Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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.
29. we ought not to think, &c.] As man is of more honour than material things, how far above these must the Godhead be. The Athenians, the Apostle would teach them, had formed not too high but too low a conception of themselves.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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 Isa 40:18-23.
The Godhead – The divinity ( to Theion), the divine nature, or essence. The word used here is an adjective employed as a noun, and does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament.
Is like unto gold … – All these things were used in making images or statues of the gods. It is absurd to think that the source of all life and intelligence resembles a lifeless block of wood or stone. Even degraded pagan, one would think, might see the force of an argument like this.
Graven – Sculptured; made into an image.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Act 17:29
Forasmuch then we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold.
Pauls cumulative argument
Up to this verse Paul has made a general statement respecting God. Here he lays down the groundwork of a true and abiding Christian philosophy. The armoury of the Church is in the word forasmuch. It throws man back on himself, and says, If you want to know what God is, know yourself. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think, etc. He made us; as certain of your own poets have said. Then judge the Father by the child; the Creator by the creature made in His own image and likeness, and rise from the human to the Divine–the ascent of reason and the way of faith. Now I know of a surety that the Bible representation of God is true, because it is true of myself. My reasoning is now invincible, because it takes this turn, namely–
I. Forasmuch, then, as we are not entirely comprehended, even by those who know us best and love us most, even so is God a mystery.
II. Forasmuch, then, as we have not been seen by our dearest admirers, we ought not to think that the Godhead can be seen. You have never seen your friend; you have never seen your own self. Any mystery that we find in God we find initially and typically in our own nature.
III. As we express our thought and feeling through body and form, so does God. We proceed by incarnation. Forasmuch, then, as our love must incarnate and embody itself, so as to touch us, we ought not to think that the Godhead is independent of the method which amongst ourselves He has made essential to union and happiness. If we have come upon this doctrine through the deep study of our own nature and ways of self-revelation, when we come to the historical Bethlehem we feel we have only come home. That Bethlehem has been in our hearts, and is the inner circle of our sacred home.
IV. Forasmuch, then, as we forgive our children who repent of their sins, we ought not to think that the Godhead is unwilling to forgive. Forasmuch, then, as that man did so to that sinning son, we ought not to think that the Godhead is a carved statue in the sky. Like as a father pitieth his children, etc. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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, taking it for granted that they had felt it, he proceeds:-
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We are the offspring of God; this is spoken by the apostle in a poetical expression, according unto what he had cited. We are indeed the children, and in our souls bear the image of God. But as many as have the Spirit of adoption, they partake of Gods holiness, and imitate his goodness, and are more like unto him, by whom they are begotten again unto a lively hope, 1Pe 1:3; and at the resurrection they will appear unto all to be his children, when they shall be acknowledged his heirs, and coheirs with Jesus Christ, Rom 8:17.
We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver: taking man in his natural principles, consisting of soul and body, he is not made of gold and silver; much less can God be made of them. Our soul in which we bear the image of God, cannot be expressed by any graving or painting; much less God, whose image it is. There are two things to be considered in every image: its matter, and its form or shape. The matter of an image, let it be never so precious, is much inferior to man; for it lies in the earth, (be it gold or silver), for man to trample upon, until he dig it up, and take it out. As for the form of the image, it is that which men please to give it, and man is a kind of creator of it; howsoever, it is his workmanship, and the work is more ignoble than the workman, at least not to be adored by him.
By art and mans device; according to mans will and pleasure, for the image cannot determine itself to be made as it would.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
29. Forasmuch then as we are theoffspring of God, we ought not to thinkThe courtesy of thislanguage is worthy of notice.
that the Godhead is like untogold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device(“gravenby the art or device of man”). One can hardly doubt that theapostle would here point to those matchless monuments of the plasticart, in gold and silver and costliest stone, which lay so profuselybeneath and around him. The more intelligent pagan Greeks no morepretended that these sculptured gods and goddesses were real deities,or even their actual likenesses, than Romanist Christians do theirimages; and Paul doubtless knew this; yet here we find him condemningall such efforts visibly to represent the invisible God. Howshamefully inexcusable then are the Greek and Roman churches inpaganizing the worship of the Christian Church by the encouragementof pictures and images in religious service! (In the eighth century,the second council of Nicea decreed that the image of God was asproper an object of worship as God Himself).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 from him, would be a debasing of us, then much more to think so of God, the Father of spirits, must be a depreciating of him; and which by no means ought to be done, and argues great stupidity: if living rational creatures are not to be equalled to, and compared with, senseless statues, much less God, the former of men and angels.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
We ought not to think ( ). It is a logical conclusion (, therefore) from the very language of Aratus and Cleanthes.
