Acts 17:29

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. FORASMUCH THEN AS WE AND THE OFFSPRING OF GOD, WE OUGHT NOT TO THINK (THE COURTESY OF THIS LANGUAGE IS WORTHY OF NOTICE) THAT THE GODHEAD IS LIKE UNTO GOLD, OR SILVER, OR STONE, GRAVEN BY ART AND MAN'S DEVICE - rather, 'graven by the art or device of man.' One can hardly doubt that the apostle would here point to those matchless monuments of the plastic art in gold, and silver, and costliest stone, which lay so profusely beneath and around him. The more intelligent Pagan Greeks no more pretended that these sculptured gods and goddesses were real deities, or even their actual likenesses, than Romanist Christians do their images; and Paul doubtless knew this: yet here we find him condemning all such efforts to represent visibly the...

− 29._Therefore seeing that. _He gathereth that God cannot be figured or resembled by any graven image forasmuch as he would have his image extant in us. For the soul wherein the image of God is properly engraven cannot be painted; therefore it is a thing more absurd to go about to paint God. Now, we see what great injury they do to God which give him a bodily shape; when as man’s soul, which doth scarce resemble a small sparkle of the infinite glory of God, cannot be expressed in any bodily shape. − Furthermore, forasmuch as it is certain that Paul doth in this place inveigh against the common superstition of all the Gentiles, because they would worship God under bodily shapes, we must hold this general doctrine that God is falsely and wickedly transfigured, and that his truth is turned into a lie so often as his Majesty is represented by any visible shape; as the same Paul teacheth in...

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 29. _FORASMUCH THEN AS WE ARE THE OFFSPRING OF GOD_, c.] This inference of the apostle was very strong and conclusive and his argument runs thus: "If we are the offspring of God, he cannot be like those _images of gold, silver_, and _stone_, which are formed by the _art_ and _device of man_; for the parent must resemble his offspring. Seeing, therefore, that _we_ are _living_ and _intelligent_ beings, HE from whom we have derived that being must be _living_ and _intelligent_. It is necessary, also, that the object of religious worship should be much more _excellent_ than the worshipper; but a _man_ is, by innumerable degrees, more excellent than an _image_ made out of _gold, silver_, or _stone_; and yet it would be impious to worship a _man_: how much more _so_ to worship these _images_ as _gods_! Every man in the Areopagus must have felt the power of this conclusion; and, ta...

FORASMUCH THEN - Admitting or assuming this to be true. The argument which follows is drawn from the concessions of their own writers. WE OUGHT NOT TO THINK - It is absurd to suppose. The argument of the apostle is this: “Since we are formed by God; since we are like him, living and intelligent beings; since we are more excellent in our nature than the most precious and ingenious works of art, it is absurd to suppose that the original source of our existence can be like gold, and silver, and stone. Man himself is far more excellent than an image of wood and stone; how much more excellent still must be the great Fountain and Source of all our wisdom and intelligence.” See this thought pursued at length in Isaiah 40:18. THE GODHEAD - The divinity ...

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

FORASMUCH THEN AS WE ARE THE OFFSPRING OF GOD,.... In the sense before given; for the apostle is not here speaking of himself, and other saints, as being the children of God, by adoption, and by regenerating grace, and faith in Christ Jesus, but as men in common with others, and with these Athenians: WE OUGHT NOT TO THINK THAT THE GODHEAD IS LIKE UNTO GOLD, OR SILVER, OR STONE, GRAVEN BY ART AND MAN'S DEVICE; for men themselves, who are the offspring of God, and made after his image, are not to be compared to graven images of gold, silver, and stone, but are vastly preferable to them, they being formed by their art, and the device of their minds; and much less then should God, the Creator of men, and from whom they spring, be likened to, or represented by, any such thing; for so to think of God, is to think very unworthily of him; for if to think thus of ourselves, who are descended fro...

OFFSPRING OF GOD (Greek, "genos", means "race"). The reference is to the creation-work of God in which He made man (i.e. mankind, the race in Adam) in his own likeness, (Genesis 1:26); (Genesis 1:27); thus rebuking the thought that "the Godhead is like unto gold," etc. The word "Father" is not used, not does the passage affirm anything concerning fatherhood or sonship, which are relationships based on faith, and the new birth. Compare (John 1:12); (John 1:13); (Galatians 3:26); ...

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

PAUL'S SPEECH TO THE AREOPAGUS. He opens with a compliment to the religiosity of the Athenians. He has walked up and down the city and marked the many objects of worship; he has also found an altar with the inscription To the Unknown God (the argument that follows calls for the definite article). There are various instances in antiquity of such an inscription; though always, it is true, in the plural, not the singular number. Jerome says the inscription in the text must have run To the unknown and foreign gods, and in Pausanias, Philostratus, and other ancient writers such inscriptions are spoken of. In Deissmann's _St. Paul_ (p. 261) an inscription is described which has recently been unearthed at Pergamum, also in the plural. That in our text is the only example in antiquity of the inscription in the singular, and Paul's argument is based on it in that form. It would dedicate the altar...