And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us… Acts 17:26-27
The Roman satirist, Juvenal, said there were more gods in Athens than men. It is estimated that there were some three idols for every man living in the city. As Paul waited for Silas and Timothy to join him, he observed the rampant idolatry in the city and sought an audience with which to share the gospel (Acts 17:16-17). As he reasoned with the people in the marketplace, certain philosophers who heard him preaching Christ sought to hear more of this strange new teaching (Acts 17:18-20). The reason for their idolatry was a strong curiosity about life as evidenced by the fact that they, “…spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing” (Acts 17:21). Inquisitiveness is an important part of humanity, but it carries inherent dangers with it. Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill sheds light on this phenomenon as well as the sinful behavior we see in our own day and time.
Paul noted their meticulous efforts to placate all the gods in which they believed, including “The Unknown God” (Acts 17:22-23). Paul’s quotation of two Grecian philosophers (Epimenides and Aratus: Acts 17:27-28) demonstrates that, though they worshipped a wide range of gods, they had some concept of the creator God who was the source of all things. The issue was, they remained in ignorance of the nature and will of this creator God. Nonetheless, to avoid potentially offending this unknown God, they built an altar for Him as well. Paul’s subsequent explanation reveals the reasons for all human longing as well as every sinful thing we pursue in hopes of satisfying that longing.
In highlighting the truth that God created all things, Paul simultaneously highlighted the foolishness of worshipping things made with human hands (Acts 17:24-26, 29). Though few people today literally build altars to false gods, we are every bit as guilty of idolatry as they were. As Paul noted, covetousness is idolatry (Ephesians 5:5), and it is clear that we are no strangers to this idolatry. The basic meaning of the term is to be greedy for gain, especially to have that which belongs to another. Such covetousness may come in the form of desire for wealth, position, power, pleasure, or any number of other avenues. Whatever our idols may be, such idolatry is just as empty and foolish as was theirs. This begs the question as to why people pursue such things.
Paul gives the answer in Acts 17:26-27. When God created humanity in His image and set our boundaries, He did so to promote a healthy curiosity within us that would lead us to search for Him. As Solomon put it in Ecclesiastes 3:11, God put eternity in our hearts. Blaise Pascal reframed these concepts and sought to explain them by saying, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” It was this God-shaped vacuum the Greek philosophers erroneously sought to fill with their idolatrous practices. It is this God-shaped vacuum people today hopelessly seek to fill with our vast array of sinful practices (modern idols).
Many in modernity have no idea why they find themselves constantly longing for something. Neither do they understand why the things they have attempted to use in satisfying this longing have failed. Much the way the Athenian philosophers needed Paul to share the gospel of Christ to fill the void, our peers need us to share the gospel to fill their void. No matter how long and hard people search, we are made complete in Christ alone (Colossians 2:9).