That the Godhead is like ( ). Infinitive with accusative of general reference in indirect discourse. is strictly “the divine” nature like (Ro 1:20) rather than like (Col 2:9). Paul may have used here to get back behind all their notions of various gods to the real nature of God. The Athenians may even have used the term themselves. After (like) the associative instrumental case is used as with , , .
Graven by art and device of man ( ). Apposition with preceding and so in associative instrumental case. Literally, graven work or sculpture from , to engrave, old word, but here alone in N.T. outside of Revelation (the mark of the beast). Graven work of art () or external craft, and of thought or device () or internal conception of man.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The Godhead [ ] . Lit., that which is divine.
Like to gold, etc. These words must have impressed his hearers profoundly, as they looked at the multitude of statues of divinities which surrounded them.
Graven [] . Not a participle, as A. V., but a noun, in apposition with gold, silver, and stone : “a graving or carved work of art,” etc.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God,” (genousoun huparchontes tou theou) “Whereas we have genitive existence, or (our) offspring existence, of origin or being of and from the one true elohim God,” and the offspring partakers of the likeness of that from which it springs – – – in this instance, the likeness of his Creator; though both the image and likeness of God is marred in each, God desires their restoration, and has provided for it, for each, Heb 2:9; Luk 19:10; Rom 8:29.
2)“We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto,” (ouk opheilomen nomizein to theoin einai homosoion) “We ought not to suppose (hypothesize that) the Divine nature-one (God) to be like, compared with, or similar to,” there exists neither thing nor creature of His class, with whom He may be compared or paralleled, Isa 40:18; Isa 40:25; Isa 46:5; La 2:13.
3) “Gold or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” (chruse arguro e litho charagmati technes kai enthumeseos) “To gold, or to silver, or to stone, (that is) an engraven work of art, of the designed meditation of man,” a product of man’s mind and imagination, for both are fallen, deranged, and base-inclined by nature. He cannot, dare not be likened to heathen idols, or imaginary gods, gods of evil imagination, conjured up gods, that have neither:
a) Sight
b) Speech c) Hearing d) Feeling e) Nor life Psa 115:3-8.
The arts, devices, clever, cunning, conniving of mind and hand, can invent or produce nothing to which God may even be likened; Hence may be seen these sophisticated idol worshippers and philosophers, mere rebels against the very God who daily showed them mercy, Psa 89:6; La 3:22, 23; Rom 2:4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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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 the first chapter to the Romans, ( Rom 1:23.) And though the idolaters of all times wanted not their cloaks and colors, yet that was not without cause always objected to them by the prophets which Paul doth now object that God is made like to wood, or stone or gold, when there is any image made to him of dead and corruptible matter. The Gentiles used images that, according to their rudeness, they might better conceive that God was nigh unto them. But seeing that God doth far surpass the capacity of our mind, whosoever attempteth with his mind to comprehend him, he deformeth and disfigureth his glory with a wicked and false imagination. Wherefore, it is wickedness to imagine anything of him according to our own sense. Again, that which worse is, it appeareth plainly that men erect pictures and images to God for no other cause, save only because they conceive some carnal thing of him, wherein he is blasphemed. −
The Papists also are at this day no whit more excusable. For what colors soever they invent to paint and color those images, whereby they go about to express God, yet because they be enwrapped in the same error, wherein the men of old time were entangled, they be urged with the of the prophets. And that the heathen did use the same excuses in times past, wherewith the Papists go about to cover themselves at this day, it is well known out of their own books. Therefore, the prophets do not escape the mocks of certain, as if they laid too great grossness to their charge, yea, burthen them with false accusations; but when all things are well weighed, those who will judge rightly shall find, that whatsoever starting holes [evasions] even the most witty men have sought, yet were they taken with this madness, that God is well pleased with the sacrifice done before images. Whereas we, with Erasmus, translate it numen, Luke putteth [ θειον ] in the neuter gender for divinity or godhead. When Paul denieth that God is like to gold, or silver, or stone, and addeth afterward, graven by cunning or invention of man, he excludeth both matter and form, and doth also condemn all inventions of men, which disfigure the true nature of God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(29) Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God.One consequence from the thought of son-ship is pressed home at once. If we are Gods offspring our conception of Him should mount upward from what is highest in ourselves, from our moral and spiritual nature, instead of passing downward to that which, being the creature of our hands, is below us. Substantially asserting the same truth, the tone of St. Paul in speaking of idolatry is very different from that which we find in the older prophets (1Ki. 18:27; Psa. 135:15-18; Isa. 44:9-20). He has, as it were, studied the genesis of idolatry, and instead of the burning language of scorn, and hatred, and derision, can speak of it, though not with tolerance, yet with pity, to those who are its victims.
The Godhead.The Greek term is neuter, and corresponds to the half-abstract, half-concrete forms of the Divine Being, the Deity.
