Acts 17:29

Acts 17:29. We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone graven by art. The Greek word translated by ‘Godhead' is better rendered ‘Divinity,' or ‘that which is Divine.' The thought here is expanded in Isaiah 44:9-20, where the miserable absurdity of supposing that ‘Divinity' could reside in a block of gold or in a log of wood, however skilfully cast or carved, is set forward with great power. Paul no doubt had the words of Isaiah in his mind here when he gazed with sorrow and amazement at the beautiful idols of Athens. In the words ‘graven by art and man's device,' Paul specially alludes to those masterpieces of sculpture in ivory, gold, and marble, which were standing near him on the Areopagus, and in the varied temples and shrines of Athens the Religious.