It matters who you worship!

Rev. Andrew Hunt, III

Walking through the Book of Acts • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Acts 17:23–34

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It matters who you worship!

, So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

The apostle Paul described true worship perfectly in

: “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable, or well pleasing and perfect.”

This passage contains all the elements of true worship. First, there is the motivation to worship: “the mercies of God.”

God’s mercies are everything He has given us that we don’t deserve: eternal love, eternal grace, the Holy Spirit, everlasting peace, eternal joy, saving faith, comfort, strength, wisdom, hope, patience, kindness, honor, glory, righteousness, security, eternal life, forgiveness, reconciliation, justification, sanctification, freedom, intercession and much more. God has given us the knowledge and understanding of these incredible gifts motivating us to pour forth praise and thanksgiving—in other words, motivation us to worship! Also in the passage is a description of and the advocation for the manner of our worship: “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice.” Presenting our bodies means giving to God all of ourselves.

The reference to our bodies here means all our human faculties, all of our human efforts—our hearts, minds, hands, thoughts, attitudes—are to be presented to God. In other words, we are to give up control of these things and turn them over to Him, just as a literal sacrifice was given totally to God on the altar. We are to place ourselves in His hand.

But how? How are we to do this pastor ? Again, the passage is clear: “by the renewing of your mind.” We renew our minds daily by cleansing them of the world’s “wisdom” and replacing it with true wisdom that comes from God. We worship Him with our renewed and cleansed minds, not with our emotions. Emotions are wonderful things, but unless they are shaped by a mind saturated in Truth, they can be destructive, out-of-control forces.

Where the mind goes, the will follows, and so do the emotions.

tells us we have “the mind of Christ,” not the emotions of Christ. There is only one way to renew our minds, and that is by the Word of God. It is the truth, the knowledge of the Word of God, which is to say the knowledge of the mercies of God, and we’re back where we began. To know the truth, to believe the truth, to hold convictions about the truth, and to love the truth will naturally result in true spiritual worship.

It is conviction followed by affection, affection that is a response to truth, not to any external stimuli, including music.

Music as such has nothing to do with worship.

Music can’t produce worship, although it certainly can produce emotion. Music is not the origin of worship, but it can be the expression of it. Do not look to music to induce your worship; look to music as simply an expression of that which is induced by a heart that is rapt by the mercies of God, obedient to His commands. True worship is God-centered worship. People tend to get caught up in where they should worship, what music they should sing in worship, and how their worship looks to other people.

Focusing on these things misses the point. Jesus tells us that true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth ().

This means we worship from the heart and the way God has designed. Worship can include praying, reading God's Word with an open heart, singing, participating in communion, and serving others. It is not limited to one act, but is done properly when the heart and attitude of the person are in the right place. It’s also important to know that worship is reserved only for God. Only He is worthy and not any of His servants.

, And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

We are not to worship saints, prophets, statues, angels, any false gods, or Mary, the mother of Jesus.

We also should not be worshiping for the expectation of something in return, such as a miraculous healing. Worship is done for God—because He deserves it—and for His pleasure alone.

Worship can be public praise to God, in a congregational setting, where we can proclaim through prayer and praise our adoration and thankfulness to Him and what He has done for us.

, will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.

, will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.

True worship is felt inwardly and then is expressed through our actions. "Worshiping" out of obligation is displeasing to God and is completely in vain. He can see through all the hypocrisy, and He hates it. He demonstrates this in

“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

As He talks about coming judgment of His people. Another example is the story of Cain and Abel, the first sons of Adam and Eve. They both brought gift offerings to the Lord, but God was only pleased with Abel's.

Cain brought the gift out of obligation; Abel brought his finest lambs from his flock. He brought out of faith and admiration for God. True worship is not confined to what we do in church or open praise (although these things are both good, and we are told in the Bible to do them). True worship is the acknowledgment of God and all His power and glory in everything we do. The highest form of praise and worship is obedience to Him and His Word. To do this, we must know God; we cannot be ignorant of Him.

, For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. Worship is to glorify and exalt God—to show our loyalty and admiration to our Father.

Let us pray…

This is the second of three major speeches by Paul in Acts (17:22–31. The first one is in 13:16–41 and the last in 20:18–35).

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus... I want you to notice the connection with v. 19, And they took him and brought him to Areopagus, saying May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It seems most likely that Paul was brought to an informal meeting of the Areopagus court, with possibly a wider group of people present. What took place there was more of an open inquiry than a hostile inquisition. Furthermore, Paul took the opportunity to address the city and its culture when he said “Men of Athens, he was not trying simply to engage with the philosophers. He wanted to speak to all in the marketplace. Listen to his next statement, ‘I perceive that in every way you are very religious.’ This is not a mild compliment but a major accusation. Paul saw the Athenians as false God worshippers. Paul’s earlier reaction to the idolatry of the city in v. 16 solidifies our understanding that accusation should be understood negatively.

