Greek Gods
Acts 14: 11 – 15
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us.” And they began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.
One thing that bothers me is when people blame God for the bad things that happen in life. In fact, I take great exception to it because that is my kind and loving father of whom they speak. I really get perturbed when I hear Christians doing it. I was speaking with our Father God about it and He showed me why this error so frequently occurs. Primarily it is a lack of teaching and our cultural inheritance that leads us to making this mistake. Therefore, if you blame God when bad things happen, it is my fault for having not taught you better. When the rest of the world does so, it is likewise because they have not been taught correctly. There is a foundation in our culture and our education system that leads us to this conclusion so we must be educated in truth in order to overcome this error.
When you read the New Testament, especially the Pauline epistles, it will place you in good stead to realize that those writers were writing to a population very different from us. Now, that is not to say that those truths don’t stand in our culture, not at all. That Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law is applicable to all times, cultures and populations. However, it will increase our understanding greatly when we put Biblical text in context and understand to whom the authors are writing.
As you know, the New Testament was written in Greek. The Greco-Roman culture was the context of the New Testament writings. We are, in many instances, the heirs of Greek learning and culture. I don’t wish to say that is a bad thing. There is much that we have gained from the Greek model. What you should understand, however, is how it affects your faith. And when you understand the environment in which Paul and the other writers lived and wrote you can gain a keener perspective on their writings and how the Greco-Roman culture continues to influence us today.
So, to get directly on point, in order to understand why people blamed God for the bad things that happened in life all those many years ago and why people still do it today you have to first appreciate their understanding of God and the spiritual realm. Only the Jewish people believed in a monotheistic God. Everyone else had a god for every aspect of human life and experience. If you look up Greek Mythology you will be amazed by the number of God’s and sub-Gods they had. Also, we must understand that what we now call mythology was their belief system. Honestly, while they didn’t know THE god, Yahweh, and they certainly didn’t understand all the players in the spiritual realm, they did have a realization that something was going on. For example, they had a God of the air. His name was Aether and he was the primeval god of the upper air. Ephesians 2: 2 tells us of this air god, “You went along with the crowd and were just like all the others, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air, who is at work right now in the hearts of those who are against the Lord.” They also had a god who was king of the heavens. This was Zeus. The ancients understood that there were spiritual beings influencing and affecting their lives, which is more than I can say for most of us. They believed that there was a spirit of sickness, one of madness, whose name was mania, as well as a spirit of well-being.
Now, while we don’t adhere to this religious structure, we have inherited a great deal from the ancient Greeks including philosophy, government, language, architecture and much more besides. Even their gods have found their way into our culture and language. Do you know what “Nike” means? Nike was the goddess of victory. So, the next time you lace on a pair of Nike’s think of that. There was Typhon from where we get the word typhoon and if you have been watching the news about the devastation in the Philippines then you can probably guess what Typhon was the god of. He was a storm giant. And Hypnos was the god of sleep. So, you see, there is a great deal that has been passed down to us from the ancient Greeks.
In our enlightened state we know that there is but one GOD. He is Yahweh, the great I AM. What they understood, though, that we have failed to grasp is that there is a superfluity, a virtual cornucopia of spirit beings. They understood that there were benevolent spirit beings and malevolent beings. Because we know that there is only one GOD, we have attributed all of the acts of these other spirit beings to the one God. And that is why otherwise intelligent, enlightened Christians can be so wrong in identifying malicious actors. We have failed to reclassify all of those other minor “gods.” And I would like to add here, this is why education is important. In studying Greek mythology we can see ourselves. We do not study Greek Mythology, or Roman or Norse in order to find God. We know the one true God. He is our Father. But, in studying the Greeks we can see how we have failed to account for all of the spiritual beings that they knew of but mistakenly called Gods.
There is God. He is a triune being, as are we, and shows Himself through the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There are angels and they are the benevolent, kind, helpful spirits. You probably know and understand that. Then, there are malicious spirits which are demons. Now here is where too many Christians stumble. For some reason we don’t seem to want to recognize the existence of demons. I know for a long time I didn’t want to. There are at least two reasons that I can offer for this phenomenon. First, I think that the idea of demons just scares people. It shouldn’t since Jesus has given us authority over every demon from hell but there is another problem there. We are not being taught about our authority. Secondly, I think that Satan has done an amazing job of keeping himself and his employees under the radar so to speak. The end result is that when something bad happens people ask, “Why did God do that?” Unlike the ancient Greeks they don’t even acknowledge the effect of the evil spirits. Knowing that there is but one God we have been fooled into thinking that there is only one actor in the spiritual realm. So, while the ancients sometimes look foolish to us, they have some insights too and we would benefit from their experiences.
God is good. He is always good. There is no evil or darkness in Him, and He only wants good things for you.
