Acts 13:48: Steve Gregg, Robert Shank & John Calvin

[Guest]

Acts 13:48 (ESV)
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

On Tue. Jun 29, 2004:

Steve noted: "If we assume that "as many as were appointed" by God's eternal decree "to eternal life believed" on this occasion, then we would have to assume that no one in that town was elect except for those who were converted that very day, and that no further conversions could ever be expected there (and how could Luke pretend to know such things?)."

Robert Shank, explains: “All who assume that tetagmenoi in Acts 13:48 implies that those who believed the Gospel at that particular time and place did so as the consequence of an eternal decree of unconditional particular election unwittingly embrace a second assumption, completely absurd: all present in the synagogue who ever were to believe the Gospel did so at once; there could be no further opportunity to consider the Gospel, and no man who failed to believe that moment could ever subsequently believe. A preposterous assumption! Such a pattern fits neither the case of Paul himself nor the universal experience of the Church through all generations.” (Elect in the Son, p.187, emphasis mine)

John Calvin comments: “Whence we do also gather what force the preaching of the gospel hath of itself. For it doth not find faith in men, save only because God doth call those inwardly whom he hath chosen, and because he draweth those who were his own before unto Christ, (John 6:37.) Also Luke teacheth in the same words, that it cannot be that any of the elect should perish. For he saith not that one or a few of the elect did believe, but so many as were elect. For though God's election be unknown to us until we perceive it by faith, yet is it not doubtful or in suspense in his secret counsel; because he commendeth all those whom he counteth his to the safeguard and tuition of his Son, who will continue a faithful keeper even unto the end.”

[Guest]

Troy,

Thanks for the Calvin quote. It does seem to make the point.

[Guest]

I would like to share the comments of Greek expert Henry Alford D.D. with regard to the passage. I am transliterating the Greek words for the sake of those who have no Greek font, and an italicizing them in order to identify them as Greek. Here are Dean Alford's comments from Alford's Greek Testament Vol 1:

tetragmenoi The meaning of this word must be determined by the context. The Jews had judged themselves unworthy of eternal life: the Gentiles, as many as were disposed to eternal life, believed. By whom so disposed is not here declared: nor need the word in this place be further particularized. We know, that it is God who worketh in us the will to believe, and that the preparation of the heart of of Him: but to find in this text pre-ordination to life asserted is to force both the word and the context to a meaning which they do not contain. The key to the word here is the comparison of ref. I Cor eis diakonian tois hagios etaxan heatous with ref. Rom. hai ousai (exousiai) hupo tou theou tetagmenai eisin.

Note: Alford is asking us to compare:

1 Corinthians 16:15 Now, brethren, you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints;

with

Romans 13:1 ¶ Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

The words bolded in the two verses are translations of the same Greek word. In the first instance those of the household of Stephanas appoint themselves, whereas in the Romans passage, the governing authorities are appointed by God. Alford then continues:

... in both of which places the agents are expressed, whereas here the word is absolute.

As I understand Alford, if we carefully examine these verses, and understand the Jews and Gentiles to be the agents in both cases, we have:

46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.
47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.’"
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of God; and as many as appointed themselves to eternal life believed.

To recapitulate, both Jews and Gentiles took a different action toward themselves with respect to the gospel message:

The Jews judged themselves unworthy of eternal life and would not believe, but many of the Gentiles appointed themselves to eternal life by believing.

The bottom line of Alford's argument is that, though Luke wrote "as many as were appointed to eternal life believed", he does not indicate by whom they were appointed ---- by themelves, or by God. Thus from the words themselves there is as much validity in assuming they appointed themselves as there is in assuming God appointed them. And contextually, there is much more reason for making the former assumption.

[livingink]

Paidion,

When I looked the verse up in my e-sword program, the word was tasso, not tetragmenoi. Could you explain the difference? I'm guessing tasso is a form of tetragmenoi?

Thanks!

-Rachel

[Guest]

Steve,
I thought you might like the quote. If Dr. White gives an emotional response and/or tries to down-play this logical conclusion when you debate him, perhaps you would then find it appropriate to bring Calvin's comments on the passage to his attention.

I asked a guy the other day if he believes Acts 13:48 implies that those who believed the Gospel at that particular time and place did so as the consequence of an eternal decree of unconditional particular election, and if so, ( I asked him) then doesn't this then necessarily mean that all present in the synagogue who ever were to believe the Gospel did so at once?," To this, he answered "From looking over the text their is no indication. God could have granted them belief on the spot if He wanted to. Or He could have granted belief to some of those who where appointed to eternal life and sovereignly chosen to wait for another time to grant belief to the others. I do not see your reasoning in asking this question if you could elaborate on your reasonings that would be great. But it would argue that it all depends on God and His timing.

Of course, I gave a response to him and referrenced Calvin. He has yet to respond. I called yesterday and asked you to elaborate, to see how far this could be developed and taken. Personally, the more and more I've thought about it, it does seem to be both an unavoidable and necessary consequence if we take this verse to support unconditional election of unbelievers to salvation. Thanks for you time and answer Steve.

[Guest]

Thanks for your post Paidion!