The basis of Paul’s accusation was his careful observation of their ‘objects of worship’. You can tell who are who a people really are by who they worship. Paul tells us so in verse 17:23a, ‘For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship. He had seen an abundance of statues and altars devoted to the worship of many gods. He even came across ‘an altar with this inscription, ‘ TO AN UNKNOWN GOD’.

, ‘ I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘ To the unknown god.’

Altars of unknown gods’, have been found in Athens. But even in the singular, such a dedication it still implied polytheism.

Why? Think about, this was because of their need to acknowledge any god that might exist—but Paul used this object lesson to affirming his monotheism.

In their anxiety to honor any and all gods , the Athenians had displayed their ignorance of the one true and living God.

Paul makes this claim in a sentence that says something about the Athenians and something about himself in his next statement; Paul is trying to tell them that it matters who you worship!

17:23c, ‘What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.’ The Athenians reverence this certain object, Paul now will name that object and proclaim this object should be they only object of their worship and affection.

This object was the real God, the only true and living God who had revealed himself to Israel as creator, judge and savior.

, The LORD, the Only Savior Thus says the LORD: “The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,

and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours; they shall follow you; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you. They will plead with you, saying:

‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides him.’”

Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior. All of them are put to shame and confounded;

the makers of idols go in confusion together. But Israel is saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity. For thus says the LORD,

who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the LORD, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the LORD speak the truth;

I declare what is right. “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge

who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god

that cannot save. Declare and present your case;

let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago?

Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD?

And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. “Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ “Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength;

to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.”

This altar of the unknown god both testifies to the Athenians undeveloped awareness the one true God, the God that Paul proclaimed (who is, then, not a “foreign” divinity but the one true and living God.

It matters who you worship…because you need to know the Truth about God.

Paul begins to develop his argument using three negative statements, which expose their misunderstandings about God.

He gives us the first statement in 17:24, ‘The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man.’ Our God resides in heaven, heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool. He sits high and looks low, he even stoops to some us grace and mercy.

The second misunderstanding about God is in 17:25, ‘Nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything else, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.’ Rather, God himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else that they could possible need. He does not need us but we utterly need Him.

The third misunderstanding about God is that he cannot be represented by ‘an image formed by the art and imagination of man (v. 29). God is a spirit and we must not make in graven images of Him.

In all three cases there is confusion about God the creator or the location or meeting place for God or an image that characterizes Him. Including a God of our own human creation. God is not to be understood in human terms—as being essentially like us! The first assertion, that the God who made the world and everything in it is, recalls not only the creation narrative in but also texts such as , “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” , Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it.”

As universal creator and Lord, our God cannot be confined to any particular sacred space (does not live in temples built by hands), a claim that again reflects biblical teaching,

, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.”

, Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

Paul is critical of Athenian religion as expressed in its temples, and he is critical of their views about serving god, and critical of their attempts to represent and honor god through idols.

The one true God cannot be confined, constrained and controlled by those whom he has created, and he cannot be manipulated by human religion.

Paul’s critique ‘seems to go out of its way to find common ground with philosophers and poets’. In v. 25 he attacks one of the basic tenets of humanly devised religion that God must be served by human hands, as if he needed anything. This is illogical and totally dishonoring to God as creator, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. God not only created all things in the beginning but also continues to give his creatures all they need for their existence. As the sustainer of all life, he does not need to be sustained by us.

, He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

‘We depend on God; he does not depend on us.’ There is only one God who is the all-encompassing Lord of heaven and earth: he made the world and everything in it, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else, and he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth. It matters who you worship!

It matters whom you worship… because God made all nations from one man.

Following, as it were, the argument of Genesis, Paul moves from the creation of the world and everything in it to the specific creation of human beings within this environment: 17:26, And he made from one man every nation of mankind…

This is a distinctly biblical perspective, based on , where God formed Adam first and then Eve, and caused their offspring to multiply

, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

The Greeks did not have such a view, but largely considered themselves superior to other races, which they called barbarians. ‘Against such claims to racial superiority Paul asserts the unity of all mankind, a unity derived from Adam. A unity that was God’s intention for humanity; this intention is clearly seen by these words, ‘And he made from one man every nation of mankind…’

Humanity as a whole ‘every race of people’ or ‘the whole race of people’) Paul is says that from man comes every person who 17:26b ‘lives on the face of the earth...

