Acts 17:28

‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Paul addresses Athenian philosophers at the Areopagus, quoting their own poets to explain God’s nearness after noting they are not far from Him.

The words — ἐν (en) and αὐτῷ (autō) literally render “in Him,” grounding the clause that we live, move, and have our being within God’s presence.

The thread — This dependence on divine sustenance parallels Job 12:10, Colossians 1:17, and Hebrews 1:3, which all describe God as the source and binder of all life.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human existence is entirely contingent on God, which logically requires rejecting idolatry and seeking Him directly.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Job 12:10 The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.
Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Psalms 36:9 For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.
Luke 20:38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.”
John 5:26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
Psalms 66:9 He preserves our lives and keeps our feet from slipping.
Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?
1 Samuel 25:29 And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.