Gold, or silver, or stone.The first word reminds us of the lavish use of gold in the colossal statue of Zeus by Phidias. Silver was less commonly used, but the shrines of Artemis at Ephesus (see Note on Act. 19:24) supply an instance of it. Stone was the term commonly applied to the marble of Pentelicus, which was so lavishly employed in the sculpture and architecture of Athens.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
29. Forasmuch The apostle then draws his inference: if we are God’s offspring, as spirits, and of spirits there can be neither picture nor image, we ought so to appreciate the omnipotent Spirit as to see that he cannot be represented by base marble or metal, with which he is in absolute contrast.
Graven Carved or sculptured. The Greek word is a noun in apposition with the preceding norms: “ gold, silver, or stone, the shapement of man’s art and device.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.”
He then further emphasises that to speak of men as the ‘offspring of God’, by which these writers indicated a close relationship between men and God as those whom He had in one way or another created, and to whom He has given life and reason, must exclude the idea that He can be made of wood and stone, or be designed by man. Athens may be filled with idols, but he wants it known that any idol worship is to be seen as denying the very thing that their poets taught. Their own poets have condemned them.
So in a masterly way Paul has reached out to all, letting them see that he understands their ideas, and yet having also made clear to all the deficiencies of their own beliefs. At the same time he has declared a positive message concerning the Creator and controller of all things, the Great Provider, Who is even now in contact with them, and is calling them to Himself, while demonstrating that He must be sought, not through idols, but as Lord of Heaven and earth Who is so close that He approaches each man’s heart (through His Spirit).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The conclusion of Paul and the effect of his sermon:
v. 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.
v. 30. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent,
v. 31. because He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead.
v. 32. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
v. 33. So Paul departed from among them.
v. 34. Howbeit, certain men clave unto him and believed, among the which was Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and-others with them. If his hearers have kept the facts in mind concerning the essence of God and the relation of men to God, so the argument of Paul runs, and if they accept the statement that men are the offspring of God, that they, as creatures of God, are sustained by His providence, then it follows that idol worship is altogether unworthy of the lofty descent of human beings. They must conclude not only against the worship of images, but also against the habit of thought which made such worship possible, as both foolish and senseless. It is not only an affront to God, but an insult to sound common sense to think that the Godhead is like gold or silver or stone, fashioned and sculptured by the art and produced according to the deliberation of a man. What a man’s mind, his imagination, had designed, what the skill of his fingers had then executed in metal or marble, this surely could not be reasonably endowed with the qualities of the Deity! And in addition to this his hearers were to know that God had indeed overlooked the times of ignorance, not as though He had not punished the sins of the heathen, but that He showed great patience with and forbearance toward them in not punishing them in the degree which their idolatry had merited. Now, however, since the full revelation of God has been made in Jesus Christ, God demands a change of mind and of life, complete repentance on the part of all men; this message comes in the nature of an emphatic demand. They should give heed, therefore, since God has fixed, or set, a day in which He intends to judge the entire world, all men without exception, in righteousness, in such a way that everyone will receive full justice. This judgment will be executed in the person of a Man, through a Judge whom God has appointed for that purpose, Joh 5:22. But in the meantime God is offering faith to all men, having raised this man, Jesus Christ, from the dead. To all men without exception faith is brought near, is offered, the faith based upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ, made possible by that great miracle of God’s grace. So the address of Paul ends in a triumphant burst of Gospel-preaching, intended to impress these Gentiles with the wonderful beauty of this message and to open their hearts for Christ. But the idea of a resurrection of the dead, so indissolubly connected with Christian teaching, was to these wise Athenians the acme of foolishness. As long as Paul had demonstrated the folly of their idolatrous worship, they had listened with respectful attention, but now that he brought the essential teaching of Christ, some of the men in the audience interrupted him with cries of derision, while others, rendered thoughtful by the powerful exposition, did not merely express a cold interest in the matters presented, but voiced their willingness to hear him again at some other time. They wanted some time to think over the truths which they had heard so far. So Paul left the assembly of the Court without further opposition. And the Word also in Athens was not without immediate fruit, for there were several people in the audience in whose hearts faith had been kindled, and who therefore joined Paul as his companions and as disciples of the Lord. Among these was a member of the Athenian Council, a man of distinction in the city, by the name of Dionysius, and a woman, very likely a foreign woman, well-educated and influential, and a few others with them. In the midst of His enemies Christ reigns and gains victories, though proud Athens yielded only a few converts, 1Co 1:26-27. Let all the wisdom and art of this world proudly exclaim in denunciation of the Gospel-truth, yet the foolishness of God is wiser than men; it teaches the heavenly wisdom which was revealed in Christ.
