SEV Biblia, Chapter 17:27
para que buscasen a Dios, si en alguna manera, palpando, le hallen; aunque cierto no est lejos de cada uno de nosotros:
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 17:27
Verse 27. That they should seek the Lord] This is a conclusion drawn from the preceding statement. God, who is infinitely great and self-sufficient, has manifested himself as the maker of the world, the creator, preserver, and governor of men. He has assigned them their portion, and dispensed to them their habitations, and the various blessings of his providence, to the end that they should seek him in all his works. Feel after him] yhlafhseian auton, That they might grope after him, as a person does his way who is blind or blindfolded. The Gentiles, who had not a revelation, must grope after God, as the principle of spiritual life, that they might find him to be a Spirit, and the source of all intellectual happiness; and the apostle seems to state that none need despair of finding this fountain of goodness, because he is not far from every one of us.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 27. That they should seek the Lord , etc.] Or God, as the Alexandrian copy and others, and the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read; their Creator, and kind Benefactor, and who has appointed their time of life, and their habitations for them; and this should engage them to seek to know him, who has done all this for them, and to fear and serve him, and to glorify his name: if haply they might feel after him, and find him ; which shows, that though it is possible for men, by a contemplation of the perfections of God, visible in the works of creation and providence, so to find God, as to know that there is one, and that there is but one God, who has made all things; and so as to be convinced of the vanity and falsehood of all other gods, and to see the folly, wickedness, and weakness of idolatrous worship; yet, at the same time, it very strongly intimates, how dim and obscure the light of nature is; since those, who have nothing else to direct them, are like persons in the dark, who feel and grope about after God, whom they cannot see; and after all their search and groping, there is only an haply, a peradventure, a may be, that they find him: though he be not far from everyone of us ; not only by his omnipresence, and immensity, whereby he is everywhere; but by his power in supporting all in their being; and by his goodness in continually communicating the blessings of providence to them.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 22-31 - Here we have a sermon to heathens, who worshipped false gods, and wer without the true God in the world; and to them the scope of the discourse was different from what the apostle preached to the Jews. I the latter case, his business was to lead his hearers by prophecies an miracles to the knowledge of the Redeemer, and faith in him; in the former, it was to lead them, by the common works of providence, to know the Creator, and worship Him. The apostle spoke of an altar he ha seen, with the inscription, "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." This fact is state by many writers. After multiplying their idols to the utmost, some a Athens thought there was another god of whom they had no knowledge. An are there not many now called Christians, who are zealous in their devotions, yet the great object of their worship is to them an unknow God? Observe what glorious things Paul here says of that God whom he served, and would have them to serve. The Lord had long borne with idolatry, but the times of this ignorance were now ending, and by his servants he now commanded all men every where to repent of their idolatry. Each sect of the learned men would feel themselves powerfull affected by the apostle's discourse, which tended to show the emptines or falsity of their doctrines.
Greek Textus Receptus
ζητειν 2212 5721 V-PAN τον 3588 T-ASM κυριον 2962 N-ASM ει 1487 COND αρα 686 PRT γε 1065 PRT ψηλαφησειαν 5584 5659 V-AAO-3P αυτον 846 P-ASM και 2532 CONJ ευροιεν 2147 5630 V-2AAO-3P καιτοιγε 2544 CONJ ου 3756 PRT-N μακραν 3112 ADV απο 575 PREP ενος 1520 A-GSM εκαστου 1538 A-GSM ημων 2257 P-1GP υπαρχοντα 5225 5723 V-PAP-ASM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
27. Might feel after. See on handle, Luke xiv. 39. Compare Tennyson:"I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope And gather dust and chaff, and call To what I feel is Lord of all."
In Memoriam, lv.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
17:27 {That they should seek God} (zetein ton qeon). Infinitive (present active) of purpose again. Seek him, not turn away from him as the nations had done (#Ro 1:18-32). {If haply they might feel after him} (ei ara ge yelafeseian auton). First aorist active (Aeolic form) optative of yelafaw, old verb from yaw, to touch. So used by the Risen Jesus in his challenge to the disciples (#Lu 24:39), by the Apostle John of his personal contact with Jesus (#1Jo 1:1), of the contact with Mount Sinai (#Heb 12:18). Here it pictures the blind groping of the darkened heathen mind after God to "find him" (heuroien, second aorist active optative) whom they had lost. One knows what it is in a darkened room to feel along the walls for the door (#De 28:29; Job 5:14; 12:25; Isa 59:10). Helen Keller, when told of God, said that she knew of him already, groping in the dark after him. The optative here with ei is due to the condition of the fourth class (undetermined, but with vague hope of being determined) with aim also present (Robertson, _Grammar_, p. 1021). Note also ara ge the inferential particle Ara with the delicate intensive particle ge. {Though he is not far from each one of us} (kai ge ou makran apo henos hekastou hemwn huparconta). More exactly with B L (kai ge instead of kaitoi or kaitoi ge), "and yet being not far from each one of us," a direct statement rather than a concessive one. The participle huparconta agrees with auton and the negative ou rather than the usual me with the participle makes an emphatic negative. Note also the intensive particle ge.
