22/ So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.
23/ “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
24/ “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
25/ nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
26/ and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
27/ that they would seek God, if perhaps 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 exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
29/ “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.
30/ “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
31/ because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
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 God whom he served, and would have them to serve. The Lord had long borne with idolatry, but the times of this ignorance were now ending, and by his servants he now commanded all men every where to repent of their idolatry. Each sect of the learned men would feel themselves powerfully affected by the apostle's discourse, which tended to show the emptiness or falsity of their doctrines.
The most prevalent form of idolatry in biblical times was the worship of images or idols that represented or were thought to embody various pagan deities.
The New Testament stresses the exceeding sinfulness of idolatry. Frequent listing of sins includes idolatry ( 1 Cor 6:9-10 ; Gal 5:20 ; Eph 5:5 ; Col 3:5 ; 1 Peter 4:3 ; Rev 21:8 ) and Paul instructs believers not to associate with idolaters ( 1 Cor 5:11 ; 10:14 ). Distortion brought about by idolatry is emphatically set forth in Romans 1:18-32, where image worship is seen as a downward spiral away from the true God.
Idolatry is a major theme of the Bible. It challenges God's sovereignty and attempts to offer an alternate explanation to the issues of life. But Scripture not only records people's failures; it also records the hope of repentance.
In his mercy God raised up men and women who challenged the faulty theology of the community. Admonitions are laced with appeals for repentance, reform, and restoration, one indication being the elimination of idolatry.
To serve other gods is to forsake God; to eliminate idolatry is a sign of return. Paul's commendation to the Thessalonian believers emphasized their turning from the service of idols "to serve the living and true God" ( 1 Thess 1:9 )
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