Bible Commentary

Acts 17:24

The Pulpit Commentary on Acts 17:24

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The God for God, A.V. (surely a change for the worse); he being Lord for seeing that he is Lord, A.V. Made with hands ( χειροποιήτοις); see the same phrase in , ; ; .

St. Paul applies it, too, to the circumcision made with the knife, as distinguished from that wrought by the Holy Spirit (). It is frequent in the LXX. It is a striking instance of St. Paul's unflinching boldness and fidelity to the truth, that he should expose the hollowness of heathen worship, standing within a stone's throw of the Parthenon and the temple of Theseus and the countless other temples of gods and goddesses, which were the pride and glory of the Athenian people.

Note how he begins his catechetical instruction to the Athenians with the first article of the Creed: "I believe in God the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth."

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commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Acts 17:1-34EXPOSITIONJoseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Acts 17:16-34Paul at Athens. Paul stands in Athens, amidst the master-pieces of Greek art and the memorials of Greek wisdom. It is not admiration or aesthetic delight which is awakened in him, but moral indignation. Christianity is…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Acts 17:16-34Paul at Athens. Consider— I. The connection of the whole with THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. The Greek mind evangelized. The function of Greek thought in the development of doctrine. The contrast between the gospel and ph…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Acts 17:16-34The cross of Christ in the metropolis of art and philosophy. There is a singular interest in this first encounter of the gospel with the art and philosophy of Athens, and it is instructive to note the attitude taken by…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryMatthew Henry on Acts 17:22-31Here 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 ca…Matthew HenrycommentaryPaul at AthensPAUL AT ATHENS. We have here St. Paul's sermon at Athens. Divers sermons we have had, which the apostles preached to the Jews, or such Gentiles as had an acquaintance with and veneration for the Old Testament, and were…Matthew HenrycommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Acts 17:22-29God revealed: his nature and relation. Paul's spirit was "stirred" with holy indignation, and with pure and strong compassion, as he witnessed the abounding signs of superstition in the streets of Athens. But he had the…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Acts 17:23-32The gospel's kindly encounter with novel foes. The opportunity now presented to Paul he must at once have recognized to be one of the grandest and most critical of his career. He was for a while separated from his two l…Joseph S. Exell and contributors