Summary
Paul and Silas preach the Gospel in Thessalonica and Berea, Paul traveling ahead of his companions from the latter city to Athens, where he also preaches the truth of the Scriptures and faith in Jesus.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Act 17:29. We ought not to think, &c. For the observations proposed on this verse, and referred to chap. Act 14:15. See the Inferences at the end of this chapter.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Act 17:29 . Since, then, we (according to this poetical saying) are offspring of God, so must our self-consciousness, kindred to God, tell us that the Godhead has not resemblance to gold , etc. We cannot suppose a resemblance of the Godhead to such materials, graven by human art, without denying ourselves as the progenies of God. [70] Therefore we ought not ( ). What a delicate and penetrating attack on heathen worship! That Paul with the reproach , which in . . . is expressed with wise mildness (Bengel: “clemens locutio, praesertim in prima persona plurali”), does no injustice to heathenism, whose thinkers had certainly in great measure risen above anthropomorphism, but hits the prevailing popular opinion ( , Chrysostom), may be seen in Baumgarten, p. 566 ff.
] placed first and separated from . , as the chief point of the argument. For, if we are proles Dei, and accordingly homogeneous with God, it is a preposterous error at variance with our duty to think, with respect to things which are entirely heterogeneous to us, as gold, silver, and stone, that the Godhead has resemblance with them.
. . . ] a graven image which is produced by art and deliberation of a man (for the artist made it according to the measure of his artistic meditation and reflection): an apposition to . . ., not in the ablative (Bengel).
] the divine nature , divinum numen (Herod. iii. 108, i. 32; Plat. Phaedr. p. 242 C, al .). The general expression fitly corresponds to the discourse on heathenism , as the real object of the latter. Observe also the striking juxtaposition of and ; for . . . . . serves to make the still more palpably felt: inasmuch as metal and stone serve only for the materials of human art and artistic thoughts, but far above human artistic subjectivity, which wishes to represent the divine nature in these materials, must the Godhead be exalted, which is not similar to the human image, but widely different from it. Comp. Wis 15:15 ff.
[70] Graf views it otherwise, but against the clear words of the passage, in the Stud. u. Krit . 1859, p. 232.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Chapter 63
Prayer
Almighty God, in Jesus Christ thy Son we thank thee for everything that hints at the great home-going. We love to think of going home; we are stirred by the happy reflection that we are even now on the road stony, uphill, often hard to climb, but still on the home-road, with many a tree on the wayside under whose shadow we can rest a while, and many a rill of pure water of which we may drink, and so become fitter for the next stage of the journey. We love to think that we are only on the road, and not yet quite home. This world could never be home, because it is so small, and in it there is such uncertainty and trouble, and behold men are digging pits under our feet which they call graves; and at home there must be no death. We bless thee that we are lifted up sometimes quite above all cloud and wind and high noise, and are brought into the stillness, the peace, the security of a very near sight of thy shining face. This enjoyment we have only in thy Son never out of him. It is in Christ that we see thee, through Christ that we come to thee, and through the Cross of Christ that we see Righteousness and Mercy embracing each other in infinite and eternal reconciliation. These are visions the prophets-did not see; these are the revelations which make our Sabbath-days and our rest-days; yea, it is no ox that rests, or beast of the field, or plough that stands still in the furrow; it is the troubled heart, the sin-riven spirit, the disobedient soul that is caught up into the movement of thine own righteousness and love, and in the harmony of the Godhead we find the harmony of humanity. We bless thee for great doors in heaven. Once it was a curtain without break or tear; we could not see through it; but now there are open doors and windows larger than the constellations, and we see the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Our hearts need no telescope; they are far-sighted because much-loving. Blessed be the vision of love, the eyesight of the heart, for unto it shall be granted vision upon vision, until the whole sky shall be one flame of glory. We bless thee that as sinners saved we can say all this, and love thee for the larger life, the ever-increasing liberty, the perfect freedom of Divine sonship. What wait we for but to forget the earth, and to escape from time as from a cage that bounds our liberty? We want to be consciously swallowed up of love absorbed in God. We would have no feeling of foot or hand, of earth or air, but would live the ineffable life and breathe eternity itself. To this end withhold not the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of life, the Spirit of fire, the Spirit of God. May he dwell in us, and be with us, and lead our every thought, and lift up our every impulse, and move our whole being with the energy which is infinite and gracious. The week is behind us the spoiled, blurred week. It came from heaven, white as snow, and we have sent it back scarred and ill-treated, and into thy heaven it is taken only because thy grace is greater than our sin. Thou hast begun to send us another week, another bright chance, another gracious opportunity. May we make better use of this than of the last. We are sure to spoil it, for our snow is blackness, and our beauty is a blot; there is in us that is, in our flesh no good thing, no perfect power, no faculty that can please thee if thou dost judge by thy holiness and not by thy compassion. Write thy word for us everywhere, on every opening flower, on every dawning morning, on ever)’ brightening, lengthening day. On all the events of our life may we see thy Gospel traced, thy meaning made clear, and thy purpose surely established. We thank thee that old friends are with us to day. In these reunions we have a pledge of a larger fellowship. For all travelling mercies, for all home enjoyments, for every element that makes life pure and glad, we bless thee with a full heart. We thank thee that the father is here, and the child, that the mother has come back again, that the old man has come to look upon young life, that young life has come to be blessed by paternal graciousness. For all these reunions and fellowships how temporary soever we bless thee, because they bring with them glowing love, and hints of longer, brighter days. As for those who are under the sod, they are not forgotten, they are still with us; they cannot die. We bless thee for all that was brave in their lives, and for all that was sacred in their death. We commend one another with tenderest love to thy great keeping, Father-Mother of us all. Spare us every one. Make the blackest the whitest; make the worst the best. Give the heathen for an inheritance to thy Christ, and this day, in this house, may he see of the travail of his soul. In our preaching touch us with the music of heaven; in our hearing bless us with the attention of earnestness; and when the day closes and the cold stars come out to replace the sunshine, may we feel as if we had touched the heavens and seen somewhat of the glory that is beyond. Amen.
