“quærere Deum si forte attrectent eum, aut inveniant, quamvis non longe sit ab unoquoque nostrum.”
“That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:”
“God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
“that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”
“that they should seek God, if 1487, 686 haply they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us:”
Feel after him. Si forte attrectent eum, ei arage pselapheseian. It signifies palpare quasi in tenebris. (Witham)
6. That he is not far from every one of us, v. 27. He is every where present, not only is at our right hand, but has possessed our reins (Ps 139 13), has his eye upon us at all times, and knows us better than we know ourselves. Idolaters made images of God, that they might have him with them in those images, the absurdity of which the apostle here shows; for he in an infinite Spirit, that is not far from any of us, and never the nearer, but in one sense the further off from us, for our pretending to realize or presentiate him to ourselves by any image. He is nigh unto us, both to receive the homage we render him and to give the mercies we ask of him, wherever we are, though near no altar, image, or temple. The Lord of all, as he is rich (Rom 10 12), so he is nigh (Deut 4 7), to all that call upon him. He that wills us to pray every where, assures us that he is no where far from us; whatever country, nation, or profession we are of, whatever our rank and condition in the world are, be we in a palace or in a cottage, in a crowd or in a corner, in a city or in a desert, in the depths of the sea or afar off upon the sea, this is certain, God is not far from every one of us.
Verses 22-31 Here we have a sermon to heathens, who worshipped false gods, and were without the true God in the world; and to them the scope of the discourse was different from what the apostle preached to the Jews. In the latter case, his business was to lead his hearers by prophecies and miracles to the knowledge of the Redeemer, and faith in him; in the former, it was to lead them, by the common works of providence, to know the Creator, and worship Him. The apostle spoke of an altar he had seen, with the inscription, "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." This fact is stated by many writers. After multiplying their idols to the utmost, some at Athens thought there was another god of whom they had no knowledge. And are there not many now called Christians, who are zealous in their devotions, yet the great object of their worship is to them an unknown God? Observe what glorious things Paul here says of that God whom he served, and would have them to serve. The Lord had long borne with idolatry, but the times of this ignorance were now ending, and by his servants he now commanded all men every where to repent of their idolatry. Each sect of the learned men would feel themselves powerfully affected by the apostle's discourse, which tended to show the emptiness or falsity of their doctrines.