Athens was once the very centre of civilization. It means that Athens was where the best of mankind resided at the time. Philosophy, mental agility, wisdom and skill were at its finest in this city of Greece. Yet it was a city that was wholly given to idolatry. It means that the best of man’s actions and activity culminates in idolatry. We know that this was so many years ago, and so much have changed in the evolution of man and civilization. This then raises the question, “does the idolatry of Athens still apply to the human civilization today?”, In other words, can we still use the same metrics to measure man today that we used in the time of Athens?
To answer this, we need to first look at what Idolatry is. In the times of Paul, Idolatry was the worship of statues and crafted images by creating altars and temples to moulded gods. In today’s society, although there are still people who bow before moulded images/statues, the pinnacle of civilization today does not involve such activity. In, fact people perform such rituals are seen as regressed in their thinking and mindset. Today, we celebrate technology and innovations in science as the peak of human achievement, but is it different from what we used to do in the days of Paul when altars were built to moulded images? Is it different from the celebration of different gods and their sophistication that the Athenians were known for in those days?
Idolatry at it’s root is based on an estimation of man’s actions and decisions as the ultimate. It is the idea of man trusting his actions and decisions to solve his fundamental problem—death. So, independent of the time period or the particular actions being carried out, if the thought behind it is a reliance on man’s ability to solve man’s problem, then it is idolatry. God’s plan is to take man away from that pattern of thoughts to one that reflects his own idea, which is that God would be the one to act to solve man’s fundamental problem- death.
Paul described the Athenians as people who were too superstitious. The main thoughts around superstition today is one that describes ridiculous beliefs that are held by people, mostly passed down from one generation to another. For example, the idea that if a black cat crosses your path, you would have bad luck all day. But the main idea behind superstitions is not that there is a ridiculous belief that has no logic behind it… it is more or less the ignorance that drives the belief. In other words, superstitions are strong beliefs driven by ignorance… and this is what Paul addresses with the Athenians when he said that he perceived that they were in all things too superstitious. He goes ahead to say that the reason for his perception was that he found that they had an inscription on an altar that said TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, whom they ignorantly worship. The Athenians worshipped a god that they did not know… that ignorance caused them to walk in superstition.
So, clearly idolatry was the order of the day in Athens, and in their ignorance they worshipped a god that they did not know. Reading Paul’s words, one can only conclude that if they knew this God, then they would not be superstitious. If they knew this God, they would not be in idolatry. For, idolatry is a devotion to god that comes from ignorance. An ignorant devotion to God is called idolatry.
They knew that they had a problem. They knew that the problem was one that they could not solve. Hence, they needed a “god”, and hopefully in their devotion to “god”, they could find the answer to their mortal question. The problem however, was that they took their thoughts and desires and channelled them into a statue that they made and called it their god. They did this because they were ignorant. They did not know God. So, when Paul calls them superstitious, he is describing their heart, their thoughts and their mind rather than the things that they did.
Paul describes God to them, he shows them clearly that the God who is deserving of service does not need to be served, he created everything and does not need anything from man. He is a giver and not a taker. In other words, they got it all wrong. They had an image of a god that needed men to build a temple for him. They believed that God wanted them to bring food, and sacrifices to him. But they could not be more wrong. This is why Paul calls them superstitious. They had the wrong idea, and ignorant one about God. They held beliefs about God that was inaccurate.
Superstition is therefore not necessarily that a person believes that he should not sit on a stone used to make a fire, it is the mindset, the thoughts of God that he lacks that has led him to still hold on to that strong notion. Not knowing God is what produces superstitious beliefs. A person may think that because he does not believe in charms, lucks and potions he is not superstitious. He cannot be further from the truth. If he lacks the knowledge of God, the understanding of God as the one that gives does not require anything from man, he will continually live in superstition.