This echoes the teaching of , And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” From a biblical perspective, humanity as a whole is to rule over, to care for, and to enjoy God’s creation. A sense of racial superiority can only be overcome by recognizing the unity of the human race in terms of its origin and God’s purpose in creating us. Yet the next clause—‘having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place’—indicates that, in the plan of God, there are specific destinies for races and nations. The Greek may be more literally translated ‘having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their dwelling places’. A parallel with 14:17 could suggest that in 17:26 means ‘seasons’, or ESV ‘allotted periods’. The boundaries of their lands seems to be a reference to the various areas in which the races live, and so it could be argued that the preceding expression refers to the periods in history when those regions are dominated by particular races. Thus, there is a collective responsibility and privilege shared by humanity as a whole in God’s creation. Yet God has also ordained special times and places for nations within that overarching purpose. The two truths must be held in tension when applying biblical teaching to situations in our world today. However, Paul’s argument also has religious implications. Different gods were associated with different races and different lands. ‘If God is working to unite all peoples in Christ, crossing national boundaries, then God is also working against polytheism.’

Now Paul addresses the fact that the physical existence and the enjoyment of the earth’s bounty was not the final purpose of God in creating human beings. , ‘That they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.’ Seeking God is a challenge presented to Israel in various ways in the OT. , But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.” Since this is God’s offer, he is free to withdraw it; therefore people should not be foolish and delay. The offer of salvation should never be despised or rejected, for the opportunity may end at any moment.

Gentiles are classified as being ignorant of the true God and praying to gods that cannot save.

In the biblical record, some Gentiles were drawn to the God of Israel and expressed their trust in him because of what they heard about his dealings with Israel. But there are no exact parallels to Paul’s declaration that Gentiles may …seek God and perhaps feel their toward him and find him. It is important to note the verb psēlaphēseian (‘to look for something in uncertain fashion, to feel around for, grope for’, BDAG) expresses the idea of ‘groping for God in the darkness, when the light of special revelation is not available’.

Paul is describing a potential that was not fulfilled in the Athenian situation. There was plenty of reaching out for God in the form of popular religion and philosophical reflection, but the result was a proliferation of idolatry and self-confessed ignorance of the true God. Nevertheless, God’s purpose for humanity remains, despite the blinding and corrupting effects of sin. The possibility of seeking after God and finding him is based on the fact that God ‘is not far from any one of us’. God is intrinsic or present with us in the created order, in a spiritual and personal sense, though not being found in created things as pantheists teach. The reality finally conveyed by Paul’s message is that, because of human failure to find God as he really is, he can be truly known only through repentance and faith in the resurrected Jesus. In its total structure and flow, the speech in is not all that different from the argument in .

Paul offers support for the preceding claim by asserting in17:28a ‘ “In him we live and move and have our being” ’.

This triad is used ‘to bring out all sides of man’s absolute dependence on God for life. Some have argued that Paul is citing words originally addressed to Zeus in a poem attributed to Epimenides of Crete, who flourished in the sixth century bc. However, we do not have the original poem, and there are similar assertions by other Greek writers. But whatever the source, Paul is using these secular words to convey a sacred biblical truth that God, not merely the creation, is the environment in which find our existed. (cf. 14:17). As a personal being God can be known, understood, and trusted. In the composition of the sentence, the words ‘even as some of your poets have said’ most naturally relate to what follows. Paul goes on to quote Aratus of Cilicia (Phaenomena 5), a philosopher-poet from the third century bc, who said of Zeus, ‘ “for we are indeed his offspring” ’.

The poet will would have understood these words in a pantheistic sense, a sense and belief that God is everything and a belief in all other deities as well. But Paul appears to have viewed them in the light of the image of the one true and living God, in

, Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

He recognized that a search for God had been taking place in the Greco-Roman world, but condemned the results. He condemned the idolatry, which was everywhere present, and he condemned the ignorance of the one true and living God.

In short, he indicated that the search had been ineffective because of human blindness and stubbornness. Paul goes on to encourage a new seeking after God on the basis of his gospel about Jesus and the resurrection.

The words of Aratus are used to affirm that, in a sense, all human beings are God’s ‘family’ and His offspring. This is an important starting point for his appeal to those who stand outside the influence of special revelation. It is remarkable in view of the fact that Israel’s distinctive relationship with God is represented in Scripture in familial terms, arising from his covenant with them and his redemptive activity on their behalf. However, God’s commitment to bless ‘all peoples on earth’ through Abraham’s offspring (, lit. ‘all the families of the earth’) shows the Creator’s continuing care and concern for everyone made in his image and likeness. In other words, there is a biblical truth echoed in the pagan poet’s reflection on the relationship between Creator and human beings. It is natural for people to seek after God, since he made us to have a relationship with himself. Consequently, ‘as God’s relation to Israel carries with it a promise, so all humanity as God’s family is promised that God is available to those who seek. Human ignorance of God has hampered this search, but now God is available in a new way, and those who respond with repentance will be able to find their Creator. It matters who you worship!

