Acts 17:28, commentary and pictures

In him we live and move and have our being means all human life, movement and existence depend wholly and continually on God moment by moment, with no one able to live independently of him. He is the living Creator and Lord of heaven and earth who made all things, gives to all life and breath, and remains very near to every person and not far off. All people are his offspring by creation, of one blood, and therefore brothers and sisters, so he is not like gold or silver or stone shaped by human art and is not to be worshiped in idols or as nature itself. Because life is sustained by him and was bought through Christ, human beings are not their own but belong to him by creation and redemption, owing him willing service with body, mind, strength and all they have. To live and move in him is to be united to Christ by submission, trust and obedience, abiding in him, nourished by truth, keeping his presence in thought, and receiving grace and strength to overcome sin and bear fruit.

Paul's Speech At Athens

The words were spoken on Mars Hill before the council of the Areopagus to the men of Athens, including Epicurean and Stoic philosophers and the sages of Greece. That city was the very heart of paganism, where with all knowledge, refinement and art the people were proud and self-sufficient yet sunken in vice and idolatry. In ignorance and superstition they worshiped nature, and among their altars Paul had found one dedicated to the unknown god.

He met his hearers with tact born of divine love, meeting science with science, logic with logic, philosophy with philosophy, and eloquence with eloquence. Instead of directly attacking their gods and great men in a way that would irritate his listeners and bring himself into difficulty and danger, even to the fate of Socrates, he carefully drew their proud minds away from heathen deities by revealing the true God who was to them unknown. He pointed to Jehovah as the unknown God whom they had ignorantly worshiped, and in words quoted from one of their own poets he pictured Him as a Father whose children they are.

The address turns the Athenians from their idols to reveal the true God whom they had acknowledged as unknown, rebuking idolatry and sin. Its words, with the description of attitude and surroundings, were traced by inspiration to be handed down as a treasure of knowledge for the church in all coming generations. Spoken to idolaters and men of renown, it stands as evidence of Christianity of heavenly origin, showing ability to meet every class and that Paul was no novice.

The labor there was not wholly in vain, for Dionysius, one of the most prominent citizens, and some others accepted the gospel message and united themselves fully with the believers and joined themselves to him. This was a victory gained for Christianity even in loneliness and adversity in the very heart of paganism, bearing witness of unshaken confidence and courage.

Yet the learned and eloquent display brought little fruit, for though the hearers were astonished and silenced and the arguments could not be controverted, few accepted the gospel. The intellectual approach in oratorical style suited to kings and intellectual hearers, meeting false philosophy with true philosophy and displaying ability and smartness, failed to bring the success hoped for. Human wisdom even of great and learned men proved not enough without wisdom from God and power from a higher source, with the Spirit to sanctify intellectual development in order to convict and convert sinners, so that afterward at Corinth Paul determined to preach more simply, knowing nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified and pointing sinners to Christ as Saviour.

God As Creator Near

The verse declares God to be the living Creator and Lord of heaven and earth who made the world and all things in it. He gives to all life and breath and all things, having made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth. He determined their appointed times and the bounds of their habitation, so that they should seek the Lord and feel after Him and find Him, though He is not far from every one of us.

He does not dwell in temples made with hands, and He is not worshiped with men's hands as though He needed anything from them. Yet He is not confined to a human-built temple, for He meets His people by His Spirit when they gather to worship. He rules over all and watches over all people from heaven and His sanctuary.

He is very near this world and near every person, not far above beyond the reach of the humble seeker. All heavenly intelligences are also very near, and His church is the dearest object to Him. From heaven He beholds all the sons of men and all the inhabitants of the earth, forming their hearts alike and considering all their works, with all things naked and open before Him.

He is an ever-present supremacy here who made the world and did not leave it to the jurisdiction of men, retire from the scene of action, or leave it to the domination of human agencies. The world remains His fair domain and in His charge.

Life Sustained Moment By Moment

In him all live and move and have being means that all human life, movement and existence depend wholly and continually on God, moment by moment, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, with no one able to be independent and live. This dependence is upheld by His close presence and constant unselfish ministry, for the great and infinite God lives not for Himself but for the benefit and blessing of every being and every created thing, constantly upholding everything He has made. He is not far from anyone, gives to all life and breath and all things, and meets need without being confined to temples made with hands. Every heartbeat, pulse, breath, and activity of every nerve and muscle is kept in order only because the ever-present God, the great I AM who breathed the breath of life into Adam, keeps them going and supplies air, food and everything else. Each breath and each throb is therefore continual evidence of His all-pervading care and sustaining power, not of power inherent in matter.

