Acts 17:27

Seek the Lord. Textual evidence favors the reading “seek God,” and some evidence may also be cited for the reading “seek the Godhead.” But the meaning is clear: God so planned His creation that all who wished might seek and find Him.

If haply. Gr. ei ara ge, “if then indeed,” or “that then indeed.” God expects men to seek Him. The only doubt involved derives from the fact that often men do not choose to do so.

Might feel after. Gr. pselaphad, “to handle,” “to touch,” “to feel,” used in the LXX for the act of groping in the dark (Deut. 28:29; John 5:14; etc.). This aptly describes men’s blind groping for knowledge of the Supreme Being.

Find him. The altar to the Unknown God was a witness that they had not found Him. “The world by wisdom knew not God” (1 Cor. 1:21). But Paul brought the assurance that the true seeker could know. God desires to be found. He is “a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6).

Not far. The whole clause is very emphatic, and literally reads: “And yet He is not far from each one of us.” There is no doubt expressed in Paul’s words; he is rather making a positive statement of fact. The Lord is near to men, even when they do not acknowledge Him. This makes it a comparatively simple matter for men to find God, for He is by their side, awaiting their awakening and aiding their efforts to discover Him. God can and does reveal Himself according to the measure of zeal and earnestness shown by those who seek Him. At this point the Stoics would see parallels between their own teaching and Paul’s thinking, but the Epicureans would be repelled, for the apostle’s words constituted an attack on the basic atheism of their system.