29 ‘ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.’

It was noted above that in biblical teaching we should not think in human characteristics, imagining God to be like ourselves. His character and ability cannot be limited to what we may imagine and accomplish as human beings. But this verse reminds us that the image theology of and allows us to say what God is not. ‘Since we are the thinking and feeling persons that we are, we ought not to suppose that the divine being … is made of metal, even precious metal, or of wood.’

If we are personal beings, able to relate to one another with love and trust, God our creator cannot be anything less. How can the impersonal give birth to the personal? It is absurd and totally dishonoring to God to represent him in any form conceived and constructed by human beings,

, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

The prophetic attack on image worship ,‘Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.’

Paul’s argument is a challenge to all forms of religion, which seek to make a god to suit the needs of the worshippers. Moreover, idolatry can take many forms, both intellectually (with false ideas about God) and practically (with the worship of created things rather than the Creator). Paul argument is that it matter whom you worship!

It matter whom you worship… because of the divine judgment

, ‘The times of ignorance God overlooked but....’

A new section of the argument is indicated by the word ‘but’ though there are links with what has gone before. The ignorance involved in representing the divine being with humanly devised images has just been highlighted (v. 29). Now the call for repentance in this context provides ‘a vivid rebuttal of the position that a “natural revelation” is itself without need of correction and supplement’. Indeed, Paul identifies the era in which they have been living as ‘the times of ignorance’. He goes on to speak of what God now requires in the light of Christ’s coming. The two-age perspective of Jewish eschatology is applied to the Gentile situation. The present evil age is overtaken by the new age in Christ, in which salvation is made possible for Jew and Gentile alike. Although the speech has suggested possible areas of agreement between Paul and cultured Greeks, it has been full of challenge from a biblical perspective. No one is exempt from the call to repent, neither idolaters nor those who critique them. ‘The philosophers’ teaching has not solved the problem of religions that restrict God to human space and shape, and some of the wise, perhaps, are not even concerned to reform religious practices that treat God in this way.’ Paul’s critique of Greco-Roman religion and culture applies to leaders and people alike: individually and corporately, they belonged to the times of ignorance. God did not approve this ignorance, nor did he suppress it or bring retribution, as he might have. He ‘overlooked’ it, ‘disregarded’ it. We might compare , where Paul says that in his forbearance, before the coming of Christ, God had ‘left the sins committed beforehand unpunished’. The new situation now relates to the coming of Christ ‘at the present time’, in . Paul says little about the time-changing significance of Jesus’ ministry other than to mention his resurrection as an assurance of the coming judgment (v. 31). He does not even explain that forgiveness is available through Jesus, though the offer is implicit when God ‘now he commands all people everywhere to repent’. The divine challenge to turn back and seek a new start would make little sense and would carry little power if it did not include the possibility of reconciliation with God and cleansing from sin. Repentance for the Athenians would have meant turning to God from idols ‘to serve the living and true God’. Because it matters who you worship!

, For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

With instruction such as the Thessalonians received, this would also have involved waiting ‘for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.

Positively, Paul has argued that human beings were created to seek God and have a genuine relationship with him as their creator (vv. 27–28). Negatively, he has shown that their beliefs and practices have kept them from a true knowledge of God. Now he makes it clear that they must be judged for this. ‘ Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he had appointed.’ To judge the world with justice describing the activity of God which finds ultimate expression on the last ‘day’ of human history. But the gospel proclaims that God will accomplish this by the man he has appointed. Even though he is not named, this gives an extraordinary role to Jesus of Nazareth. God has set (estēsan) the day,

, And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. And appointed (hōrisen) the judge (cf. 10:42, ‘the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead’ Barrett suggests that the absence of the name of Jesus in 17:31 simply means that, ‘at this stage, the speaker is more interested in the theme of judgment than in the details of the process’. However, the focus is also on the fact that this judgment will take place by a particular man

In view of Paul’s exposure of the Athenian failure to find God and know him, this is an extraordinary claim. What kind of man could be appointed to judge the world with justice? Who could be capable of fulfilling such a role? Paul does not provide an answer here, but provokes his audience to inquire further about this and other important issues. . “ and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” This is Paul’s concluding assertion was that God ‘has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead’ Such proof (pistin) challenged Greek views about the immortality of their souls and the belief that the dead do not rise. The resurrection of the dead was no more believable in that context than it is for many in our so-called scientific age. The very idea made some of his audience sneer (v. 32)! Yet, if the resurrection of Jesus took place, it challenges human skepticism about the possibility of encountering God and being judged by him. It is the best proof we have of a general resurrection and makes Jesus the key figure in God’s plans for humanity.

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