Acts 17:24

24 The God who made the whole world and everything in it is the Lord of the land and the sky. He does not live in temples built by human hands.

Acts 17:24 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 17:24

God that made the world, and all things therein
In this account of the divine Being, as the Creator of the world, and all things in it, as the apostle agrees with Moses, and the rest of the sacred Scriptures; so he condemns both the notion of the Epicurean philosophers, who denied that the world was made by God, but said that it owed its being to a fortuitous concourse of atoms; and the notion of the Peripatetics, or Aristotelians, who asserted the eternity of the world; and some of both sects were doubtless present.

Seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth;
as appears by his being the Creator of both; hence he supports them in their being, and governs all creatures in them by his providence.

Dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
such as were the idol temples at Athens; nor in any other edifices built by man, so as to be there fixed and limited; no, not in the temple at Jerusalem: but he dwells in temples that are not made with hands, as in the temple of Christ's human nature, in which the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and in the hearts of his people, who are the temples of the Holy Ghost. This strikes at a notion of the Athenians, as if God was limited, and circumscribed, and included within the bounds of a shrine, or temple, though it is not at all contrary to his promises, or the hopes of his own people, of his presence in places appointed for divine worship, but is expressive of the infinity and immensity of God.

Acts 17:24 In-Context

22 Then Paul stood before the meeting of the Areopagus and said, "People of Athens, I can see you are very religious in all things.
23 As I was going through your city, I saw the objects you worship. I found an altar that had these words written on it: to a god who is not known. You worship a god that you don't know, and this is the God I am telling you about!
24 The God who made the whole world and everything in it is the Lord of the land and the sky. He does not live in temples built by human hands.
25 This God is the One who gives life, breath, and everything else to people. He does not need any help from them; he has everything he needs.
26 God began by making one person, and from him came all the different people who live everywhere in the world. God decided exactly when and where they must live.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.