Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.
Parallel translations
- WEB Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.
- KJV Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
- NKJV Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.
- NASB Therefore, since we are the descendants of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought.
- NLT And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Since we are God's offspring, we should not imagine God as gold, silver, or carved stone.
Overview
Paul draws the logical conclusion: living beings made by God cannot be honored by lifeless idols crafted by human art. Idolatry reverses the order, reducing the Creator to the work of His creatures' hands. The argument exposes the absurdity of worshiping images and prepares the call to repentance that follows.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Isa 40:25“To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.
- Exod 20:4You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.
- Isa 46:5–6To whom will you liken Me or count Me equal? To whom will you compare Me, that we should be alike?
- Ps 115:4–8Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Hab 2:19–20Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”
- Rom 1:20–23For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.
- Jer 10:4–10They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.
- Ps 106:20They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.
- Isa 44:9–20All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.
- Exod 32:4He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
- Isa 40:12–20Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance?
- Ps 94:7–9They say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
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Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
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Original language
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