In a city full of idols and endless debate, the apostle Paul stood on Mars Hill and delivered one of the clearest, most reasoned defenses of the Christian faith ever recorded. Acts 17:16-34 isn’t just ancient history; it’s a masterclass in why Christianity is not a blind leap in the dark, but instead a reasoned conviction.

Here are the five reasoned steps Paul laid out that day:

1. The universe had a beginning, so there must be an eternal, self-sufficient Creator (vv. 24-25)

Paul told the Athenians: “He is the God who made the world and everything in it” (Acts 17:24, NLT). Every effect has a cause, but an infinite chain of causes is impossible. Something (or Someone) must be eternal and uncaused. That Someone cannot be material, because nothing physical lasts forever (second law of thermodynamics). The Bible proclaims Him as God—immaterial, eternal, and self-sufficient. Either the universe came from nothing, or it came from an eternal, self-sufficient Creator. Which takes more faith?

2. In spite of His self-sufficiency, this God created humanity unique and set apart (vv. 26-28)

Paul continued: “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us (Acts 17:27, NLT). God didn’t need us, yet He chose to create us in His image—male and female, capable of reason, relationship, creativity, and dominion. There is one human race. Every person, every nation, and every border exists by His sovereign appointment. The purpose? That we would seek Him, and He gave every human being the capacity to recognize the Creator behind the creation.

3. Because humanity is unique, the God who made us is infinitely holy (v. 29)

“And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone” (Acts 17:29, NLT). If the image-bearer is this special (above animals, above the rest of creation), how much more holy must the Image-Giver be? Idols reduce the infinite to the finite. Paul says that’s not just wrong, it’s absurd. The Creator cannot be captured by what He created.

4. Because God is infinitely holy, our sins deserve infinite righteous judgment (vv. 30-31)

“God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins” (Acts 17:30, NLT). Here’s the best analogy I’ve heard to describe Paul’s logic: Scratch a rock, and no one cares. Scratch a junkyard car, and you might get a warning for trespassing. Scratch a new Ferrari, and you’re in serious trouble. Why? Because the greater the value of what is damaged, the greater the offense. When finite creatures sin against an infinitely holy Creator, the offense is infinite. God’s patience in the past was mercy, not indifference. Now the call is clear: repent.

5. The proof of all this is the resurrection of Jesus Christ (v. 31)

“For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31, NLT). Jesus declared He would judge the world, and God the Father affirmed His ministry, witness, and testimony by raising Him from the dead. The resurrection is not a nice religious add-on; it is the public, historical vindication that everything Paul said is true.

Three responses followed Paul’s message that day—and they still follow today:

• Some laughed and mocked.

• Some said, “We want to hear you again on this.”

• Some believed and joined him

The resurrection remains the great inflection point. Once you’ve heard the case, you can’t stay neutral. Your life must move in a new direction—toward scorn, toward delay, or toward belief. Christianity is not romantic wishful thinking. It is realistic, logical, and grounded in the God who made us, loves us, and proved it by raising Jesus from the dead.

The question isn’t whether the argument makes sense. The question is: what will you do with it?

In Him,

Pastor Ethan