Act 17:29-31
29. Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the God. head is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man [this iconoclast spoke facing the Acropolis and Parthenon, in full view of Phidias’ colossal Minerva].
30. The times of ignorance [ Act 17:23 ] therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent:
31. Inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance [“afforded faith”] unto all men, in that he hath raised him [the Lord Jesus, who is not named, but upon Whom the whole argument here concentrates itself. The orator’s art here supplies the demand of the evangelist’s zeal] from the dead.
Paul’s Cumulative Argument
UP to the twenty-ninth verse Paul has made a general statement respecting God. In the twenty-ninth verse he lays down the ground-work of a true and abiding Christian philosophy. If the Church could fully understand the meaning of the first word in that verse, and would fearlessly apply it, there would be no infidelity worthy of a moment’s notice. What the Church has not yet mastered, so as to be able to use it with perfect ease and fearlessness, is this word “Forasmuch.” The armoury of the Church is in that word. The weapons of our warfare are all kept within the sacred custody of that most simple, but most inexhaustible, term. We have hurried over it as if it were an antiquated phrase a piece of very old, quaint English, whereas it is a theological armoury. It contains all that is necessary for the completest and sublimest revelations of God. That word throws man back upon himself, and says, “If you want to know what God is, know yourself.” That is the mystery of reason. That is the transcendent rationalism the sublimest faith. Find your way to the Unknown through the known; to the Invisible through the visible; to the Infinite through the finite.
“Forasmuch then” as we ourselves are not” like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto them.” We ourselves are limited expressions of God we are made in the image and likeness of the Creator. God has left his witness within ourselves, and if we would but fairly and honestly and continually study ourselves, we should have no difficulty about the Godhead. This is what the Church dare not say, except with great guarding and reservation and parenthetic subtraction from the essential meaning. The Apostle’s words are sublime: “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.” We are not so made; we are not carved images; we are not straight lines; we are not empty vessels. If we would study ourselves, we should know the mystery of the Trinity. Men have abandoned the self-study, and have taken to book-reading and word-fighting, instead of dwelling within themselves until the quietness was deeper than the stillness of death, and until the movement of the Ghost could be heard. They have gone out to fight one another with long words, and arguments long and cunning and mischievous as serpents. If you want to know what God is, enter into you closet, shut the door, sit down, and listen to your own heart-beat. You have all the mystery there. This is not an argument of my invention; it is the expansion of Paul’s own statement. To the Athenians he said: “You do not know one God, you have openly called him Unknown; whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. He made us; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” Then judge the Father by the child; judge the Creator by the creature not by the creature of his hand, but by the creature made in his own image and likeness, and rise from the human to the Divine the ascent of reason and the way of faith. I see heaven opened; now I know of a surety that the Bible representation of God is true, because it is true of myself. My reasoning is now invincible, because it takes this turn, namely: Forasmuch, then, as we are not entirely comprehended, even by those who know us best and love us most, even so is God a mystery, even to those who linger longest at his altar and honour him with most zealous fidelity and the incense of sacrificial lives. How strong I feel when I rest upon that ground! Your child does not know you fully; there is always some other word you could say if so minded; there is always some deeper depth of being, some inner secret of mystery; the father is always in advance of the child. That is so amongst ourselves, and is so, not arbitrarily or whimsically, as if we had invented the process, but is so necessarily, essentially, unchangeably. Forasmuch, then, as this is the case between man and man, friend and friend, heart and heart, we ought not to think that it is otherwise with the Godhead. You must reason upwards, and your reason will soon take fire and go up as a burning sacrifice before the eternal throne.
