Greek number 57 appears one time in the New Testament, in Acts 17:23, where Paul cites an Athenian altar inscribed “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.”

Historical and Cultural Background

First-century Athens held countless shrines to deities large and small. Greek writers record altars “to unknown gods,” erected either to cover any overlooked deity or to appease a divinity thought to have acted without being identified. Such monuments expressed both religious pluralism and spiritual uncertainty. Paul, steeped in Hebrew revelation that names the one true God (Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 45:5), steps into this vacuum of ignorance to reveal the God who can, in fact, be known.

Paul’s Apologetic Strategy

Acts 17:23: “For as I walked around and observed your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.”

1. Identification: Paul affirms the Athenians’ evident religiosity, earning a hearing without endorsing their idolatry.
2. Connection: By citing their own altar, he bridges from pagan ignorance to biblical revelation, turning a cultural artifact into a gospel foothold.
3. Correction: He replaces conjecture with truth, declaring the Creator who “does not live in temples made by human hands” (Acts 17:24).
4. Confrontation: Ignorance is no longer an excuse; God “now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).

Theological Significance

1. Revelation over speculation – Humanity gropes after deity (Acts 17:27), yet God graciously initiates self-disclosure (Psalm 19:1-4; Hebrews 1:1-2).
2. Universality of accountability – Even sophisticated cultures remain spiritually “unknown” to the living God until He is proclaimed.
3. Fulfillment in Christ – The “unknown” becomes known in Jesus, “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) who makes the Father known (John 1:18).
4. Sovereign providence – God foreordained times and boundaries “so that they would seek Him” (Acts 17:26-27), turning human ignorance into an invitation to salvation.

Implications for Ministry Today

• Engage culture respectfully, recognizing genuine (though misdirected) spiritual hunger.
• Start with common ground—questions, artifacts, or ideals—and move quickly to Scripture’s authoritative revelation.
• Replace vague spirituality with the concrete announcement of the risen Christ (Acts 17:31).
• Call listeners from ignorance to repentance, confident that God “is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27).

Related Old Testament Parallels

• Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 28:16-17)—encountering a God previously unrecognized.
• The Philistines with the Ark (1 Samuel 5)—confronted by an unfamiliar yet sovereign God.
• Isaiah’s indictment of idolatry (Isaiah 44:9-20)—humanity’s inability to define the divine.

Connection to Christ

The altar to the “unknown god” foreshadows humanity’s universal need for revelation. Jesus Christ fulfills that need as the definitive self-expression of God, the One who makes the unknown known and the unseen visible (John 14:9).

Summary

Strong’s Greek 57 highlights the chasm between human religious imagination and God’s revealed truth. Paul’s use of the term in Acts 17:23 demonstrates how the gospel confronts ignorance with knowledge, idolatry with revelation, and speculation with certainty in Christ.