To an Unknown God

 Second Tuesday in Easter

Lectionary Texts:

Acts 3:17-26

Luke 24:13 -35

It's our Tuesday Acts Bible Study. Please read Acts 17:22-23.

 

Paul's Areopagus speech is the most complex speech in Acts, bristling with issues, both historical and theological. I can't cover them all, but I'll try to deal with the most salient. The most skeptical of scholars have questioned whether Paul was ever in Athens. The proof is 1 Thessalonians 3:1, although there he appears to indicate that Silas has remained with him.

One issue is that the word Areopagus (literally "Mars Hill" in English) can have two possible references. it is the rocky, small steep hill next to the Acropolis. It is also the name a group of Athenian officials that hold trials at that location. Verse 19 might indicate the later, but Paul is not being tried for anything. I'll go with the former. 

A second issue is Paul's exact location. For years I thought it was on top of the Areopagus at the front, that is, the side closest to the Mediterranean, whose glistening blue waters and white waves make a great background for a speaker. Twice I have read Paul's speech from that spot. Climbing to the top of that rocky hill is quite arduous. The top itself is rocky and uneven, not a comfortable place. Nonetheless it was quite a thrill for me to give a dramatic reading of Paul's speech from the exact spot where he made it. 

 

Later I became less sure that was the exact spot. When Luke says "in front of the Areopagus," I was taking it to mean at the front of the top. Later reflection and reading led me to think that it was down at the bottom of the Areopagus, with Paul standing in front of that steep, rocky, hill. A paved and white line marked spaces parking lot sits there now, with tour buses occupying most of the spaces. It's a far less glamorous space, but now I think it's the correct location. The last time I read the speech to a group (2008), I read it from that parking lot. At that point they had put in a wooden walkway with steps and guard rails leading to the top.

Paul begins his speech by complimenting his listeners on their being very religious with so many altars to so many gods all around the city. Then he focuses on one altar, an altar with the inscription Agnosto Theo, "To an unknown god." For a Biblical scholar, though not for Paul's audience or a church audience today, the first question is--where is this altar? Does it exist? Did it exist? Did Luke just make it up? 

 

No altar bearing such an inscription exists in Athens today. This is not surprising. The city has had more than its share of fires, earthquakes, and wars. What was destroyed was rebuilt on top of it. It is possible that archaeologists could find this but unlikely, since the city now extends out from the Areopagus and the Acropolis for miles of streets and buildings and a new subway system and a population of 5 million. It may have been 20,000 in Paul's time. 

 

The mid-second century A.D. Greek geographer and travel writer Pausanias refers to an altar to agnoston theon "unknown gods" in Athens. Could this be the same altar to which Paul referred, despite Paul's singular and Pausanias's plural? Possibly. At that very least Pausanias shows us that the concept of unknown gods was present in Athens during roughly this time period. Many scholars think there were probably several such altars scattered around the city. Some think that the "unknown God" might be the God of the Jews, Yahweh, whose name was not allowed to be spoken by the Jews. Again, perhaps--but in that case we would expect the phrase "unspoken God." 

 

Altogether I think there is sufficient evidence for us to conclude that Luke was not making this story up. Paul's speech is Luke's words, as we have noted for previous speeches in Acts, but Luke's words likely represent Paul's thought in this speech. We'll get to that in our next Bible study.

Unknown God made known by Paul,

You are still unknown by so many. Help us, as inheritors of Paul's message, to make you known to those who are unknowingly seeking you. In the name of Jesus Christ, our God to make far more known in an all too unknowing world. Amen.

Faithfully,

Christian