOD._] ΑΓΝΩΣΤΩ ΘΕΩ. That there was an altar at Athens thus inscribed, we cannot doubt after such a testimony though St. Jerome questions it in part for he says St. Paul found the inscription in the _plural_ number, but, because he would not appear to acknowledge a _plurality of gods_, he quoted it in the _singular: Verum, quia Paulus non_ pluribus Diis _indigebat_ ignotis, _sed_ uno _tantum_ ignoto Deo, _singulari verbo_ usus est. Epist. ad _Magn_. This is a most foolish saying: had Paul done so, how much would such a begging of the question have prejudiced his defence in the minds of his i

FOR AS I PASSED BY - Greek: “For I, coming through, and seeing, etc.” AND BEHELD - Diligently contemplated; attentively considered ἀναθεωρῶν anatheōrōn. The worship of an idolatrous people will be an object of intense and painful interest to a Christian. YOUR DEVOTIONS - τὰ σεβάσματα ta sebasmata. Our word devotions refers to the “act of worship” - to prayers, praises, etc. The Greek word used here means properly any sacred thing; any object which is worshipped, or which is connected with the place or rites of worship. Thus, it is applied either to the gods themselves, or to the temples, altars, shrines, sacrifices, statues, etc., connected with the worship of the gods. This is its meaning here. It does not denote that Paul saw them engaged in th

EXPOSITION ACTS 17:1 AMPHIPOLIS. This was the ancient capital of that division of Macedonia (Macedonia Prima); see Acts 16:12, note. It was situated on the Via Egnatia, thirty-four miles southwest from Philippi, and three miles from the AEgean Sea. It lay in a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the Strymon, whence its name, _Amphipolis; _its modern name is _Neokhoria, _now a village. Its original name was Ἐννέα ̔οδοί, The Nine Ways. Originally a Thracian city, it was conquered by the Athenians, then by the Lacedaemonians, then fell under the dominion of Philip of Macedon, and finally, with the rest of Macedonia, became part of the Roman empire. APOLLONIA; now probably _Polina, _thirty miles due west

FOR AS I PASSED BY,.... Or "through"; that is, through the city of Athens: AND BEHELD YOUR DEVOTIONS; not so much their acts of worship and religion, as the gods which they worshipped; in which sense this word is used in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 and the altars which were erected to them, and the temples in which they were worshipped; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "the houses", and "places of your worship"; and the Ethiopic version, "your images", or "deities", I FOUND AN ALTAR WITH THIS INSCRIPTION, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Pausanias p speaks in the plural number of altars of gods, that were named unknown, at Athens; and so says Apollonius Tyanaeus to Timasion q it is wisest to speak well of all the gods, especially at Athens, where there are altars to unknown gods: it may be, there were altars that had the inscription in the plura

CHAPTER 17 _ 1. The Gospel in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1)._ 2. The Gospel in Beroea (Acts 17:10). 3. Paul in Athens (Acts 17:15). Three cities in which the Gospel is next preached are before us in this chapter. But there is a marked difference between these three places. In Thessalonica there was much hostility, the result of the success of the Gospel. In Beroea a more noble class of Jews were found. Their nobility consisted in submission to the Scriptures, the oracles of God, and in a ready mind. There was a still greater blessing among the Jews and the Gentiles. In Athens the Apostle Paul met idolatry, indifference and ridicule. An interesting fact is learned concerning the activity of the apostl

PAUL'S SPEECH TO THE AREOPAGUS. He opens with a compliment to the religiosity of the Athenians. He has walked up and down the city and marked the many objects of worship; he has also found an altar with the inscription To the Unknown God (the argument that follows calls for the definite article). There are various instances in antiquity of such an inscription; though always, it is true, in the plural, not the singular number. Jerome says the inscription in the text must have run To the unknown and foreign gods, and in Pausanias, Philostratus, and other ancient writers such inscriptions are spoken of. In Deissmann's _St. Paul_ (p. 261) an inscription is described which has recently been unearthed at Pergamum, also in the plural. That in our text is the only example in antiquity of the inscription in the singular, and Paul's argument is based on it in that form. It would dedicate the altar...

IN THESSALONICA (Acts 17:1-9)...