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Acts 17 · a question people ask

"TO AN UNKNOWN GOD" (17:23). Were the Athenians already worshiping the true God at that altar?

In the text

Paul's words are these: "For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, I announce to you." (17:23). Then he speaks of "The God who made the world and all things in it" (17:24). The chapter doesn't say who made the altar or what they meant by it, and Paul says no more of it than this verse. These notes add nothing from outside the Bible about the altar or the inscription.

The verses

“For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, I announce to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands.”
Acts 17:23-24 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Acts 17

Acts 17: To an unknown God

At Athens some said Paul seemed to be "advocating foreign deities" (17:18): behind advocating is a noun Strong's gives as "a proclaimer". And Paul's first words about what he brings use its verb: "What therefore you worship in ignorance, I announce to you" (17:23), the verb of "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ" (17:3).

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Last reviewed October 7, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions