And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? This was something more than that abhorrence of idolatry which took possession of the Jews as a nation from the time of the Babylonian captivity: it was that delicate sensibility to everything which affects the honour of God, which Christianity-giving us in God a reconciled Father-alone can produce; making the Christian instinctively feel himself to be wounded in all dishonour done to God, and filling him with mingled horror and grief when such gross insults as this are offered to Him. We also are men of like passions with you, х homoiopatheis (G3663) humin (G5213) anthroopoi (G444)] - 'men of like nature (or similarly constituted) with yourselves.' (The phrase, "like passions," is correct enough, if understood in a physical sense-as implying like infirmities-but not in the moral sense.) How unlike either imposture or enthusiasm is this, and how high above all self-seeking do these men of Christ show themselves to be!
And preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities - the familiar and most expressive name in the Old Testament for idols of every sort.
Unto the living God - х epi (G1909) Theon (G2316) zoonta (G2198) is better supported than the emphatic form of the Received Text ton (G3588) Theon (G2316) ton (G3588) zoonton (G2198).] This is the most glorious and distinctive of all the names of God; expressive of that which separates Him infinitely not only from all dead idols, but from all pantheistic conceptions of Him, which confound and identify Him with the works of His hands-His "having life in Himself," as the great Fontal Principle of life in His creatures-life conscious and personal-life essential, independent, eternal, changeless-in virtue of which we, who are a faint shadow of Himself, as living persons, are able to hold rational and intelligent fellowship with Him, spirit with Spirit. These are the household words of Bible truth; but to all beyond its pale they are an unknown tongue: and not more so to the rude barbarian than to the cultivated and refined philosopher. Compare 1 Thessalonians 1:9.
Which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein. This idea of creation utterly unknown alike to rude and to cultivated paganism, would not only define what was meant by "the living God," but open up a new world, on after reflection, to the more thoughtful part of the audience.