Lesson 391

(Lesson 391)(09-09-12) Acts 17:19-34, "And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.) Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 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. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them."

This lesson tells us how Paul, after leaving Berea, went into Athens and found things to be very similar, in some ways, to our religious society today. There were those who professed faith in all manner of superstitions and idols.
Paul preached a very special sermon, to which many today should pay close attention. He told them how God was the creator of all mankind and how there were none greater, or lesser, than others. He told them that there had been a time when God had "winked" at their idolatry and the sins of mankind, but now He demands that His children, both Jews and Gentiles, worship no other but Him. They must repent and accept His supreme sacrifice, Jesus, His only begotten,whom He had buried with the sins of the world then raised from the dead, therein fulfilling "the operation of God" Col. 2:12, "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.".

Paul, for the first time, also mentions the "Godhead" (The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit.)

The following quote should be paid special attention to,"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;"

We see that God does not dwell in a building, as some today would have us believe, "seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;".
God needs nothing from us, in other words, there is no such thing as "God's helpers" as some today label themselves, "Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;"".

We see also, that mankind cannot worship with his/her hands, meaning the physical things (works) we do avails nothing to God's ultimate plan, God, "Neither is worshipped with men's hands".

We should all learn from this lesson that we do not impress God with our petty day to day physical actions outside the teaching of His holy word, which is our Christian duty, unless those actions are hurtful to others. In which case we, as Christian people, will suffer God's wrath. ~