Acts 17:22: So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
Acts 17:23: For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
Acts 17:24: The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,
Acts 17:25: nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
Acts 17:26: And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
Acts 17:27: that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
This passage was once used to teach me how to evangelize to those of different faiths. The reasoning, Paul used something from their culture to bridge the gap between what he believed and what they believed. As always I am continually being challenged too take another look at what teachings I easily believed. It has always been my nature to believe what I have been told even if what I'm believing might seem incredulous. I love that about me. I'd rather just believe and be wrong.
To the point. Is it possible that when Paul said to the people of Athens, "What you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you," that he was being literal? Is it possible that they could have worshipped Jesus, though they did not know Him by name? Romans 2:15 says, "They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them." I can either read these passages and interpret them based on preexistent beliefs or take them as statements made on their own that need no further interpretation.
If it is possible that this way of viewing these passages is true then I think this might change the lens in which I view people. I'd be less threatened by the language used by others. I might see them as genuine seekers and even believers of God. I get great comfort from the last part of that text, "Yet he is actually not far from each one of us."
I can remember the beginnings of my faith in Jesus when I first heard that some were chosen for heaven as objects of God's mercy and some were chosen for hell as objects of God's wraith. I remember how conflicted it felt to see the inclusiveness of Jesus and the exclusiveness of Paul. The idea was an affront to my sense of justice and goodness. I was soon taught how my notions of justice and goodness were itself faulty because of the deceitfulness of my own heart. Being an insecure man and knowing the guilt of my own actions I didn't question the validity of the statements about the wickedness of my heart.
Today though I dare to believe differently. I believe as one with the "mind of Christ" and a partaker of a new nature. "Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God." If Jesus Christ is perfect theology then a theology not filtered through the love of Jesus should be suspect. I've even found Paul's writings to be much more inclusive then I was previously taught to interpret them. He now speaks to me of a God who is incredibly generous in the revealing of His nature and the graciousness of His offer of salvation.
Even the election of a nation seems to me to be one which was misunderstood. They were not the specified few to which God was offering salvation. They were the few who were chosen to bring salvation to the world. His desire has always been for the redemption of the world. The rainbow was meant to be a sign expressing of the love of God for a fallen world. They were meant to be a blessing to all and not just a blessed few. Though, a nation, they really are a few in comparison to the world at large. Though they were chosen we must keep in mind when reading about them what they were chosen for, a world.
For any who freely choose to be received into this group they get to be like that nation, chosen to be a representative of blessing to the world. They get to take on the nature of the one who is blessing the world and intervening to save them from a tyrannical enemy. They get to be little saviors and heroes. They become men of whom the world in not worthy to possess. This is the goodness of God, not that He would irresistibly revoke the choices of free agents to grant them salvation but that He would choose them to be like Him in fulfilling His salvific desires for the world.
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