The body does not keep functioning on its own once set in motion like a clock wound up to run by itself or like a machine left to run. Life does not continue by vital power or inherent energy in matter, for nature has no original power in itself and its laws are not self-working. Nature is the servant of her Creator, not acting from fixed laws that even God cannot touch. The Father and the Son continually work in and through nature as instruments without annulling laws or working contrary to them. They perpetually guide the planet in its rotations and keep it in position, cause the sun to rise, open heaven to give rain, make grass grow, cause vegetation to flourish with every leaf and flower and fruit, order the march of the planets, provide food for every living creature, and sustain the fertility and motion of the earth.

The breath that keeps life in the body remains only because He allows it and supplies the air that keeps life in the body. He keeps the living machinery in motion even in sleep apart from the will, guarding the ebb and flow of the vital current, with a guardian eye watching over the pillow and shielding even His undutiful child. Left to run it for one moment, people would die, and with one word He could take breath away, so that if He neglected man as man neglects God people would at once be still in death and the race would perish. Thousands upon thousands are kept alive while using powers of mind and body against their Creator as if rebellion were something to be proud of, joining the enemy's ranks to defeat His plans and carry rebellion to the highest point. Without fresh air to breathe the lungs, the avenues of life, would be clogged, food would become a minister of evil, and death would result.

The same power that upholds nature works in man, and from Him all life proceeds by receiving His life, a life sustained by receiving the life of God. The same great laws that guide the star and the atom control human life, including the laws that govern the heart's action in regulating the flow of the current of life to the body, which are the laws of the mighty Intelligence who has jurisdiction over the soul. Created beings find their proper activity and true sphere of action only in harmony with Him and His will, a life exercised in harmony with the Creator's will. To transgress His laws, physical, mental, or moral, is to place oneself out of harmony with the universe and with the order God sustains, and to introduce discord, anarchy, and ruin.

God's Offspring And Brotherhood

All people are His offspring by creation, sharing a common relation to Him as His creatures, with God as Father and Governor close to every person rather than distant, and all having life in Him with an ever-loving heart. From heaven He beholds all the sons of men and all the inhabitants of the earth, forming their hearts alike and considering all their works, with all things naked and open before Him. Human life and existence depend wholly on Him, who is near to every person, and this kinship was declared on Mars Hill to the men of Athens, including Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, after the altar to the unknown God was found.

Because humanity derives from God, the Godhead must not be thought to be like gold or silver or stone shaped by art and human device. God is distinct from nature and wholly different from idols that are only works of hands, and He is not to be worshiped as nature itself. His works in nature reveal the true God to those who do not know Him, and the majesty of the living God is set in contrast to idolatrous worship. In an age of caste when the rights of man as man were wholly unrecognized, making all nations of one blood sets forth the great truth of human brotherhood. People of every race are His creatures and are to regard one another as brothers and sisters, responsible for one another, and through all His dealings with man runs like a thread of gold His purposes of grace and mercy.

Human wisdom of itself is inefficient to read nature correctly, for sin has obscured vision so man places nature above God and cannot discern in it God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. Worship of nature and idols is a farce invented by those who do not know God to hide the knowledge of the true God. Lessons drawn directly from nature in simplicity and purity most effectively reveal the true Maker to those who do not know Him, and are needed not only by the heathen but by children, youth, and all classes of students. The beauty of nature leads the soul away from sin and worldly attraction and toward purity, peace, and God.

Contemplation of nature's beauty and life draws the mind toward God and brings into closer communion with Him. Communion with nature and with God, with daily work, care, perils and deliverances, griefs and joys, and contemplation of His works in sun and sky and earth, bring hearts nearer to Him, mould character, and kindle love and faith. This was seen in David's contemplation, which stirred love and faith in God's people, and his psalms carry that nearness to God's people in all coming ages.