Take it from another point, and the reason is equally valid, because equally Pauline and inspired. Forasmuch, then, as we have not been seen by our dearest admirers, we ought not to think that the Godhead can be seen by angel or archangel or seraph that first saw the light of his face. You have never seen your friend; you have never seen let me say again and again your own SELF. No man can see himself and live. What wonder I have not seen you when I have not seen myself? Forasmuch, then, as we have not seen ourselves, we ought not to think that God is a plain surface, which every eye may look upon in its entirety. The mystery is in ourselves. Any mystery that we find in God we find initially and typically in our own nature. We must first settle the mystery of man before we attempt to deal with the mystery of God.
Or take it thus, and see how the Pauline reasoning clears its way through all difficulties: As we express our thought and feeling through body and form, so does God. We proceed by incarnation. We have supposed that incarnation was a theological term, and belonged wholly to the Church; we must now learn that incarnation is the necessity of love. Indifference need not incarnate itself; but love that thinks about us by day and dreams about us by night love that would give its very heart for our salvation must come in visible form, must be borne in some Bethlehem in inn or manger somewhere, and must show its radiant self simply because it is love. Forasmuch, then, as our love must incarnate, enflesh, and embody itself, so as to touch us, we ought not to think that the Godhead is independent of the method which amongst ourselves he has made essential to union and happiness. If we have come upon the doctrine of incarnation through some long and weary process merely intellectual and verbal, I do not wonder that men should stumble at it and endeavour to argue it down; but if we have come upon it through the deep study of our own nature and ways of self-revelation, when we come to the historical Bethlehem of Judaea we feel we have only come home. That Bethlehem has been in our hearts; that Bethlehem is the inner circle of our sacred home; that Bethlehem is the secret of our union and fellowship and hope.
Take it from another point. Forasmuch, then, as we forgive our children who repent of their sins with broken-heartedness and honest confession, we ought not to think that the Godhead is unwilling to forgive. How is it with you when the child comes home and says, “Father, I have sinned, and am no more worthy to be called thy son”? Did you fall upon his neck and clothe him and jewel his fingers and kiss him back into sonship? Forasmuch, then, as that man did so to that sinning son, we ought not to think that the Godhead is made of iron or is a carved statue in the sky. This is the Biblical reasoning leading up to the Biblical faith. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” “If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him!” You note the reasoning, the mysterious, gracious balance of the sentences “As so,” “If ye how much more! He.” The lines are the same, they only grow in height and width and burn into purer splendour; but you must find in yourselves the root-thought of God.
Now the speaker rises to a higher moral tone in Act 17:30 . “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” God saw as if he did not see. The Gracious One made allowances which would not enter into a narrow calculation. God gave the world wide chances for a long space; but now we date from Christ; all our epistles, and bookkeepings, and commercial transactions, all our nativities and festivities, and bonds and covenants, must be dated at Bethlehem that is where you sign! That little Child, with eyes that see not, divides the old from the new, and you dip your pen in the inkhorn of his revelation when you date your commonest letter or sign your meanest bond of merchandise. But now a new bell has rung, a new day has dawned; from this time forth there is a “command to repent.” We have now the responsibility of ignoring the revelation. That is a tremendous responsibility. You have to stand up and say to Moses and the prophets, to the minstrels of Israel and the evangelists of the Church, to Christ in Bethlehem and Christ on Calvary “We do not believe!” We thus come into a great inheritance of responsibility. No man is the same at the end of a religious service that he was at the beginning; if he has not gone up, he has gone down. We cannot take up the position of uninstructed inquirers and sit down with ancient Greeks and say, “We know no more than they did.” That opportunity has been destroyed. We do not go up from ancient Greece, but from modern Christendom, and acccording to the line along which we have walked to the judgment seat will the judgment itself be conducted in every case. You who were born in Christian houses you who were sung to sleep with snatches of Christian hymns when you were irresponsible infants, you who were carried to Christ’s house and nurtured in the fear and love of God, cannot go up to the judgment seat as if you had been born in some barbarous country and had never heard of the name of Christ. Thus our responsibilities are increased apart from our own control. No man can draw the line and say, “My responsibility begins here and ends there.” Civilization every day adds some new weight to the obligation which rests upon every human soul. Our responsibilities are oftentimes created for us, as well as created in us. Now that the sun shines we must not be striking lights of our own. No man will be held to be irresponsible if he has not availed himself of the light which lay within his use. Believe me, you cannot act as if you had never heard of the Bible. You have now to thrust your way past the Bible and to say, “I will not believe one word you utter; I resent and denounce every appeal you make.” Are you prepared to make that violent reply? O, answer, No!
