Acts 17:22-32
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.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
One day many years ago, St. Paul stood up and spoke to a group of people who did not know the Truth, but were searching for it...St. Paul told those listening this, “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...And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything...Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else...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...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...‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’...As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’...“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...In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent...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.”...When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”...
St. Paul was speaking about the Son of God and the life of God's Son...God's Son's life is the good news and the Gospel...The Gospel is the Truth and the Word of God...And God's Word is Truth...
So Jesus came long before there was ever a King James Version of our Bible, but there was His Gospel Truth...Jesus did not speak English, because no one understood the English language...The villages of Nazareth and Capernaum in Galilee, where Jesus spent most of His time, were Aramaic-speaking communities...It is also likely that Jesus knew enough Koine Greek to converse with those not native to Judea, and it is reasonable to assume that Jesus was well versed in Hebrew for religious purposes, since He knew the Old Testament Scripture so well...Saying that, Jesus was even before the Old Testament came into being by being canonized...The Old Testament is the original Hebrew Bible, the sacred scriptures of the Jewish faith, and was written at different times between about 1200 and 165 BC...So the Old Testament was written before Jesus' birth...The New Testament books were written by Christians in the first century AD...So Jesus knew the Hebrew language to be able to read the Sacred Scriptures during His time...He said He fulfilled the Sacred Scriptures of the Jewish Faith, even though He was born after them...
And long before doctrines and denominations in churches, Jesus represented the gospel...And so the lost were ripe and ready for harvest, before, during and after His ascension to heaven...Before man had ever thought about creating the symbol of the cross, there was a resurrection and there was a gospel...Jesus' Life is the Gospel...
Jesus is Truth...Truth Matters in one's life, therefore the gospel matters...Unless you believe the gospel, everything you do in life will either be done in a random life meaningless way, or if one is a believer then one's life matters and has meaning...The believer believes His life is not a random time, but an ordered time on earth where God is involved and placed us here...For God marked out our appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands and where we would live...In order for us to have a meaningful life and a life with meaning, we have to believe in this gospel Truth...For God 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 Jesus from the dead...
Today, we are seeing that one man's gospel truth is another man's blasphemous disbelief...The LOVE of God and the love of neighbor seems to be drifting away from us...The dangerous thing about this is that we are searching for the Truth but are looking for a way to disbelieve others who don't agree with what we believe...If you're going to be one that reads the internet and the news of the day, and believe that that is the Truth, that's a sign of who you are, and what you believe in, and is your worldview...That is not necessarily what reality is, but only your perception of reality...And that is your perception of life...What you should believe in is the Truth, and Jesus is Truth, and God's Word is Truth...Why believe in anything that is not Truth?...Why have your foundation of your life, be a foundation of someone else's opinions and are not facts and Truth?...God wants us to seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us....For in God we live and move and have our being...As some of our own poets and authors have said, 'We are children of God'...He wants us to find the Truth, He wants us to find the Gospel...