One Man, Every Nation

Acts 17:22–31

Ed Rangel · October 11, 2026

evvfaith.com/sermons/guides/one-man-every-nation.html

The God who made every nation from one man commands all people to repent.

One Creator, one human family, one gospel

Racial pride notices a difference, then lies about what it means.

Skin becomes rank, and a birthplace becomes worth.

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.

Acts 17:16 · NASB

The philosophers brought Paul before the Areopagus, Athens’ oldest court.

Acts 17:18–19

And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, "What would this idle babbler wish to say?" Others, "He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,"--because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

Acts 17:18 · NASB

And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming?

Acts 17:19 · NASB

Their charge sounded like the one Athens once brought against Socrates.

“A proclaimer of strange deities”

The Creator gives life to all people

Acts 17:22–25

So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.

Acts 17:22 · NASB

"For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.

Acts 17:23 · NASB

Athens kept altars to gods it could not name.

Paul used that confession of ignorance to proclaim the living God.

"The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;

Acts 17:24 · NASB

The Parthenon stood directly above Paul as he spoke.

God “does not dwell in temples made with hands.”

No tribe invented Him, no nation owns Him, and no culture reshapes Him.

nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;

Acts 17:25 · NASB

Every breath is borrowed from the God who made us.

The proud man insults others with gifts God gave him.

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 1:27 · NASB

Despising someone for skin or ancestry insults the workmanship of God.

One man became every nation

Acts 17:26

and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

Acts 17:26 · NASB

These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.

Genesis 10:32 · NASB

The Bible recognizes nations but never ranks human beings by them.

"And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?

Acts 2:8 · NASB

Noah’s words named Canaan, not Ham, and said nothing about skin.

Genesis 9:25

So he said, " Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers."

Genesis 9:25 · NASB

Men forced the Bible to serve a prejudice it actually condemns.

We share one origin, one fallen condition, and one need for God.

III

God ordered the nations so they would seek Him

Acts 17:26–27

that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

Acts 17:27 · NASB

They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."

Genesis 11:4 · NASB

Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.

Genesis 11:9 · NASB

Babel explains our division without establishing anyone’s superiority.

The tower changes shape, but the heart remains.

National gratitude can be lawful, but national arrogance is idolatry.

Love of family is good. Hatred of another family is sin.

No language or ancestry decides who may come near to God.

He is not far from each one of us.

One risen Lord commands every person to repent

Acts 17:28–31

for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'

Acts 17:28 · NASB

Paul quoted their own poets, then pointed them to the God who made them.

Aratus and Epimenides

"Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

Acts 17:29 · NASB

The finest image in Athens was still the work of human hands.

Gold and ivory, made by Phidias

"Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,

Acts 17:30 · NASB

The racist must repent, and so must the man who hates another nation.

Idolatry must be abandoned and ignorance must end.

because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."

Acts 17:31 · NASB

God has furnished proof to all men by raising Jesus from the dead.

Acts 17:31

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, "We shall hear you again concerning this."

Acts 17:32 · NASB

For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,

Ephesians 2:14 · NASB

Christ brings repentant sinners from every people under one Lord.

Galatians 3:26–29

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Galatians 3:27 · NASB

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28 · NASB

A church cannot preach a gospel for every nation while despising some.

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;

Revelation 7:9 · NASB

Athens was filled with gods, but Paul proclaimed the one God who made everyone.

Some sneered, but Dionysius, Damaris, and others believed.

Acts 17:32–34

But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

Acts 17:34 · NASB

Hear, believe, repent, confess Christ, and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.

If you need to obey the gospel, come as we stand and sing.

If pride or partiality has found a home in your heart, repent today.

Confess the sin, seek forgiveness, and repair what you damaged.

God made every nation from one man.

Acts 17:26

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