Albert Barnes Commentary Acts 17:23

"For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this I set forth unto you." — Acts 17:23 (ASV)

For as I passed by. Greek, "For I, coming through, and seeing," etc.

And beheld. Diligently contemplated; attentively considered—anayewrwn. The worship of an idolatrous people will be an object of intense and painful interest to a Christian.

Your devotions. ta sebasmata. Our word devotions refers to the act of worship—to prayers, praises, etc. The Greek word used here, ta sebasmata, properly means any sacred thing; any object that is worshipped, or that is connected with the place or rites of worship.

Thus, it is applied either to the gods themselves, or to the temples, altars, shrines, sacrifices, statues, etc., connected with the worship of the gods. This is its meaning here. It does not denote that Paul saw them engaged in the act of worship, but that he was struck by the numerous temples, altars, statues, etc., which were erected to the gods and which indicated the state of the people.

Syriac: "The temple of your gods." Vulgate: "your images." Margin: "gods that you worship?"

I found an altar. An altar usually denotes a place for sacrifice. Here, however, it does not appear that any sacrifice was offered; but it was probably a monument of stone, reared to commemorate a certain event and dedicated to the unknown God.

To the unknown God. agnwstw yew. Where this altar was reared, or on what occasion, has been a subject of much debate among expositors. That there was such an altar in Athens, though it may not have been specifically mentioned by Greek writers, is rendered probable by the following circumstances:

1. It was customary to rear such altars. Minutius Felix, in his Philopatria, says of the Romans that they used this form of an oath: "I swear by the unknown God at Athens"—the very expression used by the apostle. And again he says (chapter 29, 180), "We have found out the unknown God at Athens, and worshipped him with our hands stretched up to heaven," etc.
2. There were altars at Athens inscribed to the unknown gods. Philostratus says (in his Vita Apollonii 6.3), "And this at Athens, where there are even altars to the unknown gods." Thus, Pausanias (in Attica, chapter 1) says that at Athens there are altars of gods which are called "the UNKNOWN ones." Jerome, in his commentary , says that the whole inscription was, "to the gods of Asia, Europe, and Africa; to the unknown and strange gods."
3. There was a remarkable altar reared in Athens in a time of pestilence, in honor of the unknown god who had granted them deliverance. Diogenes Laertius says that Epimenides restrained the pestilence in the following manner: "Taking white and black sheep, he led them to the Areopagus, and there permitted them to go where they would, commanding those who followed them to sacrifice (tw proshkonti yew) to the god to whom these things pertained [or who had the power of averting the plague, whoever he might be, without adding the name], and thus to allay the pestilence. From this it has arisen that, to this day, through the villages of the Athenians, altars are found without any name" (Diogenes Laertius, Book 1, Section 10). This event took place about 600 years before Christ, and it is not improbable that one or more of those altars remained until the time of Paul. It should be added that the natural inscription on those altars would be, "To the unknown god." None of the gods to whom they usually sacrificed could deliver them from the pestilence. They therefore reared altars to some unknown Being who had the power to free them from the plague.

Whom therefore. The true God, who had really delivered them from the plague.

Ye ignorantly worship. Or worship without knowing his name. You have expressed your homage for him by rearing an altar to him.

Him declare I unto you. I make known to you his name, attributes, etc. There is remarkable address and tact in Paul's seizing on this circumstance; and yet it was perfectly fair and honest. God only could deliver in the time of the pestilence. This altar had, therefore, been really reared to him, though his name was unknown.

The same Being who had interposed at that time, and whose interposition was recorded by the building of this altar, was he who had made the heavens, who ruled over all, and whom Paul was now about to make known to them. There is another feature of skill in the allusion to this altar.

In other circumstances, it might seem to be presumptuous for an unknown Jew to attempt to instruct the sages of Athens. But here they had confessed and proclaimed their ignorance. By rearing this altar, they acknowledged their need of instruction. The way was, therefore, fairly open for Paul to address even these philosophers and to discourse to them on a point on which they acknowledged their ignorance.