Acts 17:25

25 neither is worshipped by man's hands, neither hath need of any thing [having need of any thing], for he giveth life to all men, and breathing, and all things;

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 For I passed, and saw your maumets [and saw your simulacra], and found an altar, in which was written, To the unknown God. Therefore which thing ye unknowing worship, this thing I show to you.
24 God that made the world and all things that be in it, this, for he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hand [made by hand],
25 neither is worshipped by man's hands, neither hath need of any thing [having need of any thing], for he giveth life to all men, and breathing, and all things;
26 and made of one all the kind of men [for] to inhabit on all the face of the earth, determining times ordained, and terms of the dwelling of them [and terms of habitation, or dwelling, of them],
27 to seek God, if peradventure they feel him, either find, though he be not far from each of you.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.