Now that Paul is speaking of the true God, he drops the neuter form of v. 23 and employs the masculine gender. This places the One whom he worships on a higher plane than the gods of the Athenians.

The intrepid speaker leaves no room for misinterpretation of his words or the insertion of skeptical ideas—God not only made the universe, but created all things therein. Such teaching rings the death knell of pagan mythology.

Rather, “He, being Lord.” This places Paul’s God immeasurably above all other supposed deities, and makes Him the possessor and ruler of the whole universe.

 See on Acts 7:48; cf. John 4:21-24. While speaking of “temples” Paul would probably be pointing to the magnificent examples of Greek architectural skill with which he was surrounded in Athens. His teaching of the omnipresence and transcendency of God made pagan worship seem futile and divorced from the high spiritual qualities he was now proclaiming.

 Here the apostle gives the ultimate identification of the God to whom he is referring—He is the Creator. This distinguishes Him from all false gods (see on Jer. 10:10-12). Creation by a personal God was a teaching opposed to both Epicurean and Stoic philosophy, yet Paul so states it that it arouses the wonder and interest of his listeners, and he is allowed to continue. The word translated “world” (kosmos) was used by the Greeks with reference to the ordered universe, and might embrace both “heaven and earth” (cf. on Matt. 4:8).