Acts 17:29-31
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Context17:29 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.”
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.