Acts 17:28
“For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Continuing his Areopagus address, Paul describes humanity's dependence on God and quotes Greek poets to connect with his philosophically minded audience.
What Does Acts 17:28 Mean?
Acts 17:28 expresses the nearness of God in memorable words -- in Him we live and move and exist, and even the Athenians' own poets recognized that we are His offspring. Paul continues his address on Mars' Hill, building toward the heart of his message. Having proclaimed God as Creator and Lord of all, he now shows how close this God actually is to every person.
"For in him we live, and move, and have our being" is one of Paul's most profound statements. Every breath, every motion, every moment of existence depends on God. He is not a distant deity who set the world spinning and walked away; He is the very ground of our being, sustaining all life continually. The triple expression -- live, move, have our being -- piles up to emphasize total dependence. Then Paul does something remarkable: he quotes the Athenians' own poets. "As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." Paul meets his audience where they are, drawing on truth they already partly grasped to point them toward the living God. The phrase "we are also his offspring" affirms a real relationship between God and humanity -- we come from Him and belong to Him. Paul uses this shared insight as a bridge, leading in the next verses to the conclusion that since we are God's offspring, we should not imagine the divine to be like gold or silver shaped by human craft.
In the Original Language
The Greek "genos" (offspring) means kind, race, or descendant, expressing humanity's relationship to and origin from God.
Cross References
“And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
- Colossians 1:17
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?”
- Psalm 139:7
“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.”
- Acts 17:29
Application
God is not distant but is the very source in whom we live and move each moment; recognizing our origin in Him reshapes how we see ourselves and our daily dependence on His sustaining care.