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NASB | Acts 17:23 "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. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 17:23 "Now as I was going along and carefully looking at your objects of worship, I came to an altar with this inscription: 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' Therefore what you already worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. |
Bible Question: The "unknown god" of Acts 17:23 was known by many before Christ. Saved? |
Bible Answer: Athens was the center of Greek learning, literature and art. It became a university city fill with professors, lectures and philosophers. The state controlled religion and encouraged it by paying for public sacrifices, rites, and processions in honor of the gods. Idols were to be found in temples, public squares, and on streets-of which people regularly prayed to. The people feared the deities and in order not to offend any of the gods, they built an altar inscribed: “To an Unknown God.” They even erected altars to deify the abstract: Fame, Modesty, Energy, Persuasion, Pity etc. This is the altar that Paul pointed out tactfully that this Unknown God was about whom he was preaching about. This subtle approach was prudent due to their cultural religious beliefs. |