Acts 17:29

"Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man"Godhead" The Divine nature, "Lit., that which is divine" (Vincent p. 545). Paul is trying to get the Athenians to contemplate the real nature of God. Paul's argument is very simple. Since we are the offspring of God, it is absurd to think that the God who created us is. stick or stone or can even be adequately resembled by such lifeless things. Since it was conceded that God made man, then how can anyone think that lifeless material can be viewed as. god? The various idols in Athens were all made out of the above lifeless substances by human hands. "Saul quotes their own poets to expose their own inconsistency" (Stott p. 287). Stott further notes, "All idolatry, whether ancient or modern, primitive or sophisticated, is inexcusable, whether the images are metal or mental. For idolatry is the attempt either to localize God, confining Him within limits which we impose, whereas He is the Creator of the universe; or to domesticate God making Him dependent on us, taming and taping Him, whereas He is the Sustainer of human life; or to alienate God, blaming Him for His distance and silence, whereas He is the Ruler of nations, and not far from any of us; or to dethrone God, demoting Him to some image of our own contrivance or craft, whereas He is our Father from whom we derive our being" (p. 287).