On the Book of Acts

            In Acts 1:8 the Lord told his disciples that they would be witnesses of him in “both Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” The subject is approached in this manner in this book, for the first seven chapters of Acts tell us about the church and its activities in Jerusalem and Judaea, and from chapter eight through twelve we are informed of the spread of the gospel into Samaria, and then beginning with chapter thirteen and continuing to the end of the book we are concerned with the rapid spread of the gospel into all parts of the world.

         No one man did more to spread the gospel of Christ than did the apostle Paul. We are introduced to this man in Acts 7. He was then an enemy of the gospel, but his conversion is related in chapter nine. Then, in chapter 13 he begins the first of his three great historic missionary journeys. On his second missionary journey he went over much of the territory that he had visited on his first missionary journey, but he went far beyond those parts first visited, for it was on this second journey that he went into Europe for the first time in response to what is commonly referred to as the Macedonian call.

         Paul and his company landed in Europe at a place called Neapolis, and from there they traveled on to Philippi. This later place is where the woman named Lydia and her household, as well as the jailer and his household were baptized into Christ. From Philippi they went on to a place called Amphipolis, and then to another called Apollonia, and afterwards to Thessalonica. In Thessalonica they encountered much difficulty on the part of enemies of the gospel and feeling it necessary to leave Thessalonica they went next to Berea. Paul was not long in Berea until these same evil workers followed him there and stirred up the people against him, so the brethren there sent Paul on to Athens, but Silas and Timotheus, two of Paul’s companions remained in Thessalonica. While Paul waited for them in Athens, for he had sent for them to come to him as soon as possible, the record says that in Athens “his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.” (Acts 17:16). It is this account of Paul’s being in Athens that I wish to study with y9u, for that there is a great lesson here for us today becomes obvious when we see the parallel between the then and the now.

         First of all, it should be pointed out that Athens then was the great educational center of the world. It was filled with the most learned men of the day. Here Paul was right in the midst of the various sects of the ancient philosophers, as Matthew Henry points out, “where human learning most flourished, idolatry most abounded, which confirms that of the apostles, that when they professed themselves to be wise they became fools (Romans 1:22), and, in the business of religion were most of all other the most vain in their imaginations, The world by wisdom knew not god, 1 Corinthians 1:21.” It is little wonder, therefore, that Paul’s spirit was stirred within him, for here is a Christian man, a man who was completely committed to the service of the one true God, who is now completely surrounded with idolatry. It is said by some that there were more idols in Athens than in all other places in Greece combined. It is therefore little wonder that this great man of God, who had such compassion for the souls of men as he had, was as grieved as he was, when he saw these people enslaved by Satan, and led by his will In fact, so exceedingly zealous were they, that for fear they might leave some god out of their programs of devotion, Paul found that they had erected an altar to THE UNKNOWN GOD. Taking advantage of this opportunity Paul used this altar with which to open his address to those who were before hi, for Paul realized that had they known the one true God, they would not have been worshipping the many false gods, so he began at this point an made known the one true God of heaven to them.

         Speaking of the altar and the inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD (Acts 17:22-23) Paul said: “Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.” In Acts 17:22, Paul acknowledged the dedication of these people, for as rendered in the American Standard Version, he spoke of them as being very religious. In fact there were many wonderful things that one might see in these people. First of all, they were intelligent, some of the most learned men of the day. They were devout. They were very religious. They had poured their treasures into the worship of these multiplied-numbers of gods. However, despite all of this, they were ignorant of the true and living God. Because of this, Paul’s spirit was stirred within him. He grieved to see these thousands of people worshipping they knew not what, and he longer for their salvation. I am confident that were Paul alive today and were he to visit in only one of our American cities he would feel much the same stress and strain today that he felt there in Athens some many years ago. Though our problems in not the same problem that existed then, in principle, it is much the same today as it was then. Though he was dealing with intelligent people who were devout, and very religious, and they seemed to have freely given of what they had to satisfy the gods they worshipped, his spirit was stirred within him. He realized that all these thousands of people were worshipping in vain. It is very likely that perhaps everyone in Athens had been brought up in this kind of an environment—they had never known anything other than polytheism. Their parents and parents’ parents before them had been worshipping this way as far back as anyone could remember. They did not know that there was any other way.

         Here in America there are very few people, including the very best people in the land, who are aware that there was ever a time when there was but one church upon the earth. As far back as anyone can remember, religious division has existed as it now exists here in America. There are people today who have ever stopped to think that this division is sinful in God’s sight.

         Our people today are much like people were in Athens, They are educated and enlightened people. They are devout. They are very religious, and they liberally give of their wealth in order to promote the religious ways they judge to be right. But they do not stop to question whether these ways are right or wrong before God. Our problem today is much the same as Paul’s was then. It centered around God himself. Man started out believing and worshipping the one true God, but down through the centuries man gradually drifted  away from the worship of this one true God. They allowed the objects of His worship to be gradually increased into the many hundreds and thousands of false gods, and so gradual was this departure that none then living was aware that it had ever been otherwise.

         Even so, Christ came into the world and established his one true church. Since his church was established on the first day of Pentecost following our Lord’s death and resurrection, men have gradually introduced their own ideas and philosophies into the doctrine of Christ in such a way as to pervert it and rob it of its power to save. They have gradually added first one religious body and then another until today the average man is shocked upon learning that these many churches represent a departure from, and not the perpetuation of, the one true church of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is not the author of the many churches that exist in our cities and nation today; they demonstrate just how far man can actually drift away from the one true church of the Bible. In Paul’s ay, in Athens, the people had drifted away from the worship of the one true God. Today America, and many other places upon the earth have drifted away from the church of the one true God, and just as a return to the true god was necessary in order for the men of Paul’s day to be right religiously, even so, a return to the one true church of the Bible is essential in order for men to be right in our own time! As we look about us today and see evidence of so much religious division, I am confident that were Paul with us today his spirit would again be stirred within him now, even as it was back in the first century.

         Just as Paul was faced with idols on every side in Athens, in our cities today one is faced with churches on every hand. Churches that are not one time mentioned in your Bible. Yet their members are intelligent and include some of the most intelligent men of our day. They are devout. They are very religious, and they liberally give of their wealth in order to promote that which they believe to be right. How sad, therefore, to one it is who looks upon these many beautiful buildings and realize that they represent not the unity and concord for which our Savior prayed, but division, disunity, and religious corruption that has proved itself to be one of the most fertile soils in which infidelity grows today. How our spirits should stir within us when we think upon this frightful condition that exists in religious circles today. What a need there is for those who know the truth to join hands in helping to reach the unsuspecting and unassuming with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ today!