Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
Forasmuch then - Admitting or assuming this to be true. The argument which follows is drawn from the concessions of their own writers.
We ought not to think - It is absurd to suppose. The argument of the apostle is this: "Since we are formed by God; since we are like him, living and intelligent beings; since we are more excellent in our nature than the most precious and ingenious works of art, it is absurd to suppose that the original source of our existence can be like gold, and silver, and stone. Man himself is far more excellent than an image of wood and stone; how much more excellent still must be the great Fountain and Source of all our wisdom and intelligence." See this thought pursued at length in Isaiah 40:18-23.
The Godhead - The divinity ( ̀ ͂ to Theion ), the divine nature, or essence. The word used here is an adjective employed as a noun, and does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament.
Is like unto gold ... - All these things were used in making images or statues of the gods. It is absurd to think that the source of all life and intelligence resembles a lifeless block of wood or stone. Even degraded pagan, one would think, might see the force of an argument like this.
Graven - Sculptured; made into an image.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Acts 17:29:
Acts 17:24
Romans 1:7
Romans 10:12
Revelation 13:16
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