Bible Synapse
Were idol-worshipping Gentiles excused for their ignorance, or left without excuse?
Hard question · Acts and the letters · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
At Athens Paul says that “the times of this ignorance God winked at”, but that he “now commandeth all men every where to repent”, for he will judge the world.
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
God’s wrath is revealed against those who “hold the truth in unrighteousness”; his power is seen in creation, “so that they are without excuse”.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
At Lystra Paul says that God let the nations go their own ways, “Nevertheless he left not himself without witness”.
Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
God set forth Christ as a propitiation, to declare his righteousness about “sins that are past, through the forbearance of God”.
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
The objection
In Acts, Paul tells the Athenians that their idol-worship came from ignorance and that God overlooked those times. In Romans, Paul says that the pagans knew God through creation, that God’s wrath is revealed against them, and that they are “without excuse”. Bart Ehrman argues that these are two different views, and that the Paul of Acts is not the Paul of the letters.
The answer
‘Overlooked’ does not mean ‘excused’. The Greek hyperidōn (KJV ‘winked at’) means that God passed over those times without bringing judgment on them, not that he counted them innocent. Paul’s next words show it: God “now commandeth all men every where to repent”, because “he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:30–31). People are called to repent of guilt, not of innocence. Barnes makes the point: their ignorance lessened their guilt, but God did not regard idolatry as innocent.
Romans says the same in its own words. Paul there also speaks of God passing over sins in the past: Christ’s death shows God’s righteousness in view of “sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:25). The Greek paresis, ‘passing over’, is close in meaning to the word in Acts 17:30. And Acts, like Romans, holds that the nations had a witness to God. At Lystra Paul says that God “left not himself without witness” in rain and harvests (Acts 14:17), and at Athens that God made the nations so “that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us” (17:27).
Romans 1 also explains how people can lack knowledge and still be without excuse. The truth shown in creation was held down “in unrighteousness” (1:18): when they knew God, they did not honour him, and their thinking became darkened (1:21). Their ignorance was real, but it came from turning away from the light they had, so it was not blameless. At Athens Paul began where his hearers were, in order to win them; in Romans he explains to believers why everyone needs the gospel. The emphasis differs, but the teaching is the same.
Other answers Christians give
Ignorance lessens guilt but does not remove it
Elsewhere too the Bible treats wrong done in ignorance as less serious but still in need of forgiveness. The servant who “knew not” is beaten with few stripes, not none (Luke 12:48), and Jesus prayed for those who crucified him, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34; some early manuscripts, among them Codex Vaticanus and Codex Bezae, lack this prayer, though most have it).
Still open
Some scholars, Ehrman among them, think the Areopagus speech reflects Luke’s theology more than Paul’s. Others find its themes in Paul’s own letters: turning from idols to the living God, the risen Jesus and the coming judgment (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10). That is a question about how Luke reports Paul’s speeches. On the substance, the two passages agree.
From the classic commentators
We are not to suppose that God regarded idolatry as innocent, or the crimes and vices to which idolatry led as of no importance; but their ignorance was a mitigating circumstance, and he suffered the nations to live without coming forth in direct judgment against them.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible, on Acts 17:30 (1834)