Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Acts: Chapter 17]
it is in a darkened room to feel along the walls for the door
(De 28:29; Job 5:14; 12:25; Isa 59:10). Helen Keller, when told
of God, said that she knew of him already, groping in the dark
after him. The optative here with \ei\ is due to the condition of
the fourth class (undetermined, but with vague hope of being
determined) with aim also present (Robertson, _Grammar_, p.
1021). Note also \ara ge\ the inferential particle \ara\ with the
delicate intensive particle \ge\. {Though he is not far from each
one of us} (\kai ge ou makran apo henos hekastou h•m•n
huparchonta\). More exactly with B L (\kai ge\ instead of
\kaitoi\ or \kaitoi ge\), "and yet being not far from each one of
us," a direct statement rather than a concessive one. The
participle \huparchonta\ agrees with \auton\ and the negative
\ou\ rather than the usual \me\ with the participle makes an
emphatic negative. Note also the intensive particle \ge\.
17:28 {For in him} (\en aut•i gar\). Proof of God's nearness, not
stoic pantheism, but real immanence in God as God dwells in us.
The three verbs (\z•men, kinoumetha, esmen\) form an ascending
scale and reach a climax in God (life, movement, existence).
\Kinoumetha\ is either direct middle present indicative (we move
ourselves) or passive (we are moved). {As certain even of your
own poets} (\h•s kai tines t•n kath' hum•s poi•t•n\). "As also
some of the poets among you." Aratus of Soli in Cilicia (ab. B.C.
270) has these very words in his _Ta Phainomena_ and Cleanthes,
Stoic philosopher (300-220 B.C.) in his _Hymn to Zeus_ has \Ek
sou gar genos esmen\. In 1Co 15:32 Paul quotes from Menander
and in Tit 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.
17:29 {We ought not to think} (\ouk opheilomen nomizein\). It is
a logical conclusion (\oun\, therefore) from the very language of
Aratus and Cleanthes. {That the Godhead is like} (\to theion
einai homoion\). Infinitive with accusative of general reference
in indirect discourse. \To theion\ is strictly "the divine"
nature like \theiot•s\ (Ro 1:20) rather than like \theot•s\
(Col 2:9). Paul may have used \to theion\ here to get back
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