Acts 17:25

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.

Acts 17:25 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 17:25

Neither is worshipped with men's hands
Or "served" with them; or "ministered unto" by them, as the Syriac version renders it: and the sense is, that men by worshipping God do not give anything to him, that can be of any use or service to him; he, being God all sufficient, stands in need of nothing; for external worship is not here intended by worshipping with men's hands, in distinction from, and opposition to, internal worship, or to the worship of God with the heart; but that whether it be with the one or with the other, or both, nothing is given to God, as adding any thing to his essential glory and happiness:

as though he needed anything;
for he does not, he is "El Shaddai", God all sufficient; nor can anything be given to him, he has not; or otherwise all perfection would not be in him: but that he cannot be indigent of anything, appears from hence,

seeing he giveth to all life and breath;
or "the breath of life", as the Ethiopic version renders it; this God breathed into man at first, and he became a living soul; and every animate creature, everyone that has life and breath, have them from God; he gives them to them, and continues them:

and all things;
that are enjoyed by them, and are necessary for their subsistence, and for the comfort of life, and for both their use and profit, and for their delight and pleasure; wherefore he that gives them all things, cannot want anything himself, nor receive anything at their hands. This clause is left out in the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions.

Acts 17:25 In-Context

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.
27 God wanted them to look for him and perhaps search all around for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us:
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.