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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comAdam Clarke Commentary - Acts 17:28 - 17:28
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For in him we live, and move, and have our being - He is the very source of our existence: the principle of life comes from him: the principle of motion, also, comes from him; one of the most difficult things in nature to be properly apprehended; and a strong proof of the continual presence and energy of the Deity.
And have our being - Και εσμεν, And we are: we live in him, move in him, and are in him. Without him we not only can do nothing, but without him we are nothing. We are, i.e. we continue to be, because of his continued, present, all-pervading, and supporting energy. There is a remarkable saying in Synopsis Sohar, p. 104. “The holy blessed God never does evil to any man. He only withdraws his gracious presence from him, and then he necessarily perisheth.†This is philosophical and correct.
As certain also of your own poets - Probably he means not only Aratus, in whose poem, entitled Phaenomena, the words quoted by St. Paul are to be found literatim, του Î³Î±Ï ÎºÎ±Î¹ γενος εσμεν; but also Cleanthus, in whose Hymn to Jupiter the same words (Εκ σου Î³Î±Ï Î³ÎµÎ½Î¿Ï‚ εσμεν) occur. But the sentiment is found in several others, being very common among the more enlightened philosophers. By saying your own poets, he does not mean poets born at Athens, but merely Grecian poets, Aratus and Cleanthus being chief.
We are also his offspring - Του Î³Î±Ï ÎºÎ±Î¹ γενος εσμεν The Phaenomena of Aratus, in which these words are found, begins thus: -
Εκ Διος αÏχωμεσθα, τον ουδεποτ’ ανδÏες εωμεν
ΑÏÏ̓ητον· μεϚαι δε Διος πασαι μεν αγυιαι,
Πασαι δ’ ανθÏωπων αγοÏαι· μεϚη δε θαλασσα,
Και λιμενες· παντη δε Διος κεχÏημεθα παντες·
ΤΟΥ ΓΑΡ ΚΑΙ ΓΕÎΟΣ ΕΣΜΕΠὁ δ’ ηπιος ανθÏωποισι
Δεξια σημαινει. κ. τ. λ.
With Jove we must begin; nor from him rove;
Him always praise, for all is full of Jove!
He fills all places where mankind resort,
The wide-spread sea, with every shelt’ring port.
Jove’s presence fills all space, upholds this ball;
All need his aid; his power sustains us all.
For we his offspring are; and he in love
Points out to man his labor from above:
Where signs unerring show when best the soil,
By well-timed culture, shall repay our toil, etc., etc.
Aratus was a Cilician, one of St. Paul’s own countrymen, and with his writings St. Paul was undoubtedly well acquainted, though he had flourished about 300 years before that time.