To the Unknown God

Athens had been the intellectual, cultural and philosophical center of the world for over a thousand years when Paul arrived in town. It was referred to as the cradle of western civilization and was the repository for art, architecture, mythology and even the source of the Olympic games. The formal center, the Areopagus, was an outcropping where the council of ancient Athens met to consider issues of importance and render decisions. Paul had already spent time in the common marketplace reasoning with whoever was available. Public discussions and debates and discourses were part of the entertainment for the more educated citizens and Paul capitalized on this atmosphere to present the Gospel. Eventually his discourses were examined by the Areopagus.

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. ¹

Yes, there really was an altar to the unknown god! The Greeks wanted to be sure and have altars to all the possibilities. We have gone into this actual historical altar in our blog “Unknown God” February 27, 2026, ² and suffice it to say, the Greeks had a record of another god but had lost his name and identity. This is the one Paul preached that day.

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.’ ³ 

Paul did not attack the Greek pantheon of gods but instead pointed specifically to the only God as incarnate in Jesus Christ. The Greeks were eager to hear all he said until—always the ‘until’—Paul spoke of the resurrection from the dead. This was inconceivable to the philosophy of the Greeks and they turned away mocking him. ‘But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.’ ⁴