Acts 17:28

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for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'

Acts 17:28 (NKJV)

'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

Acts 17:28 (NIV)

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Acts 17:28 (KJV)

For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

Acts 17:28 (NLT)

'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.'

Acts 17:28 (ESV)

for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'

Acts 17:28 (NASB)

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

for in Him we live and move and exist [that is, in Him we actually have our being], as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'

Acts 17:28 (AMP)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

For in Him we live and move and have our being; as even some of your [own] poets have said, For we are also His offspring.

Acts 17:28 (AMPC)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

We live and move in him, can't get away from him! One of your poets said it well: 'We're the God-created.'

Acts 17:28 (MSG)

Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.

New Covenant Meaning

God Is Not Distant: He Is the Environment You Exist In

Paul is on Mars Hill, surrounded by Greek philosophers who worship a pantheon of distant deities. His argument is disruptive: the God you do not know is not far off. He is the medium in which you live right now. Every breath you draw, every step you take, every moment of awareness you have is happening inside God. "In Him we live and move and have our being" describes total immersion. Paul is not describing religious access to God. He is describing the inescapable reality that human existence is held within God's own being. You cannot step outside of Him to get to Him. You are already there.

In Christ, This Goes Even Deeper

Paul uses Greek poetry to establish the general truth: all humanity exists in God. But the New Covenant takes this further. In Christ, you are not merely sustained by God as a creature. You are united with Him. First Corinthians 6:17 says he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Colossians 3:3 says your life is hidden with Christ in God. The believer does not just exist inside the God who upholds all things. The believer is spiritually one with the Son who is at the Father's right hand. Your identity is not something you construct through effort or discipline. It is the nature of where you already are: in Him.

This verse dismantles the idea that you need to search for God or work your way closer to Him. You do not reach for God from a distance. You already exist inside Him. Every prayer you pray, you pray inside Him. Every day you live, you live inside Him. The New Covenant question is not how to get to God. It is learning to live consciously in the reality that you are already in Him, and in Christ, one with Him.

Application for Your Life

You Cannot Fall Out of the One You Live In

Many believers carry a constant low-level fear that they might drift from God or find themselves far from Him. Acts 17:28 addresses that fear at its root. You live in Him. You move in Him. Your very being exists in Him. This is not something that requires your maintenance to keep true. It is the structure of your existence. In Christ, you are one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17) and your life is hidden in God (Colossians 3:3). There is no version of your day in which you are out of God's presence, because His presence is what you exist within.

Live from the Inside, Not the Outside

Most people relate to God as though He is somewhere else and they are trying to get to Him. Acts 17:28 inverts that picture entirely. You are already inside Him. The life you live today, you live in Him. The work you do, you do in Him. The conversations you have, you have in Him. This changes how you approach every moment: not as someone outside trying to gain access, but as someone already inside, drawing from what is already present. You are not working toward closeness with God. You are learning to be conscious of the closeness that already is.

Prayer Based on This Verse

Father, I receive the truth of this verse today. In You I live. In You I move. In You I have my being. I am not looking for You from a distance. I exist inside You, and in Christ I am one with You. Everything I do today, I do in You. I am not alone in any moment. I am not far from You in any moment. I am already there. I live from the inside, not the outside. Let that reality shape how I think, how I speak, and how I walk through this day. In Jesus' name. Amen.