Acts 17:28

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. FOR IN HIM WE LIVE, AND MOVE, AND HAVE OUR BEING, [ kai (G2532) esmen (G2070)] - more simply, 'live, and move, and exist.' This means, not merely (as Meyer explains it), 'Without Him we have no life, nor that motion which every inanimate nature displays, nor even existence itself:' it means that God is the living immanent Principle of all these in men. It will be observed that the words, "in Him we live, and move, and exist," constitute in themselves a descending series; but viewed in relation to the speaker's purpose, they have (as Lechler notices) all the force of an ascending climax. Life, it is true, is more than motion, and mo...

− 28._For in him. _I grant that the apostles, according to the Hebrew phrase, do oftentimes take this preposition _in _for per, or _by _or _through; _but because this speech, that we live in God, hath greater force, and doth express more, I thought I would not change it; for I do not doubt but that Paul’s meaning is, that we be after a sort contained in God, because he dwelleth in us by his power. And, therefore, God himself doth separate himself from all creatures by this word _Jehovah, _that we may know that in speaking properly he is alone, and that we have our being in him, inasmuch as by his Spirit he keepeth us in life, and upholdeth us. For the power of the Spirit is spread abroad throughout all parts of the world, that it may preserve them in their state; that he may minister unto the heaven and earth that force and vigor which we see, and motion to all living creatures. Not as b...

22-31 Here we have a sermon to heathens, who worshipped false gods, and were without the true God in the world; and to them the scope of the discourse was different from what the apostle preached to the Jews. In the latter case, his business was to lead his hearers by prophecies and miracles to the knowledge of the Redeemer, and faith in him; in the former, it was to lead them, by the common works of providence, to know the Creator, and worship Him. The apostle spoke of an altar he had seen, with the inscription, "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." This fact is stated by many writers. After multiplying their idols to the utmost, some at Athens thought there was another god of whom they had no knowledge. And are there not many now called Christians, who are zealous in their devotions, yet the great object of their worship is to them an unknown God? Observe what glorious things Paul here says of that G...

Verse Acts 17:28. _FOR IN HIM WE LIVE, AND MOVE, AND HAVE OUR BEING_] He is the very _source_ of our _existence_: the principle of _life_ comes from him: the principle of _motion_, also, comes from him; one of the most difficult things in nature to be properly apprehended; and a strong proof of the continual presence and energy of the Deity. _AND HAVE OUR BEING_] καιεσμεν, _And we are_: we _live_ in _him,_ _move_ in _him_, and _are_ in him. Without him we not only can do nothing, but without him we are nothing. _We are_, i.e. we continue _to be_, because of his continued, present, all-pervading, and supporting energy. There is a remarkable saying in _Synopsis Sohar_, p. 104. "The holy blessed God never does evil to any man. He only withdraws his gracious presence from him, and then he necessarily

FOR IN HIM WE LIVE - The expression “in him” evidently means by him; by his originally forming us, and continually sustaining us. No words can better express our constant dependence on God. He is the original fountain of life, and he upholds us each moment. A similar sentiment is found in Plautus (5, 4,14): “O Jupiter, who dost cherish and nourish the race of man; by whom we live, and with whom is the hope of the life of all men” (Kuinoel). It does not appear, however, that Paul designed this as a quotation; yet he doubtless intended to state a sentiment with which they were familiar, and with which they would agree. AND MOVE - κινούμεθα kinoumetha. Doddridge translates this, “And are moved.” It may, however, be in the middle voice, and be correctly rendered as in our version. It means that we derive strength to move from him; an expression denotin

EXPOSITION ACTS 17:1 AMPHIPOLIS. This was the ancient capital of that division of Macedonia (Macedonia Prima); see Acts 16:12, note. It was situated on the Via Egnatia, thirty-four miles southwest from Philippi, and three miles from the AEgean Sea. It lay in a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the Strymon, whence its name, _Amphipolis; _its modern name is _Neokhoria, _now a village. Its original name was Ἐννέα ̔οδοί, The Nine Ways. Originally a Thracian city, it was conquered by the Athenians, then by the Lacedaemonians, then fell under the dominion of Philip of Macedon, and finally, with the rest of Macedonia, became part of the Roman empire. APOLLONIA; now probably _Polina, _thirty miles due west

FOR IN HIM WE LIVE, AND MOVE, AND HAVE OUR BEING,.... The natural life which men live is from God; and they are supported in it by him; and from him they have all the comforts and blessings of life; and all motions, whether external or internal, of body or of mind, are of God, and none of them are without the concourse of his providence, and strength assistance from him; though the disorder and irregularity of these motions, whereby they become sinful, are of themselves, or of the devil; and their being, and the maintenance of it, and continuance in it, are all owing to the power and providence of God. AS CERTAIN ALSO OF YOUR OWN POETS HAVE SAID; the Syriac version reads in the singular number, "as a certain one of your wise men has said"; but all others read in the plural; and some have thought, that the apostle refers to what goes before, that being an Iambic verse of some of the poet...

FOR WE Found in the writings of Aratus and Cleanthes....

ACTS 17:28 w`j kai, tinej tw/n kaqV u`ma/j poihtw/n {A} Codex Bezae adds to the quotation the phrase to. kaqV h`me,ran (“in him we live and move and have our being _day by day”_). According to Rendel Harris this reading arose from a misread and misplaced marginal annotation. He suggests that a corrector who wished to alter tw/n kaqV u`ma/j in the next line to “some of our own poets” “indificated this in the margin in a sort of short-hand, which was misunderstood as to. kaqV h`me,ran and inserted as an expansion into the previous line.” 326 Williams, however, agrees with W. L. Knox that “a more likely explanation is that it was a ‘favourite phrase of D.’”...

CHAPTER 17 _ 1. The Gospel in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1)._ 2. The Gospel in Beroea (Acts 17:10). 3. Paul in Athens (Acts 17:15). Three cities in which the Gospel is next preached are before us in this chapter. But there is a marked difference between these three places. In Thessalonica there was much hostility, the result of the success of the Gospel. In Beroea a more noble class of Jews were found. Their nobility consisted in submission to the Scriptures, the oracles of God, and in a ready mind. There was a still greater blessing among the Jews and the Gentiles. In Athens the Apostle Paul met idolatry, indifference and ridicule. An interesting fact is learned concerning the activity of the apostl