ACTS 17:23, 24 - TRANSLATING THE MESSAGE OF THE BIBLE IN CONTEXT: A CASE OF MALAPROPISM?
ACTS 17:23, 24 - TRANSLATING THE MESSAGE OF THE BIBLE IN CONTEXT: A CASE OF MALAPROPISM?
The message of the Bible shows that Gentiles (all who are non-Israelites) are without God, they do not seek God and do not know God. Was there mistranslation of verse 23 in connection with verse 24 in the English Bibles…whatever manuscript or tradition may have been followed to translate it from... to cause an understanding that UNKNOWN GOD is the same as the God of creation in verse 24? If what Adam Sparks tries to explain in “One of a Kind…” page 162 (Wipf and Stock Publishers) that the ‘what’ in verse 23 is in reference to ‘knowledge’ and not to ‘whom’, the grammar there does not seem to agree with the continuation of the thought in verse 24. Paul’s whole argument in all his writings to and about Gentiles does exclude them from knowledge or worship of God, thus:
THE STATE OF GENTILES (all who are non-Israelites)
1. To the Corinthian Gentiles: 1 Corinthians 1:21 “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preachto save those who believe.”
2. To the Galatian Gentile Christians: Galatians 4:8, 9 “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature, But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God…”
3. To the Ephesian Gentile Christians: Ephesians 2:12 “…remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”
4. To the Thessalonian Gentile Christians: 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification:that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.”
OT ABOUT THAT WHICH IS NOT GOD
1. Have you not driven out the priests of I AM, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes for ordination with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are not gods.
2. Isaiah 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
However, Acts 17:23 in the English versions clearly suggests that the God of the Bible is also called “Unknown God”. And further, it confirms that the Gentiles whose object of worship on which was inscribed “Unknown God”, were in all fact worshipping the God of the Bible who was very well known to them and they had given him the name “Unknown God”, therefore, and conclusively disqualifying the fact that their object of worship was an idol. However, these assertions bring into disrepute the rest of the Bible which teaches otherwise. The English versions say thus:
RV1885 –
23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this set I forth unto you.
24 The God that made the world and all things therein, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands…
KJVA –
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands…
KJV54 –
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands…
ESV –
23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this set I forth unto you.
24 The God that made the world and all things therein, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands…
In all these versions, there doesn’t seem to be room to argue that ‘what’ and ‘this’ could be referring to the Geeks’ manner of worship, or to the whole idea of their worshipping, but that the object of their worship is a ‘that which you worship’, which is a ‘who’. When the ‘who’ idea is strung with verse 24, the result is that the Person being described in verse 24 is the very same one who is the subject of verse 23 who is the “Unknown God”. Thus, it was quite convenient to translate into Luvale Ou vene ‘this very one’, Ikiye venyOu ‘He is the very One’, thus:
LUVALE1970 –
23 Mwomwo hakutambwojoka hembo hakumona makombelo enu, ngwawananga nawa lijiko lyakulumbila limwe hakusoneka mazu awa ngwavo, Lyakalunga Twahona Kutacikiza. Xikaho Ou vene muli nakukomoka cakuhona kumutacikiza, Ikiye venyOu nguli nakumyambulilami.
24 Kalunga Uze atangile mavu navyosenevi viliho, mwomwo Ikiye Mwenyalilu-namavu, xikaho katwama mujizuvo jajila jakutunga namavokoko.
Is it true that the God of the Bible is the same one, whose other name seems to be suggested as “UNKNOWN GOD” which Paul found inscribed on an altar/shrine in Athens? Is it true then that the Athenians were not idol worshippers but they worshipped the God of the Bible in the name of “UNKNOWN GOD” prior to Paul’s appearance among them? If so, then these two verses upset the whole message of the Bible and suggest that whatever gods Gentiles worshipped and still worship, the same ones ARE the God of the Bible, and that Gentiles may continue worshipping those gods so long they couple the worshipping of those same gods with believing on the ‘Lord Jesus Christ’ (Yeshuwa Meshiya), then they are saved. Preposterous!
The most plausible translation for this section of the verse, without harmonisation of verses, but that which agrees with the Bible message and regards idols (all the Athenians’ objects of worship) as non-god, is:
23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship (the altars and shrines), I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ Therefore**, concerning this worshipping of ignorance,** I set forth unto you that,
24 the God that made the world and all things therein …
CONCLUSION
In viewing verses 23 and 24 from this most plausible translation, one does not confirm that the UNKNOWN God is the God of creation. Rather they show that the Athenians did not, like all Gentiles, do not know the God of creation (before an encounter with the Saviour while they are alive), and because of not knowing the God of creation, that was why the Greeks who did not know the Saviour worshipped idols which are not the God of creation.