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
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.
Ver. 29. That the Godhead is like ] Qui primi deorum simulachra induxerunt, errorem auxerunt, metum dempserunt, saith Varro, as Calvin cites his words. Plutarch saith it is sacrilege to worship by images. They were atheists by night that worshipped the sun and atheists by day that worshipped the moon, as Cyril wittily speaketh.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Act 17:29 . : for , see above on Act 17:24 ; is the inference simply that because we are dependent upon God for all things, it is absurd to suppose that the divine nature can be like to the work of men’s hands? This is correct so far as it goes, but is not the further thought implied that as men are the offspring of God, they ought not to think that man is the measure of God, or that the divine nature, which no man hath seen at any time, can be represented by the art of man, but rather as conscious of a sonship with a Father of spirits they ought to worship a Father in spirit and in truth? see quotations from Seneca in Lightfoot, Philippians , p. 290: “The whole world is the temple of the immortal gods. Temples are not to be built to God of stones piled on high.” Fragm. 123 in Lactant. Div. Inst. , vi., 25: “God is near thee; He is with thee; He is within,” Ep. Mor. , xcv., 47: “Thou shalt not form Him of silver and gold, a true likeness of God cannot be moulded of this material,” Ep. Mor. , xxxi., 11. See also the striking parallels from Letters of Pseudo-Heracleitus , Gore, Ephesians , p. 254. For a recent view of the possible acquaintance of Seneca with the Christian teaching of St. Paul see Orr, Some Neglected Factors in Early Christianity , pp. 178 ff. : not “godhead,” but “that which is divine,” R.V. margin, “the divine nature”; probably the word which the Athenians themselves used, Xen., Mem. , i., 4, 18, see instances in Grimm, sub v. , of its use in Philo and Josephus, who employ it in the neuter of the one God, Grimm thinks, out of regard for Greek usage. . : (on the form of the word see Blass and critical notes) including, we may suppose, the chryselephantine statues of Phidias in the Parthenon, and a reference to the silver mines of Laurium, and the marble hewn from Pentelicus, cf. Epist. ad Diognetum , ii., 2. : in apposition to . , Latin, sculpo, insculpo , only here in N.T. in this sense. Polyb. uses the words of coins stamped (so in Anth. ., v., 30) . .: “artis extern, cogitationis intern”. .: a rare word (in the plural, thoughts, cf. Mat 9:4 , etc.), but used by Thuc., Eur., and also by Hippocrates. See the remarks of Curtius ( Gesammelte Abhandlungen , ii., 535) on the words, as indicating that Paul was acquainted with the phrases of Greek authors. The passage in Wis 13:6 should be carefully noted (see Act 17:27 above), and also Act 17:10 , in which the writer speaks of gods which are the work of men’s hands, gold and silver to show art in, i.e. , lit [315] , an elaboration of art, . In the words Bethge further sees an intimation that the Apostle had an eye for the forms of beauty represented in the carved statues and idols which met his gaze in Athens; but for a very different view of St. Paul’s estimate of art see Renan, Saint Paul , p. 172, Farrar, St. Paul , i., 525, McGiffert, Apostolic Age , p. 260. : stands contrasted with ; it is the device of man which forms the material into the idol god, and thus human thought becomes the measure of the divine form; Xenophanes (570 B.C.) had ridiculed the way in which the Thracians represented their gods, with blue eyes and fair complexions, whilst the thiopians had represented their gods as flat-nosed and swarthy. Zeno had renewed the protest, but some of the best of the heathen philosophers had spoken in inconsistent language on the subject; St. Paul’s plain and direct words were the utterances of a man who had in mind the severe and indignant protests of the Hebrew prophets, cf. Isa 44:12 . : at the same time the use of the 1st person plural again points to the conciliatory tone of the speech, “clemens locutio” (so Bengel, Wendt); or possibly the words may mean that he is referring in a general way to the beliefs of the people, to the crowd and not to the philosophers: , Chrys. But Nestle has lately called attention to the question as to whether we should not translate: “we are not obliged, not bound to think, we are at liberty not to think so,” and thus, instead of a reproof, the words become a plea for freedom of religious thought. The first shade of meaning, he adds, i.e. , “clemens locutio,” as above, comes nearer to . , the second agrees with the other passage in the N.T., 2Co 12:14 , where the negative particle is connected with ; see Nestle’s note in Expository Times , March, 1898, p. 381.
