10. How did Paul use tact in introducing his information?

¹⁰ Observe from Acts 17:22, 23 with what tact and wisdom Paul began. When he acknowledged how religious the Athenians were and how many idols they had, some of his listeners may have taken it as a compliment. Rather than attack their polytheism, Paul focused on an altar that he had seen, one dedicated “To an Unknown God.” Historical evidence shows that such altars existed, which should strengthen our confidence in Luke’s account. Paul used this altar as a springboard. The Athenians prized knowledge and logic. Still, they admitted that there was a god that was to them “unknown” (Greek, aʹgno·stos). It was only logical, then, that they should allow Paul to explain him to them. Nobody could find fault with that reasoning, could he?

Is God Unknowable?

11. In what way did Paul get his audience to think about the true God?

¹¹ Well, what was this “unknown God” like? “The God” made the world and everything in it. No man would deny that the universe exists, that the plants and animals exist, that we humans exist. The power and intelligence, yes, wisdom, manifested in all of this pointed to its being the product of a wise and powerful Creator, rather than of chance. Actually, Paul’s line of reasoning is even more valid in our time.​—Revelation 4:11; 10:6.

“‘Men of Athens, I behold that in all things you seem to be more given to the fear of the deities than others are. 23 For instance, while passing along and carefully observing your objects of veneration I also found an altar on which had been inscribed “To an Unknown God.” Therefore what you are unknowingly giving godly devotion to, this I am publishing to you. 24 The God that made the world and all the things in it, being, as this One is, Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in handmade temples, 25 neither is he attended to by human hands as if he needed anything, because he himself gives to all persons life and breath and all things. 26 And he made out of one man every nation of men, to dwell upon the entire surface of the earth, and he decreed the appointed times and the set limits of the dwelling of men, 27 for them to seek God, if they might grope for him and really find him, although, in fact, he is not far off from each one of us. 28 For by him we have life and move and exist, even as certain ones of the poets among you have said, “For we are also his progeny.”