Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
For in him (en autw gar). Proof of God's nearness, not stoic pantheism, but real immanence in God as God dwells in us. The three verbs (zwmen, kinoumeqa, esmen) form an ascending scale and reach a climax in God (life, movement, existence). Kinoumeqa is either direct middle present indicative (we move ourselves) or passive (we are moved).
As certain even of your own poets (wv kai tinev twn kaq umav poihtwn). "As also some of the poets among you." Aratus of Soli in Cilicia (ab. BC 270) has these very words in his Ta Phainomena and Cleanthes, Stoic philosopher (300-220 BC) in his Hymn to Zeus has Ek sou gar genov esmen. In I Corinthians 15:32 Paul quotes from Menander and in Titus 1:12 from Epimenides. J. Rendel Harris claims that he finds allusions in Paul's Epistles to Pindar, Aristophanes, and other Greek writers. There is no reason in the world why Paul should not have acquaintance with Greek literature, though one need not strain a point to prove it. Paul, of course, knew that the words were written of Zeus (Jupiter), not of Jehovah, but he applies the idea in them to his point just made that all men are the offspring of God.
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Acts 17:28:
John 1:12
John 8:44
Acts 14:15
Romans 8:14
1 Timothy 4:10
James 1:18
James 1:22
Revelation 22:16
DISCLAIMER: Church of the Great God (CGG) provides these resources to aid the individual in studying the Bible. However, it is up to the individual to "prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:21). The content of these resources does not necessarily reflect the views of CGG. They are provided for information purposes only.
