1 Who Is God?: Acts 17:16-34
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Who Is God?
Acts 17:16-34
Some people think of God as the impersonal soul of the universe or as the sum total of everything that is. Others like to believe he is a kindly grandfather in the sky, always available to grant requests. Still others see God as an absentee landlord who created the world and then went off to a celestial Acapulco. There is no universally agreed on definition of “God,” and ideas about him vary from person to person.
GROUP DISCUSSION. Identify false gods that people worship today. Come up with as many answers as possible in five minutes. Then work together to try to group your “gods” into categories. What sorts of behaviors might spring from worshiping each type of “god”?
PERSONAL REFLECTION. Consider ways that your ideas of “Who is God?” have changed over the years. How do the changes reflect a growing maturity of your faith? What ideas have you abandoned that you would like to reclaim or at least investigate again? Thank God for being constant though our understanding of him may change and grow.
By today’s standards, the apostle Paul did not travel very far from home; yet in his world of the first-century Roman Empire he met up with numerous competing and conflicting ideas about God. When he visited Athens, he saw temples everywhere to all kinds of gods. There was even an altar dedicated “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD”—just in case! Paul countered idolatry with good news of how the true God reveals himself. These verses begin with Paul waiting for his traveling companions Silas and Timothy (the “them” in verse 16). Read Acts 17:16-34.
1. Although Paul discussed the nature of God in both the Jewish synagogue and the marketplace “day by day,” this passage focuses on one prolonged encounter with some Greek philosophers. Trace the steps of Paul’s experience in the Areopagus, including what led up to it and the results.
2. When and how have you, like Paul, found “the marketplace” a good place for discussions about God?
3. How would you compare the environment in Athens with today’s society (v. 21)?
4. Epicureans believed that pleasure is the chief end of life. Stoics emphasized that we should be rational and self-sufficient. How did these philosophers respond to Paul’s preaching (vv. 18-21)?
5. Paul said that he would make known the “unknown god” (vv. 22-23). Paul was extremely learned in the Hebrew Scriptures and could have said all kinds of things about God. What facts did he choose to emphasize for this Greek audience who worshiped many and various gods (vv. 24-31)?
6. How do Paul’s words challenge your own assumptions about who God is?
7. What has God done to make sure people can know him (vv. 26-28)?
8. Looking over this entire Scripture passage, why do you think Paul was so highly motivated to speak publicly and risk ridicule, a riot, even imprisonment (which had all happened to him not long before this)?
9. Paul’s presentation provoked three different responses. What were they (vv. 32-34)?
10. When have you received similar responses?
11. Paul was “greatly distressed” at the idols he saw. Which contemporary idols or current false ideas about God “greatly distress” you?
12. Where and how would you like to speak up for the true God?
Pray that God will reveal his true nature to people with false ideas of who God is. Pray especially for people close to you who need to have their spiritual eyes opened.
Now or Later
Consider in more depth a particular false view of God. Look for evidence of that view in magazines, television, movies and websites. Make notes. How could this view be countered by Scripture?