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Here's the Greek from the passage you are discussing: διερχόμενος γὰρ καὶ ἀναθεωρῶν τὰ σεβάσματα ὑμῶν εὗρον καὶ βωμὸν ἐν ᾧ ἐπεγέγραπτο ΑΓΝΩΣΤΩ ΘΕΩ. ὃ οὖν ἀγνοοῦντες εὐσεβεῖτε, τοῦτο ἐγὼ καταγγέλλω ὑμῖν ("For as I was walkin
So, Edward, your statement defending verse 23 (“… the thing which the Greeks are ignorant of in verse 23 is 'the unknown God'”) implies that you are saying there was a thing called the ‘Unknown God’ who had an altar upon which the same words naming him/her were inscribed, and that the same thing was being worshipped by the Athenians (which by the theology of the Bible is clearly, idolatry). And by your example of Ephes. 6:17 ὃ for ‘which is’, you conclude that ‘Unknown God’ is the one of verse 24 and onwards, since the ὃ is the link between verse 23 and 24. However, there does not seem to be any such suggestion of reverence for the God of Israel in the attitude of the Athenians, compared to that of the Centurion who in fact lived in Israel and demonstrated a specific desire for the God of Israel. This is mentioned, clearly. I am glad that you are able to say that the people of Rom. 2:14 have ability (“that the Gentiles indeed CAN find God”) and not that they “already have found God before Christ”, (a teaching of Paul in all his theology), and also you say that others [Jonah, 1 Kings 17:7-16, 2 Kings 5, Joshua 2, and Jesus' many exclamations about the faith of non-Israelites, though they may have been ignorant of God's word - they were ready to worship the one true God in Spirit and in Truth] “were ready to worship”, which is quite different from “were worshipping”. Now, possessing an ability to find God, as may be being suggested in your reference to Romans 2:14, is different from actually finding God; and having a readiness to worship, as you have shown in the parenthetical examples above, is totally different from actually worshipping. Therefore, it is clear from our discussion that prior to the God of the Bible being in human form, he had his own ways by which he dealt with the people he had around him, in relation to Israel. And then, that after resurrection when the door was open to all world-wide Gentiles to receive salvation, all Gentiles may only worship after receiving and believing on the name of the Saviour Christ himself personally and individually. Any other worship before that was, and is, idolatry.
Gilges, I think it has nothing to do with our English usage. It seems it is that our theology, our understanding of God's revelation in scripture is different. I did not say that God accepts snippets of idolatry, though. I said that part of their theology was, in fact, not idolatrous. This part of their worship/piety was what Paul was trying to expand upon, correcting what was idolatrous. In my own view, God accepts my worship, though my understanding is incomplete. If we had to be perfect and whole in our understanding before being able to offer worship, there would be no hope. Nonetheless, I think the grammar and context of Acts 17 are primary in determining meaning before bringing our theology to bear. So, whatever comes of yours or my theology, it seems to me impossible to take ὃ as referring to the way they worship rather than the object of worship.
While I agree that salvation is through Christ for all people (Jew and gentile), I don't fully agree with your assessment of 'filthy rags' (just as I mentioned for Psalm 14:1-3). I was unclear about some of what you said about God being misleading in his message. I don't think he is misleading just because he holds people responsible for what they know, and gives lenience on those who are ignorant (Luke 12:48). I'm still not sure, however, how any of this has to do with the grammar of Acts 17:23. As I said before, we should let the text inform our theology before interpreting the text to fit our theology.
My reference to filthy rags, Edward, is in relation to all man’s righteousness apart from that of God (Romans 3:21-26). And again, I am sure that if you went back to my previous post, you will find that my reference to ‘misleading’ is in showing that God cannot be misleading by contradicting himself. He is immutable. And in reference to your suggesting that we must take the grammar of Acts 17:23 as it is using the Greek text you have chosen, and none else, I have been a bit wary of entering into an area of study (Textual Criticism) that I have very little learning about, since it is only recently that I have found occasion to delve into it. More able men have laboured for ages to discard error, whether intentional, or otherwise, and point many to knowing the God of the Bible, in spite of that human error. The study (Textual Criticism) is captivating, but, whatever human error may have mistakenly entered autographs; machine-prints; manuscripts and their copies; codices; palimpsests; and translations (secondary and tertiary, especially English) mostly based on the choice of text-type, there is an obviously incontrovertible thread in the Scriptures that identifies the unity of the being of this God of the Bible concerning his character, mind, purpose and relationship with his creation. And, I believe, it is this unity that makes this Bible unique, so that Acts 17:23, in the context of your suggestion that this God is a God who considers ‘ignorance’ to mean partial knowledge of him, would be a contradiction of his character, mind, purpose and relationship with his creation, as exhibited in the totality of this same Bible.