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The Biblical World
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THE UNKNOWN GOD 351
JACOB P. DUNN
President, Public Library Commission of Indiana
The sermon of Paul on Mars Hill has method, many on its immediate effects,
long held a place in the front ranks of many on its permanent argumentative
examples of forensic oratory; and prop- force. And yet, when considered in the
erly no oratory holds such rank that is setting of its known surroundings, it
not effective, for the object of oratory seems singularly inadequate to the re-
is to convince, and that which lacks sults attained.
convincing power lacks the essential Paul had just arrived at Athens from
feature of true oratory. There have Berea. His preaching in Macedonia up
been many comments on this effort of to this point had not produced like
Paul, many reflections on its ingenious results. On the contrary, it had evoked
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352 THE BIBLICAL WORLD
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THE UNKNOWN GOD 35S
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354 THE BIBLICAL WORLD
be compared to Jehovah.
in a plural and indefinite form, But didor
the if it
had been, as St. Jerome conjectured,
Greeks recognize any such god? Was
"To the unknown gods
there any of
deity in their Asia,
pantheistic circle and
Europe, and Africa; to foreign and that would answer to these require-
unknown gods," and Paul had proceededments ? Unquestionably there was; and
to state that it was an altar to the one he was the supreme divinity of their
god "that made the world and all things most prominent religious sect-the Pla-
tonists. Plato had been dead for four
therein," he would have been interrupted
and mocked at once. Some philosopher
centuries, but his philosophy had lived;
would have said: "Thou art indeed a
and though it had ramified into almost
babbler, and ignorant, for this altaras
ismany
not sectarian forms as the teaching
to one god, but to all unknown of
gods."
Jesus Christ has since, this central
The assent of his audience can be
feature of one supreme, unknown god
explained only on the basis that this
was preserved in all of them, as it is in
altar was erected to an unknown god
all Christian beliefs. Moreover, it had
"that made the world and all things all other philosophies. The
tinctured
therein." Stoics believed in a supreme First Cause,
though they located it in matter, as our
Who Was the Unknown God?
materialists do. The Epicureans con-
But further, what is meantceded
by "thethe
possibility of such a being, but
unknown god" ? What could these
held that if he existed he dwelt apart,
words possibly mean to the
andGreeks?
took no heed of the affairs of men.
The word "unknown" is universally
And this the
was not wholly repugnant to
antithesis of "known "; and the phrase theory, for it held that
the Platonian
the Supreme
could not possibly mean anything to the Being created Jove, and
Greeks, or to anyone else, but " the
all the other known gods, and left to
unknown god" as distinguished them from
the minor creations, and the super-
their known gods. And how vision
did they
of mankind, while he returned
know any god? Not by personal to a state of eternal repose.
acquaintance. No one pretended to Of all the gods of the Greeks, this one
that. They knew their gods by their alone had no name. Plato refers to him
names and their images. Zeus, Hera, simply as "God," "the Deity," "the
Pallas Athene, and all the rest were Supreme First Existence"; and he
familiar to the Athenians by their names never received any name. When Cicero
and their images, just as Cupid, and had occasion to consider him, he referred
Liberty, and Santa Claus are to Ameri- to him as "the god of Plato." Neither
cans, but this altar was to a god who had was any image ever made of him by the
no name and no image. Greeks or by the Romans, any more
The necessary inference is that this than by the Jews. He was always and
god of the Greeks was one for whom they everywhere "the Unknown God" until
had no name, of whom they had no he revealed himself. But there was no
image, and yet whom they believed to reason why the Platonists should not
have "made the world and all things have erected an altar to him; and from
therein "-a god who could plausibly the known customs of the ancients there
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THE UNKNOWN GOD 855
God" (Ante-Nicene
was every reason to expectChristian Library,
them to do so
And we know fromV, 79),profane
"the unknown Father" (ibid.,
writers tha
pp. gods
altars to unknown 171, 289), "the
wereFather unknown to
not peculi
all" (ibid., pp.
to Athens. Pausanias, 80, 89), and "the Un-
Philostratus, an
Lucian mention their existence at other nameable;" and "the Unspeakable"
places. The hypothesis that this altar(ibid., p. 171). He also refers to him
was a Platonian altar to the supremeas "the unoriginated, inconceivable
Father" and the "Father who cannot
First Cause is the only one on which the
known historical facts and this account be named" (ibid., pp. 56, 1oI); and calls
of Paul's sermon can be reconciled. these heretics "those who know not
Furthermore, we know that this God" (ibid., p. 122); while he urges at
pagan conception of God was commonly great length that God is known to Chris-
referred to as "the unknown God" in tian believers (ibid., pp. 179, 239, 291,
315, 370, 390).
the early church literature. The gnostic
heretics all held to this conception in
Is Paul Platonizing?
some form, some even maintaining that
the Supreme Being was unknown to the Consider the sermon in this light.
The writings of Plato were known to all
inferior supernaturals whom he created.