Belonging And Service Owed

Because life and movement and existence continue only in God, human beings are not their own but belong to Him by creation as the work of His hands, and as rightful Owner He has a claim on their willing service. Human life and every faculty depend on Him at every moment, for He sustains the living functions of the body and without His care life would end, so lives and bodies are to be cared for and used in His service. Life in this world is joined to Him moment by moment in entire dependence, kept and preserved every hour and every moment by His power. No one is forgotten by Him, each person's whole history is recorded in His book, and He works constantly and untiringly for human happiness. The earth is full of His goodness with numberless treasures placed within reach, His tender mercies are over all His works, His open hand satisfies the desire of every living thing, and creation proclaims with myriad voice His forbearance, love and compassion as the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.

They belong to Him also by redemption, for all human life comes through Christ in God and was bought with a price. In boundless love He took guilt upon Himself in the agony of the cross of Calvary to redeem humanity from the service of sin and Satan. This sustaining love is without parallel and reaches its fullness in sending His only-begotten Son to live as a man among men, to serve humanity, to be numbered with transgressors, and to be the propitiation for sins as the channel through which grace is poured into the world. Body and soul and life are God's, and He claims all there is of a person, including time, strength, talents, money and property, by right and by love. No one has a right to use time, strength or money for selfish gratification and personal inclination and pleasure, and to appropriate them for self is robbery toward God, a great and solemn lesson each must individually learn in recognizing the Lord's claims.

Christians therefore are not their own and are responsible to Christ for the use of their redemption, owing Him their affections, intellect, time, means and all. No power is to be devoted to self-serving, but the service of God comes first, occupying the entire lifetime, with every detail of daily business marked by pure principles as a member of Christ's body. Life kept and preserved is a most precious talent, and receiving this great gift brings blessings when used in unselfish work for the Master. Bodily strength is a talent to be devoted with all its energies to glorify Him. The breath and strength belong to the Lord, for no one could live a moment unless He is constantly working to keep vitality in the body and keep the heart in motion and take care of them, and the life He preserves is given so that people may do good and repent and be converted, calling for repayment in service and for His converting power upon the life every single moment.

Lives and all faculties belong to Him, and bodies are not one's own to treat as one pleases or to cripple by habits that lead to decay, but to keep fit to render Him perfect service. Every person derives life from God alone, not from humanity, and stays absolutely dependent on Him every moment, for He cares for each continually and keeps the living machinery of the body in action, so that left to run it for one moment people would die. A person lies down in sleep with no effort to keep life in the body, and the heart beats apart from the will because God keeps the living machinery in motion. A guardian eye watches over the pillow, and the hand of God shields even His undutiful child, guarding the ebb and flow of the vital current. Because every faculty and power of being is held in life by this love and care, those powers are entrusted talents to be used for His glory and not abused and degraded to please self through misused affections, and waking thought owes God the fruit of the lips in thank offerings.

Because each one is His by creation and by redemption, each keeps individual identity yet is answerable to God for responsibility and influence and must act according to conscience. This relation requires guarding every part of the man, treating mind, soul and body as His gift and purchased possession, eating and drinking and forming all habits under a sense of responsibility to render Him perfect, healthful service to His glory. All who live in this world live on the earth as His home and depend on Him for life, and therefore are accountable to His wise and holy and just law. That law is the standard for every business transaction in secular and religious matters, in commercial matters and agricultural interests, for religion is not unrelated to the common business vocations of life or to be kept within a prescribed limit but is to be brought into daily experience.

This dependence must be personally known, for loving and serving God is the highest duty and privilege since all life, activity, movement and existence come from Him. Parents to whom God has given children to train for Him must teach them this dependence in the home school each morning and evening, presenting them to God and giving them back to God as His heritage bought by blood. The home is to be trained as a little home church in consecration and devotion, so that when the Sabbath comes the children are ready to worship in the sanctuary, with a prayer of consecration and devotion at its opening. Knowing this obliges parents to treat children as the Lord's property with kindness and Christian politeness, never striking in anger or scolding in passion, while not excusing disrespect for righteousness and truth. It obliges schools likewise to train students to understand what God requires of them, and obliges every soul to take Christ as the complete perfect sample of character, the Way, the Truth and the Life, in order to be fitted for the heavenly courts, a change that comes by studying the Word and being daily reconverted.

