In Acts 17:24-26, a brilliant address is made in Athens, Greece to the Athenian philosophers. “Into the university city of the world sometime in August, A.D. 51, there came a man walking on foot, about fifty years of age, a Jew, who had probably never been heard of in this center of intellectual preeminence, by the name of Paul”. (Wilbur Smith, Therefore Stand, p. 246).

To the idolaters of ancient Athens, he declared, “And He made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation” (v. 26). This passage powerfully affirms that (1) God is the Creator of all men {people}, and (2) all men {people} have descended from the same ancestor. Since God is the Creator of us all, we ought to stop insisting on our private piece of America. After all, the human race has more in common than it thinks.

According to The Public Broadcasting Service, discoveries of Linguists in Russia and America have shown that all languages could have come from a single, ancient source, just as the Bible says it did (US News and World Report, November 5, 1990). Stanford Geneticist Luigi Cavalli-Sforza supports the “likelihood that all languages were originally unified...” [cf. Genesis 11:1-9].

Albert Barnes remarked:
“All the families of men are descended from one origin or stock. However different their complexion, features, or language, yet they are derived from a common stock. The word blood is often used to denote race, stock, kindred. This passage affirms that all the human family are descended from the same ancestor; and that, consequently, all the variety of complexion, etc., is to be traced to some other cause than that there were originally different races created.” (see Gen. I; comp. Mal. 2:10).

"The design of the apostle in this affirmation was, probably, to convince the Greeks that he regarded them all as brethren; and that, although he was a Jew, yet he was not enslaved to any narrow notions or prejudices in reference to other men. It follows also from this, that no one nation, and no individual, can claim any pre-eminence over others in virtue or birth of blood. All are in this respect equal; and the whole human family, however they may differ in complexion, customs, and laws, are to be regarded as brethren. It follows, also, that no one part of the race has a right to enslave or oppress any other part, on account of difference of complexion.” (Albert Barnes, Barnes Notes on the New Testament, p. 485).

At any rate in the Athenian address, Paul makes the following points with reference to God. (1) He made the world and all things therein. (2) He is Lord of heaven and earth. (3) He dwells not in temples made with hands. (4) He gives to all life, and breath, and all things. (5) He made of one every nation of men {people} to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation. (6) He should be sought after, felt after, and found. (7) He is not far from each one of us. (8) He is the One in Whom we live, and move, and have our being. (9) He is our Father and we are His offspring. (10) He once overlooked ignorance. (11) He commands men {every one} that they should all everywhere repent. (12) He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man Whom He has ordained. (13) He has given assurance whereof He has raised Him from the dead.

Noah A. Hackworth
Visalia, Ca.