God’s Word for You
Acts 17:16 Idols
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Wednesday, October 14, 2020
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he became very upset when he saw that the city was full of idols.
It’s no understatement to say that Athens was “full of idols.” Ancient reports of the city from before and after Paul’s time say that practically every home, every lawn, every yard, and every other building had one or more shrines, not only to the twelve main gods but also to the mythological offspring of those gods and the semi-divine heroes in the vast Greek pantheon (hundreds of names could be listed here). There were also such “divine ideas” as Fame, Energy, Persuasion, and, as Paul saw for himself, even some altars to “an unknown god” (see verse 23).
By its idols, Athens showed the proof that there are only two religions in the world. The one is the religion of the Gospel: Salvation through Christ alone. The other is the religion of the Law, which relies on man’s own works, and is an entirely man-made religion. It has three elements: Knowledge of the Law, guilt over sin, and an attempt to appease God or the gods.
1, Man retains a knowledge of God’s divine Law. Man “knows the judgment of God” (Romans 1:32), and “the requirements of the law are written on their hearts” (Romans 2:15) in the form of the human conscience. The Apology of our Augsburg Confession says, “To some extent human reason naturally understands the law” (IV,7). But when the Law is feared without any knowledge of the Gospel, there is no true obedience. Without Christ man is “without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).
2, The heathen are troubled by their sins (or should be) because they disobey the Law written in the conscience. Yet even knowing God’s righteous decrees in this way, “those who do such things deserve death” but “they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:32).
3, The heathen try to appease God or the gods through good works, attempts at moral living, invented forms of worship (always an abomination), sacrifices, libations (drinks poured out) and other things. But none of these things merits anything before God. “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8). And Jesus says above all: “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
The Apology rings like a hammer on an anvil as it condemns errors about idolatry:
“It is false that by our works we merit the forgiveness of sins.”
“It is false, too, that men are accounted righteous before God because of the righteousness of reason.”
“It is false, too, that by its own strength reason can love God above all things and keep his law, truly fear him, truly believe that he hears prayer, willingly obey him in death and in his other visitations, and not covet. But reason can produce civil works.”
“It is false, too, and a reproach to Christ, that men who keep the commandments of God outside a state of grace do not sin.”
All false worship is idolatry. All worship that does not acknowledge Jesus to be the Son of God and the Savior is idolatry (it was very probably this point that got crowds of Jews riled up against Paul). Any worship that allows for any path to heaven apart from Jesus Christ is idolatry. Any prayer that is not made to the Triune God, either Father, Son or Holy Spirit, is idolatry. The reason God wants us to avoid all idolatry is (1) He alone is God, and there is no salvation apart from him. (2) Mixing glory between God and another false god doesn’t just diminish God’s glory, but it dismisses all of the work of Jesus. (3) Giving any kind of worship or even tolerance to another god invites false teachings to creep into our hearts, and that’s the path to unbelief. It says, in effect, what Christ did wasn’t enough. And if that’s the case, then we are still in our sins and there is no hope for us at all.
Paul’s work was cut out for him in Athens, but so is ours right where we live. We may not have many friends or neighbors who worship idols, but we have lots of people all around us who don’t know Jesus. Your job isn’t to argue with them until they submit, but to invite them to listen. The Word of God is the only thing that changes hearts. Let the Word of God do all the work. Just invite, and let their ears and their hearts embrace the very thing that embraced you: the love of Jesus our Savior.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.