Ac. 17:22-34 The Audience: –Some honest people –Mostly ignorant people –All “very...

Ac. 17:22-34

• The Audience:– Some honest people– Mostly ignorant people– All “very religious” people

Ac. 17:22-34

• The Acceptance:– So few?!?

• 1 Co. 1:17, it wasn't about numbers• Ac. 26:16-18, God sent Paul to "open their

eyes." How?

Ac. 17:22-34

• The Address: (vv. 24-31)– 7 verses about God and man– 1 verse about Jesus…

• Hb. 6:1-2; 11:6• “First Principles”

Ac. 17:22-34

• The Assumed: TRUTH– Def.: When sth. is “true” it conforms to fact

or actuality (The American Heritage College Dictionary)

– "He who speaks truth gives honest evidence," [Prov. 12:17 (NRSV, ESV)] Eg. 2 Tm. 2:16-18

– Truth is the footer beneath the foundation.

– “The first cause of all things true.”

I. Views of Truth:

A. Sophisticated views:

1. “There is no Truth.” [David Hume (d. 1776)] All meaningful ideas are true by definition

or by observation.

• Emotions: Anger, Love, Curiosity

• “God created the world.”

1. About the Bible: “nothing but sophistry and illusion”; “commit it to the flames”

I. Views of Truth:

A. Sophisticated views: (cont.)

2. “We cannot know Truth.” • [Immanuel Kant (d. 1804)]

• The Critique of Pure Reason

• The blind men and the elephant

I. Views of Truth:

B. The actual view:

1. There is no Truth. [Hume]

I. Views of Truth:

B. The actual view:

1. The truth is there is no Truth. [Hume]

Mk. 5:25…34, feelings are true!

2. I cannot know Truth. [Kant]

I. Views of Truth:

B. The actual view:



B. I know that I cannot know Truth. [Kant]

Jn. 8:31-32, it's Kant or Jesus.

B. We cannot agree about Truth.

I. Views of Truth:

B. The actual view:



B. I know that I cannot know Truth. [Kant]

Jn. 8:31-32, it's Kant or Jesus.

1. We agree that we cannot agree about Truth.

Eph. 4:25

Truth, Air, and Gravity

I. Views of Truth:

B. The actual view: (cont.)

4. Three actual assumptions: Ac. 17…

23, Paul assumed…

32, the Athenians assumed…

…32-34, Paul and the Athenians assumed…

Truth in religion is not any different than truth in any other aspect of life! 1 Co. 1:25

II. Questions of Truth:

• Five important questions:– "Existential Import of Origin and Destiny"


1. Origin: where do I come from?

2. Identity: who am I?

3. Meaning: why am I here?

4. Morality: how should I live?

5. Destiny: where am I going?


Philosophy and religion all strive to answer these five questions, e.g. Atheism

God created man to answer these five questions, Ac. 17:26-27; Ecc. 1:13…12:14

Man, by definition, answers these questions


"What is the meaning of existence? Why was I born? Why am I here? Where will I go when I die? The human struggle to find answers to these questions — and the very fact that we can conceive them and ask them — is what defines the human condition in this sense of the term."

(Wikipedia, "Human Condition")

2 Pe. 2:12; Ps. 49:20


"Man invented God." Wrong! Ac. 17:29

"Mine is not to question 'Why?'. Mine is but to do and die." Rm. 1:18-20 S.E.T.I.


• "So what?"– No excuses!

– No way out! Ex. 18:21; Jn. 8:44, "of…"

– Rejecting the truth doesn’t change it!

Lk. 10:…11; Ac. 17:33

– Doing nothing is a choice!

III. Affects of The Truth:

1. I came from God! 2. I am a human being and a child of God!3. I am here to serve God!4. I need to live as God wants!5. I am going to either Heaven or Hell!

The Ant and the GrasshopperLk. 16:23, 27-31

Ac. 17:22-34 The Audience: –Some honest people –Mostly ignorant people –All “very...

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