[315] literal, literally.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Forasmuch . . . are = Being then. Greek. huparcho, as in verses: Act 24:27.
think = reckon. Greek. nomizo. See note on Act 14:19.
the Godhead. Greek. to theion. App-98.
graven = an engraving, or sculpture. Greek. charagma. Only here and eight times in Rev. of the mark of the beast. Compare charakter. Heb 1:3.
by = of.
art. Greek. techne. Only here, Act 18:3. Rev 18:22.
device = thought. Greek. enthurnesis. Only here, Mat 9:4; Mat 12:25. Heb 4:12. Compare Act 10:19.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Act 17:29. , we ought not) A mild mode of expression, especially in the first person plural. He hath breathed into us a something divine. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, and have life and breath, it is foolish to believe that the Divinity is in dumb stone or silver, since it is undoubtedly the highest life which hath given us life.-Jonas.-) The Ablative.-, of art) which is external.-, of mans device) which is internal.- ) An appropriate appellation of God among men who are still far removed from the knowledge of Him.-, like) Man is in some measure midway between God and matter. Man is not like metal. Therefore God is much less like metal: for man, the offspring of God, is like God. And not only is likeness in this place denied, but any correspondence whatsoever, which might furnish a foundation for making an image, so as that from it the expectation might be formed, that the nature of God takes delight in such things. The statues (themselves) were not esteemed by the Athenians as gods: but Paul does not even leave them the power, which they were presumed to have, of vividly presenting (representing) the Deity before us.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
offspring of God
(Greek – = “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, Gen 1:26; Gen 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.
Cf Joh 1:12; Joh 1:13; Gal 3:26; Gal 4:1-7; Joh 5:1.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
we ought: Psa 94:7-9, Psa 106:20, Psa 115:4-8, Isa 40:12-18, Isa 44:9-20, Hab 2:19, Hab 2:20, Rom 1:20-23
graven: Exo 20:4, Exo 32:4, Isa 46:5, Isa 46:6, Jer 10:4-10
Reciprocal: Gen 1:26 – in our Exo 32:1 – make Exo 34:17 – General Lev 26:1 – Ye shall Deu 4:16 – the likeness 2Ki 19:18 – for they were Psa 135:15 – idols Isa 40:18 – General Isa 44:13 – he marketh Dan 3:1 – made Dan 5:4 – of gold Dan 5:23 – in whose Hos 8:6 – the workman Act 14:15 – and preach Act 19:26 – that they Rom 1:23 – an image Rom 1:24 – God Gal 4:8 – ye did Rev 9:20 – and idols
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
9
Act 17:29. It would be inconsistent to think that living, intelligent beings like men could be the offspring of a God who was represented by objects made of stone or metal.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 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 Isa 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 mans 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.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. How our apostle quotes one of the heathen poets in his divine discourse. This poet was Aratus; what he attributes to Jupiter, St. Paul attributes to the true God; We are his off-spring.
Where note, for the honour of human learning and the lawfulness of making use of it in our sermons, the Holy Ghost is pleased several times in the New Testament to make mention of the heathen poets; of Aratus here, Act 17:28 of Menander, 1Co 15:33 of Epimenides, Tit 1:12. Truth is God’s wherever it is found; as a mine of gold is the king’s on whose ground soever it is discovered.
Observe, 2. The force of the apostle’s argument: seeing we are God’s off-spring: that is, seeing God is our Creator, we cannot suppose him to be the workmanship of our hands, as an image of gold, silver, or stone is; and consequently how irrational it is for a man to adore an image made by his own hands, for and instead of God.
Learn, That there is a strong propensity and inclination in the heart of man to the sin of idolatry.
2. That the sin of idolatry is not only a very great sin, but a very unreasonable and absurd sin; it is not only sacrilegious but silly for a man to worship his own workmanship, and to fall down upon his knees to the work of his own hands.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Act 17:29. For as much then as we are the offspring of God We, with all the powers and faculties of our rational nature, and since these bear but a very imperfect and distant resemblance of those original, consummate, and infinite glories which shine forth in him; we ought not surely to think A tender expression; especially in the first person plural: that the Godhead is like unto gold and silver. &c., graven by art and mans device For such things, conveying no idea of mind, if they be likenesses of God, they represent him as being mere matter, void of intelligence; but if he be so, how could he give intelligence, and all the other faculties of mind to us? As if he had said, Can God himself be a less noble Being than we who are his offspring? Nor does he only deny here that these images are like God, but he denies, also, that they have any analogy to him at all, so as to be capable of representing him in any degree or respect.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
See notes on verse 22
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
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, {q} graven by art and man’s device.
(q) Which things (gold, silver, and stones) are custom engraved as much as a man’s mind can devise, for men will not worship those things as they are, unless by some art it has formed into an image of some sort.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Paul’s conclusion was that idolatry, therefore, is illogical. If God created people, God cannot be an image or an idol. Paul was claiming that God’s divine nature is essentially spiritual rather than material.