Acts 17:29-31

17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity ¹  is like gold or silver or stone, an image ²  made by human ³  skill ⁴  and imagination. ⁵  17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked ⁶  such times of ignorance, ⁷  he now commands all people ⁸  everywhere to repent, ⁹  17:31 because he has set ¹⁰  a day on which he is going to judge the world ¹¹  in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, ¹²  having provided proof to everyone by raising ¹³  him from the dead.”

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¹ tn Or “the divine being.” BDAG 446 s.v. θεῖος 1.b has “divine being, divinity” here.

² tn Or “a likeness.” Again idolatry is directly attacked as an affront to God and a devaluation of him.

³ tn Grk “by the skill and imagination of man,” but ἀνθρώπου (anqrwpou) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

⁴ tn Or “craftsmanship” (cf. BDAG 1001 s.v. τέχνη).

⁵ tn Or “thought.” BDAG 336 s.v. ἐνθύμησις has “thought, reflection, idea” as the category of meaning here, but in terms of creativity (as in the context) the imaginative faculty is in view.

⁶ tn Or “has deliberately paid no attention to.”

⁷ tn Or “times when people did not know.”

⁸ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

⁹ sn He now commands all people everywhere to repent. God was now asking all mankind to turn to him. No nation or race was excluded.

¹⁰ tn Or “fixed.”

¹¹ sn The world refers to the whole inhabited earth.

¹² tn Or “appointed.” BDAG 723 s.v. ὁρίζω 2.b has “of persons appoint, designate, declare: God judges the world ἐν ἀνδρὶ ᾧ ὥρισεν through a man whom he has appointed Ac 17:31.”

sn A man whom he designated. Jesus is put in the position of eschatological judge. As judge of the living and the dead, he possesses divine authority (Acts 10:42).

¹³ tn The participle ἀναστήσας (anasthsa") indicates means here.