This heresy was vigorously denounced the learned world at that time, and doubt-
by the orthodox Christians, who main- less were known to Paul, for he quotes
tained that God was known throughout from the Greek poets in this same ser-
mon, and was able to talk Greek to a
the spirit world, not only by the angels
who are his servants, but by Satan whoGreek audience. The God of the He-
was driven from his presence, by brewsevil was known to his audience. The
spirits who declared their knowledge Jews had a synagogue in Athens in
which disputations were held as well as
when cast out, and by the spirits of the
in the Athenian schools and in the
dead, for Christ said of little children,
"in heaven their angels do always be- market-place; and these philosophers
hold the face of my Father which is in made haste to inquire into all new
who
heaven." More than this, he was now things, especially in connection with
known to men, both through Christ and religion, did not overlook the Hebrew
through the Holy Spirit, whom Christ teachings. The controversial writings
had promised as a Comforter that should
of the ancients demonstrate clearly that
teach them all things-not fully of the Hebrew theology was very fairly
understood.
course, but as "seen through a glass
What Paul undertook was to main-
darkly," and so far as within finite com-
prehension. tain two theses in the Areopagus. The
Thus, Ignatius, in his epistle to first
the was that the God of Plato and the
God of Moses were in fact one God;
Trallians, recites, among other heresies
and this the Greeks heard with interest.
of the Gnostics, that, "They introduce
God as a Being unknown." Irenaeus, The second was that God had revealed
who wrote the first formal work against himself in Jesus Christ, and had proven
heresy that is preserved to us, speaks his personality by the resurrection; and
of the gnostic deity as "the unknown from this a part of his audience at once
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356 THE BIBLICAL WORLD
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THE UNKNOWN GOD 357
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358 THE BIBLICAL WORLD
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THE UNKNOWN GOD 359
rance he overlookedForthis
the Jewsfalse
require a sign, and the
worship, h
now commandeth Greeks
all seek
men, everywhere, t
after wisdom;
repent; inasmuch asBut he hath
we preach appointed
Christ crucified, unto the a
day in which he Jews
will judgeandthe
a stumbling-block, unto the world
Greeks i
righteousness by foolishness.
the man whom he hath
ordained; whereof heBut unto them which
hath are called both
given assuranc
unto all men both the learned
Jews and Greeks, Christ and the
the power igno
of God,
rant, in that he hath raised
and the wisdom of God. him from th
dead. Because the foolishness of God is wiser
than men; and the weakness of God is
The Effect of the Speech upon Paul stronger than men.
Certainly Paul must have followedFor ye see your calling, brethren, how
that or
some such line of argument as this, not many wise men after the flesh, not
he would not have been able to hold themany mighty, not many noble are called:
But God hath chosen the foolish things
quiet attention of his hearers. Nor is it
of the world to confound the wise; and God
strange that he should make such an
hath chosen the weak things of the world
appeal on this occasion to the learned to confound the things which are mighty;
men of his day, whom he knew to believe And base things of the world, and things
in an eternal and supreme deity. It had
which are despised, hath God chosen, yea
the appearance of a promising field. If
and things which are not to bring to naught
they had so much of the light, why
things that are:
should they not be prepared for more That no flesh should glory in his presence.
light? But Paul never tried the experi- But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of
ment again. He learned at Athens the God is made unto us wisdom, and righteous-
ness, and sanctification, and redemption:
lesson of the futility of the appeal to
That, according as it is written, he that
mere worldly wisdom, which he used so
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
effectively thereafter. How forcibly he
And I, brethren, when I came to you
puts it in his epistle to the Corinthians:
came not with excellency of speech or of
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony
to preach the gospel; not with wisdom of of God.
words, lest the cross of Christ should be For I determined not to know anything
made of none effect. among you, save Jesus Christ, and him cruci-
For the preaching of the cross is to them fied.
that perish foolishness; but unto us which And I was with you in weakness, and in
are saved, it is the power of God. fear, and in much trembling.
For it is written, I will destroy the wis- And my speech and my preaching was
dom of the wise, and will bring to nothingnot with enticing words of man's wisdom,
the understanding of the prudent. but in demonstration of the Spirit and of
Where is the wise ? where is the scribe ? power:
where is the disputer of this world ? hath not That your faith should not stand in the
God made foolish the wisdom of this world ? wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
For after that in the wisdom of God the
What a contrast to the sermon at
world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save Athens is presented by this preaching at
them that believe. Corinth; and remember that Paul went
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360 THE BIBLICAL WORLD
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SCRIPTURES ETHNIC AND HEBREW-CHRISTIAN 361
and combat the highest form of religioushigher. It is faith that stands in the wis-
error of their day ? dom of men and not in the power of God.
Surely not. The record is too plain And Paul's words were perfectly intel-
that Paul thus became the leader in the ligible to his hearers, who were meeting
long fight which the church maintained these same teachings of Greek philoso-
against the votaries of "the unknown phy daily. To us, who look back over
God," who carried their trust in the the ages, Platonism seems something
wisdom of men, and their idea of per- wonderful and admirable, but it is only
missible indulgence in sensual sin, even
by contrast with other forms of heathen-
ism. To the primitive church it was
after professed conversion to Christian-
ity, in many cases. The generation is merely one form of error-worse, indeed,
than the rest, "because that knowing
not wholly passed; and the record still
remains with its lesson that when the
God, they glorified him not as God." It
was not a thing to be magnified or
appeal of the gospel is made to the wis-
extolled. Hence Paul's statements be-
dom of this world, it receives assent only
come clear and rational when we apply
so far as it coincides with the precon-
ceived opinions of the hearer. And when
the simple historical rule of interpreting
words in terms of the period and condi-
conviction of part of the truth comes from
the wisdom of the world, it never risestions of their use.
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