Seeking Union And Trust

No ascent into heaven to bring God down and no descent into the deep to bring Him up is needed, for He is already present in heaven, in the deep, and in the uttermost parts of the earth to find and guide, very near this world and near every person and not far above beyond the reach of the humble seeker. Living and moving and having being in Him means every created being needs Him and can have Him, upheld by His close presence, with all heavenly intelligences also very near and His church as His dearest object. No bodily journey or bodily movement and no violent exercise of mind is required to come near to God. Coming to God is not bodily movement but submitting the human will to supreme wisdom and meeting Him on the ground of the great atoning sacrifice, giving cordial assent to the terms of salvation and being reconciled to do all His commandments and walk in obedience and fellowship with Him. Humbling the soul before God and seeking Him with all the heart is never in vain, for when need to draw near is felt God draws near in return and kindles the soul with holy fire that burns upward.

Habitually keeping that presence in thought shields against the enemy, gives strength and assurance, lifts the soul above fear, and keeps life breathing the atmosphere of heaven instead of the malaria of the world and the darkened cellar. Letting the thought that God is here solemnize the mind and gladden the soul makes Christians sunshiny representatives of Jesus Christ, whose language is confidence in a living Redeemer who ever lives to make intercession.

Living and moving in Him means union with Christ, and that union is the only way to overcome sin. It means staying in Christ, holding to Him, being supported by Him, and drawing nourishment from Him, so that those who do so bear fruit like Christ, are one with Christ and one with the Father, and glorify the name of Christ as believing children of God, which is Bible religion. Followers are blended with His existence so that Christ lives in their life, moves in their activities, and rejoices in their joys, and this divine oneness binds them in holy fellowship with one another in love, kindness, and unity. To live in God is to stand in His presence under the protection of One who never slumbers nor sleeps, to have new spiritual life, and to be alive to His preserving care and favor, with heart, mind and flesh given to the Lord to do the will of God and Christ as substance and fountain of life to every believing heart, bringing peace and rest and fullness, while every step taken, every beat of the heart and every motion of the pulse is the action of His power.

Staying joined to Him requires being constantly fed by truth, for the soul has no spiritual strength or even life unless nourished by the Word which is spirit and life, just as the body dies without suitable food. As the body needs vital air at all times, so the soul at all times needs the guidance of truth and feeding upon the bread of life. Truth as it is in Jesus alone makes people pure and keeps them pure where mere education cannot ensure integrity, and that truth found in the living oracles is food for the soul to be woven like golden links into every transaction of life and made prominent rather than belittled or crowded out, because eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Those in earnest about the future life learn all they can of spiritual and heavenly things, bring every matter to God in prayer, hold fast the Partner in the work, the Lord of life and glory and helper at the right hand, so they shall not be moved, and find that coming to Him inspires confidence and moves the soul to action in cheerful, glad-hearted work for souls without weariness of will or spirit.

Life and existence depend on Christ, and He is the one to go to for help rather than seeking wisdom and success from the world. Those who would engage in the work of God for these last days must meet God not on their own ground but on His ground, complying with the conditions on which He deals with His human agents and giving cordial assent to His terms, learning submission to divine authority and the first principles of the Christ-life. They must not take themselves in their own hands or be a law unto themselves, but trust in Christ rather than work on worldly methods for recognition, renouncing the favors and friendship of the world and making Him their all and in all, for God in boundless love assumed humanity in His Son, Christ has made propitiation for the sins of the whole world, He is not far from any person, and He will freely cooperate with and gladly receive all who receive Him as Saviour. Apart from Him people are helpless and without hope, but united to Him they receive grace and become able to do good, and can walk heavenward from the earthly to the heavenly in confidence and safety on the path outlined in the Word as believers in Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, since this natural life comes through Christ in God while Christ is also the foundation of all spiritual life. No one is truly independent of Him as divine Counsellor, for self-reliance apart from God is unsafe and a miserable failure because it takes man away from God and severs him from his Keeper, and self-reliance is safe only in God in continued dependence on Him.

Human life and breath and heartbeat do not continue because a person watches himself, tests temperature, feels pulse, or thinks constantly about keeping himself alive, for every person lives and moves only because God exercises His infinite power to keep him alive, and without that power no one could live one minute. Therefore people should not keep themselves in their own hands but leave themselves in the hands of God with greater faith and implicit trust that the heavenly Father will not let life cease, and should give the Lord the glory due to His holy name for life and health. God is present though unseen, and life spared through a physician's work is to be credited to Him with gratitude and praise. Hope and life are in the Lord who loves and gave His life, so hearts are to be kept uplifted to Him in praise with courage and trust, and He will strengthen.