Sermon Resources - Dr. Toby Holt
Have you ever actually met an atheist? Acts 17 sermon: You may have met those who deny God, read their books, and encountered their unbelief — but if Paul was right, you have never met an atheist. Standing in Athens before the philosophers of the Areopagus, Paul pointed to their own altar: "I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you" (Acts 17:23, NKJV). Dr. Toby Holt examines how agnostics differ from atheists, what Paul was doing in Athens, and how the apostle reasoned from creation to the resurrection with people who did not accept his Bible.
0:00 — No True Atheist. Every person knows the divine source but suppresses it (Romans 1).
9:59 — Paul Confronts Pluralism. At Athens the apostle faces a city full of idols and ideas.
11:28 — “To the Unknown God.” Paul seizes the Athenians’ own altar to preach the true God (Acts 17:23).
19:42 — The Folly of Idols. Zeus, Baal, Molech — the emptiness of man-made gods.
25:54 — The God Who Will Judge. The Maker of all calls everyone to repent before the reckoning.
Questions This Sermon Answers:
1. What did Paul say at the Areopagus in Athens?
Provoked by a city "given over to idols" (Acts 17:16, NKJV), Paul preached the God the Athenians admitted they did not know: the Creator "who made the world and everything in it" (Acts 17:24, NKJV), who needs nothing, gives everything, governs the nations, and "now commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30, NKJV). He ended not with philosophy but with a fixed day of judgment and the resurrection of Jesus as God’s public proof.
2. What was the altar to the unknown god?
Athens hedged its religious bets — among its many altars stood one inscribed "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD" (Acts 17:23, NKJV), a confession built in stone that all their worship had not found Him. Paul seized it: the God they groped for had made Himself known. What they admitted in ignorance, he proclaimed in truth.
3. How do agnostics differ from atheists?
The atheist says there is no God; the agnostic says God cannot be known. Scripture answers both at once: God "is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:27, NKJV), and what may be known of Him is plain, "for God has shown it to them" (Romans 1:19, NKJV). Unbelief, biblically described, is not a lack of evidence but a suppression of it — which is why Paul says you have never truly met an atheist.
4. Does the Bible say everyone knows God exists?
Yes. "Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen... so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20, NKJV). The knowledge of God is woven into creation and conscience. People do not reason their way to unbelief from neutral ground; they "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18, NKJV). Evangelism therefore appeals to what the hearer already knows and cannot finally silence.
5. How should Christians talk with atheists and agnostics?
The way Paul did: with respect, with their own sources, and without surrendering the message. He quoted their poets, acknowledged their religiosity, and still preached creation, repentance, judgment, and resurrection. Some mocked, some delayed, and some believed (Acts 17:32–34). Faithfulness, not unanimous applause, is the measure of a gospel conversation.
6. What does Romans 1 mean when it says people "suppress the truth"?
It means no one is truly ignorant of God. "What may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them" (Romans 1:19, NKJV); creation leaves all "without excuse" (Romans 1:20). The sermon’s claim that there is no true atheist rests here: unbelief is not a lack of evidence but a suppression of it. Calvin called this the sensus divinitatis — an inescapable awareness of God that fallen man pushes down.
7. How did Paul engage pagan culture without compromising the gospel?
He met the Athenians on their ground — even quoting their poets, "in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28, NKJV) — yet he did not flatter them. He preached the Creator, called all men to repent, and warned of judgment by the risen Christ (Acts 17:30–31). True engagement borrows the culture’s language to confront the culture’s idols, never trimming the offense of the cross to win applause.
8. What does Paul teach about idolatry — and do we still make idols today?
Paul’s spirit was provoked that Athens was "given over to idols" (Acts 17:16, NKJV), for "an idol is nothing in the world" (1 Corinthians 8:4, NKJV). Calvin famously said the human heart is a perpetual factory of idols. We may not bow to Zeus or Molech, but we still enthrone money, self, and approval. Any good loved more than God becomes a counterfeit deity that cannot save.
9. Why did Paul preach the resurrection and coming judgment to skeptics?
Because the gospel is news about a real event with eternal stakes. Paul declared that God "commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained," giving "assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17:30–31, NKJV). The resurrection is God’s public proof; the judgment is why repentance cannot wait.
10. What is the difference between knowing about God and knowing Him savingly?
Even the demons have correct theology: "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!" (James 2:19, NKJV). Suppressed knowledge of God (Romans 1) is not saving faith. To know God savingly requires the new birth, by which the Spirit turns bare assent into trust and love. The agnostic’s deepest problem is moral and spiritual, not merely a shortage of arguments.
Key Theological Points:
1. All People Know God — and Suppress That Knowledge
Paul’s Areopagus address assumes what Romans 1 asserts: the knowledge of God is universal, planted in creation and conscience, and sinners hold it down rather than lack it. The altar to the unknown god was Athens’ own testimony against itself. This is the foundation of a Reformed approach to apologetics — the unbeliever is never approaching God from neutrality.
2. From Creation to Judgment: The Shape of Paul’s Apologetic
Paul begins with the Creator, moves through providence — He "gives to all life, breath, and all things" and appoints the times and boundaries of the nations (Acts 17:25–26, NKJV) — and lands on a fixed day of judgment. He does not trim the message for a sophisticated audience. The structure is God-centered from first word to last.
3. The Resurrection as God’s Public Proof
"He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17:31, NKJV). God has not left the world to weigh probabilities; He has staked His verdict on a public, historical act. The resurrection is both the guarantee of judgment and the ground of hope — the hinge on which every Areopagus conversation finally turns.
The Scripture Text: Acts 17:30–31 (NKJV)
"Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."
Continue studying: explore the full Book of Acts sermon series, or browse the complete Reformed Sermon Archive.
About The Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt serves as the third President of New Geneva Theological Seminary (Colorado Springs, CO), founded 1993. An expository preacher with over 1.9 million sermon downloads on SermonAudio.com, Dr. Holt brings over 17 years of pastoral experience to his verse-by-verse Bible teaching. New Geneva offers fully online Reformed theological education — M.Div., Th.M., D.Min., and other degrees.
More From This Series
