22 And Paul got to his feet on Mars' Hill and said, O men of Athens, I see that you are overmuch given to fear of the gods. 23 For when I came by, I was looking at the things to which you give worship, and I saw an altar with this writing on it, TO THE GOD OF WHOM THERE IS NO KNOWLEDGE. Now, what you, without knowledge, give worship to, I make clear to you. 24 The God who made the earth and everything in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, is not housed in buildings made with hands; 25 And he is not dependent on the work of men's hands, as if he had need of anything, for he himself gives to all life and breath and all things; 26 And he has made of one blood all the nations of men living on all the face of the earth, ordering their times and the limits of their lands, 27 So that they might make search for God, in order, if possible, to get knowledge of him and make discovery of him, though he is not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we have life and motion and existence; as certain of your verse writers have said, For we are his offspring. 29 If then we are the offspring of God, it is not right for us to have the idea that God is like gold or silver or stone, formed by the art or design of man. 30 Those times when men had no knowledge were overlooked by God; but now he gives orders to all men in every place to undergo a change of heart: 31 Because a day has been fixed in which all the world will be judged in righteousness by the man who has been marked out by him for this work; of which he has given a sign to all men by giving him back from the dead.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Acts 17:22-31
Commentary on Acts 17:22-31
(Read Acts 17:22-31)
Here we have a sermon to heathens, who worshipped false gods, and were without the true God in the world; and to them the scope of the discourse was different from what the apostle preached to the Jews. In the latter case, his business was to lead his hearers by prophecies and miracles to the knowledge of the Redeemer, and faith in him; in the former, it was to lead them, by the common works of providence, to know the Creator, and worship Him. The apostle spoke of an altar he had seen, with the inscription, "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." This fact is stated by many writers. After multiplying their idols to the utmost, some at Athens thought there was another god of whom they had no knowledge. And are there not many now called Christians, who are zealous in their devotions, yet the great object of their worship is to them an unknown God? Observe what glorious things Paul here says of that God whom he served, and would have them to serve. The Lord had long borne with idolatry, but the times of this ignorance were now ending, and by his servants he now commanded all men every where to repent of their idolatry. Each sect of the learned men would feel themselves powerfully affected by the apostle's discourse, which tended to show the emptiness or falsity of their doctrines.