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The Acts of the Apostles
Pointing to the noble specimens of manhood about him, with words
borrowed from a poet of their own he pictured the infinite God as a
Father, whose children they were. “In Him we live, and move, and
have our being,” he declared; “as certain also of your own poets have
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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 comman-
deth all men everywhere to repent.” In the ages of darkness that had
preceded the advent of Christ, the divine Ruler had passed lightly over
the idolatry of the heathen; but now, through His Son, He had sent men
the light of truth; and He expected from all repentance unto salvation,
not only from the poor and humble, but from the proud philosopher
and the princes of the earth. “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.” As Paul spoke of the resurrection
from the dead, “some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee
again of this matter.”
Thus closed the labors of the apostle at Athens, the center of hea-
then learning, for the Athenians, clinging persistently to their idolatry,
turned from the light of the true religion. When a people are wholly
satisfied with their own attainments, little more need be expected of
them. Though boasting of learning and refinement, the Athenians were
constantly becoming more corrupt and more content with the vague
mysteries of idolatry.
Among those who listened to the words of Paul were some to
whose minds the truths presented brought conviction, but they would
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not humble themselves to acknowledge God and to accept the plan of
salvation. No eloquence of words, no force of argument, can convert
the sinner. The power of God alone can apply the truth to the heart.
He who persistently turns from this power cannot be reached. The
Greeks sought after wisdom, yet the message of the cross was to them
foolishness because they valued their own wisdom more highly than
the wisdom that comes from above.
In their pride of intellect and human wisdom may be found the
reason why the gospel message met with comparatively little success
among the Athenians. The worldly-wise men who come to Christ