But we must go back to St. Paul, standing before the Court of Areopagus, and desired there to give an account of his doctrines. The Apostle, glad to have such an opportunity of preaching the Gospel before the chief men in Athens, now stood up, and spake gently and kindly. He began by telling them, that as he had gone about their city looking at the different images to which they bowed down, and at the different altars set up for the worship of those whom they called gods, he had found one, bearing an inscription "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." This showed that they were "too superstitious," for to worship a God of whom they knew nothing, was superstition rather than religion. This ignorance, therefore, St. Paul now proposed to remove, so that the Unknown God might no longer be so to them: "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you."
Before we proceed with what St. Paul said to the Athenians on this subject, we will see how they came to dedicate an altar to "the Unknown God."
Some time before this, there had been a plague or pestilence in Athens; that is, a bad illness, which spread from one person to another, until thousands of people died of it. In vain did the Athenians pray to all their false gods to stop it: such prayers of course could have no effect, and the pestilence went on killing the people. At last a number of sheep were taken to Mars' Hill, and there set at liberty, to go wherever they pleased, followed by men, appointed to watch them. Whenever one of these sheep laid down, it was immediately sacrificed to "the propitious god." "Propitious" means favourable, kind, willing to grant a request, or supply a want. The sheep were thus sacrificed to that one amongst the gods, who would be kind enough to put an end to the pestilence. Soon afterwards it did please the Almighty to remove this terrible plague: the Athenians of course attributed their deliverance to one of their gods; but as they could not tell which one of them had been "the propitious god," they set up this altar to "the Unknown God," who had come to their help in the time of trouble.
We know very well that the Lord God Almighty can alone take away disease and sickness, or any other trouble; and therefore, though the Athenians did not mean it so, they had really dedicated this altar to the One True God, of Whom St. Paul spake. Well therefore did St. Paul, when speaking to them of the Unknown God, say, "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you."
St. Paul then told the Athenians, that He whom they worshipped as the Unknown God, was the Lord Who had made the world and all things in it: that He gave life and breath and all things to His creatures, and did not require to be worshipped with sacrifices and gifts, as though He needed anything at the hands of man. St. Paul said, also, that God had made men, in order that they might love and serve Him as their Father: and he reminded them, that one of their own poets had said, "For we are also his offspring." The poet here meant, was one called Aratus: he was born in Cilicia, but had probably lived and studied in Athens, so that the Athenians considered him as one of their own poets, and were well acquainted with his poem 'On the Heavenly Bodies'; from which St. Paul quoted a line.
St. Paul proceeded to explain, that the Lord God Almighty, their "Unknown God," was a very different Being to idols of gold, or silver, or stone, made or "graven by art and man's device." And he told the Athenians, that although the Lord God had hitherto forborne to punish those, who in ignorance worshipped idols, that time was now past; for now, said the Apostle, He "commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained"; meaning the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall come to judge the quick and dead: and as a proof that God would do this, St. Paul mentioned that Jesus Christ Himself had already risen from the grave, saying, "whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
When the Athenians heard St. Paul speaking "of the resurrection of the dead," it seemed to them so impossible that a dead man should ever come back to life, that they quite laughed at his words: "some mocked; and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them"; apparently without having made any impression upon his hearers: but it was not so, for in spite of the unbelief and ridicule of many, we read, "Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite," that is, a member of the court of Areopagus, "and a woman named Damaris, and others with them." "After these things, Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth"; another city of Achaia, in that part of Greece which used to be called the Peloponnesus, or rather on the isthmus which joined the Peloponnesus to the rest of Greece, and took its name from this town. The situation of Corinth, with sea on both sides, made it an important place for trade; because ships could easily come there from different countries, to sell the merchandise they brought with them, and buy such things as they wanted to take home. By means of their trade, the inhabitants of Corinth had become very rich; their city was flourishing; and many learned men resided in it, when St. Paul now came there about a.d. 51. A little before this time, the Roman Emperor Claudius, had for some reason or other, banished the Jews from Rome. We do not know the reason, but it seems likely that it was because there had been a famine in Rome, which the people foolishly thought was the fault of the Jews, whom they hated; and so to satisfy the people, and prevent any disturbance, Claudius commanded all Jews to leave the city.
Among the Jews thus obliged to leave Rome, was a man named Aquila, born in Pontus, a country to the N.E. of Galatia, on the Black Sea: he was therefore one of the Jews called "Grecians," because, though his parents were Jews, he was not born in the land of Judæa. When he was obliged to leave Rome, Aquila and his wife Priscilla settled in Corinth, where they greatly helped St. Paul. Whether they had become believers before they left Rome or afterwards, we do not know; but they were Christians when St. Paul came to Corinth, and were probably known in some way to the Apostle, for he "came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tent-makers."
The Jews had a saying, that "Every man who does not teach his son some trade, teaches him to be a thief"—in which there is a great deal of truth; for if a man has learnt no trade by which he can support himself honestly, there is great danger of his being tempted to obtain a living by dishonest means. It was therefore the custom amongst the Jews, even of the higher classes, who like St. Paul had been well educated as to letters, to teach their sons some "craft" or occupation, whereby they could, if ever it became necessary, earn money to provide themselves with food and clothes, and such things as are needful.
St. Paul had learnt the trade of tent-making; and he now abode with Aquila and Priscilla, working with them for his daily bread, whilst every sabbath he "reasoned in the synagogue, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks": trying, that is, to bring them to believe in Jesus Christ.