This week we studied the beginning of Paul’s sermon at the Areopagus (beyond verse 22)! Paul seized the opportunity to tell the Athenians and Areopagus Council about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in terms they would understand.
His prop was an altar to an “unknown god,” and Paul used that as his jumping off point to share that the god they worshiped as “unknown” was indeed known to him and many others. That this God was the creator of everything and everyone, and that He did not dwell in temples made by humankind.
We spent some extra time looking at verses 26-27 due to the variations in ancient manuscripts, and we were reminded once again how important it is to read from more than one version of the Bible when studying.
>> Click to read this week’s passages in KJV, CSB, ESV, NIV: Acts 17:22-27 <<
Acts 17:22-27 ~ Unveiling the “Unknown” God
Paul seizes the opportunity to tell the Athenians about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in terms they would understand; using an altar to an “unknown god.”
* Recorded: LIVE. This audio has been HEAVILY REDACTED for class member privacy, time, and content
Whiteboard:
Additional Resources:
Argubright, John. “To the Unknown God.” Bible Believer’s Archaeology (2013).
http://www.biblehistory.net/newsletter/the_unknown_God.htm
Wikipedia contributors. (2019, November 7). Si deus si dea. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Si_deus_si_dea&oldid=924961848
Jipp Joshua W. “Paul’s Areopagus Speech of Acts 17:16—34 as Both Critique and Propaganda.” Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 131, No. 3, 2012, pp. 567–588. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23488255.
PHOTO CREDITS: "Altare del dio ignoto" by Sailko [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]