Acts 17:22-31
Paul Speaks to the Athenians
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
John 14:6-7
Jesus is Truth
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
John 17:3
Now This is Eternal Life
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
As Paul walked around Athens, he saw a city that was riddled with different faiths...Maybe man today also has different and many faiths, when we think about it...
Paul even saw an altar that had an inscription that read to an unknown god...The Athenians thought that there were many gods and many choices in religion...So Paul as he taught about Jesus had to teach among the many faiths and gods that different people believed in...And Paul went on to tell the Athenians about Jesus, who God had sent and who God had risen from the dead...That being said by Paul, turns the argument upside down for different gods, because there is Only One True God, according to both Paul and Jesus...
When Jesus walked the earth and taught His teachings in His ministry, He really ruled out this choice in faiths, if you believe what He said...He said He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life...No one gets to God, except through Him...And as Jesus' disciples listened and saw Him after He was raised from the dead, they believed...
The early disciples and followers of Jesus believed that there is One True God, and One True Messiah -that He sent...And if you believe this, then you can have eternal life...Today the world still seems to take a view that there are different religions...Today we see many believing in many things, just as the Athenians did...As one offers Jesus' message to others, we have to believe that He is the One who was to come, and the One that Moses and the prophets wrote about...Otherwise we are like the Athenians of years ago, praying and communicating to an unknown god, an idol, or belief that is not Absolute Truth...