Featured Acts 13:48

New threads: What kind of 'Spirit' was it,
when those at Corinth were "By one Spirit" all baptized into one body?

What kind of 'body' was it,
when the saints at Corinth were "baptized into one body"?

 

Adapted from: Acts 13:48 Commentaries: When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

This is the Baptist Preacher, Gill;

Acts 13:48;

"And when the Gentiles heard this,".... That it was the will of God, and the command of Christ, that the Gospel should be preached to them;...

"they were glad;" not that the Jews were likely to have the Gospel taken away from them, and be utterly deprived of it, but that it was to be preached to them, as Gentiles:

"and glorified the word of the Lord;" not the Lord Jesus Christ, the essential word of the Lord, whom they might not as yet have such a distinct knowledge of; but rather God himself, for His word, particularly His word of command, Acts 13:47...

"and as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed;" faith is not the cause or condition of the decree of eternal life, but a means fixed in the decree of eternal life, and is a fruit and effect of the decree of eternal life, and what certainly follows upon the decree of eternal life, ...The Arabic renders it as we do, and the Syriac thus, "as many as were put, or appointed unto eternal life"; and the Vulgate Latin version, "as many as were pre-ordained". ...

"besides, admitting that there are, in some, "good dispositions to eternal life", previous to faith, and "that desiring eternal life", and "seeking after it", be accounted such, yet these may be where faith does not follow;

"as in the young rich ruler, that came to Christ with such an inquiry, and went away sorrowful: as many therefore as are so disposed, do not always believe, faith does not always follow such dispositions;

"and after all, one would have thought that the Jews themselves, who were externally religious, and were looking for the Messiah, and especially the devout and able women, were more disposed unto eternal life, than the ignorant and idolatrous Gentiles; and yet the latter believed, and the former did not: it follows then, that their faith did not arise from previous dispositions to eternal life, but was the fruit and effect of divine ordination unto eternal life;

"and the word here used, in various places in this book, signifies determination and appointment, and not disposition of mind;

"see Acts 15:2 The phrase is the same as that used by the Jews, "who are ordained to eternal life" (y); and, "everyone that is written to eternal life"; (z) i.e. in the book of life;

"and designs no other than predestination or election, which is God's act, and is an eternal one; is sovereign, irrespective, and unconditional; relates to particular persons, and is sure and certain in its effect:

"it is an ordination, not to an office, nor to the means of grace,
but to grace and glory itself; to a life of grace which is eternal, and to a life of glory which is forever; and which is a pure gift of God, is in the hands of Christ, and to which his righteousness gives a title: and ordination to it shows it to be a blessing of an early date (Eternity Past); and the great love of God to the persons ordained to it; and the certainty of enjoying it."

 

The problem with John Gill was ignorance. He did not know how to define salvation and he did not know the difference between a history book like Acts and an epistle like Galatians, the purpose of which is to explain the history along with the transitions of a new age with a new purpose.

John Gill has been instrumental in leading Alan Gross astray. God defines his salvation as receiving eternal life. He defines eternal life as his Spirit indwelling the body of one who hears the gospel of Christ and believes it. It is upon believing that God gives the gift of the Spirit.

The John Gills of the world will not examine the words of Gal 3 in the same way they examine Acts 13:48.


Galatians 3:1-2
1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?


Galatians 3:5
He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?


Galatians 3:14
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The blessing of Abraham is proven by the text to be justification by faith.


Galatians 3:26
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

one cannot be a child of God except by a new birth.

 

Click on this name and then see the blue 'ignore' button, and click on that, if you think it will help you not feel sorry for yourself about me and let you feel sorry for yourself about something else. Alan Gross.

Aren't you the one that said I cited verse references without spelling out the whole scripture, in one posting of mine that you know of, and that that made me a false teacher?

Since that describes every Bible teacher who has ever lived, try not to brag about your ignorance.

Then, that is why Jesus is called, "The Author of our faith"?

I don't believe that you believe it, but it sure looks like you are trying to say something and are just afraid to?

Like:

"This question supposes they had received the Spirit; that is, the Spirit of God, as a spirit of wisdom and knowledge in the revelation of Christ;

"as a spirit of regeneration and sanctification;

"as a spirit of faith and adoption;

"and as the earnest, seal, and pledge of their future glory.

"Now the apostle asks, whether they received this Spirit "by the works of the law"; meaning, either whether they could imagine, that they by their obedience to the law had merited and procured the Spirit of God; or whether they thought that the Spirit came to them, and into their hearts, through the doctrine or preaching of the law:

"the former could not be true, for if they could not obtain righteousness and life by the works of the law, then not the Spirit; besides, works done without the Spirit of God, are not properly good works:

"not the latter, for though by the law is the knowledge of sin, yet this leaves nothing but a sense of wrath and damnation in the conscience; it is the killing letter, and a ministration of condemnation and death, and not of the Spirit, and of life;

"this belongs to the Gospel, "or the hearing of faith";

"for by "faith", is meant the Gospel, and particularly the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ's righteousness; and by "the hearing" of it, the preaching of it, the report of it, ( Isaiah 53:1 ) which, in the Hebrew text, is (wntemv) , "our hearing", that by which the Gospel is heard and understood.

"Now in this way the Spirit of God is received; while the Gospel is preaching he falls on them that hear it, conveys himself into their hearts, and begets them again by the word of truth: and in this way the Galatians came by the Spirit, and which is another aggravation of their folly, that they should enjoy so great an advantage by the Gospel, and yet be so easily removed from it."

Because,

"God or Christ who had ministered, and still continued to minister the grace of the Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel."

"so that this is a distinct argument from that in ( Galatians 3:2 ) and a further proof and aggravation of the folly and stupidity of the members of this church, who had not only received through the Gospel the Spirit, as a spirit of regeneration, at least many of them,"

As you may or may not know;

"now though this blessing, as all other spiritual ones, were laid up in the covenant of grace, put into the hands of Christ, and God's elect blessed therewith, as considered in him, yet the curse of the law for their transgressions stood in the way of their personal enjoyment of it, to their peace and comfort in their own souls; wherefore Christ is made a curse for them, to make way for the blessing to take place upon them; which is by an act of God's grace imputed to them, and is received by faith:"

"through Jesus Christ;"
or "in Jesus Christ", as the words may be read; ... that Christ is the Mediator, as from whom, so through whom, this, as every blessing of grace, comes to the children of God:

After all;

"not that faith makes any the children of God, or puts them into such a relation; no, that is God's own act and deed; of his free rich grace and goodness, God the Father has predestinated his chosen ones to the adoption of children, and has secured and laid up this blessing for them in the covenant of grace; Christ by redemption has made way for their reception and enjoyment of it; the Spirit of God, in consequence of their sonship, as a spirit of adoption bears strong reason and argument, proving that they are not under the law as a schoolmaster..."

 

It is bad news to alter or replace the principle of God's divine dealing with men of grace through faith. The epistle to the Galatians proves that.

Two operative principles of divine dealing with men are in view in Galatians and one misplaced operative principle of men. The two principles of God are first, promise, and secondly, grace. The principle of the false teachers is works.

It cannot be denied that during the apostolic era of the church of Jesus Christ gentiles were instructed into the way of salvation by way of the cross of Jesus Christ by the Jews. All authority from God came through the chosen apostles and prophets who were all Jews who were first to receive the "blessing of Abraham," a clear reference to the promise he made in the covenant with him. We refer to this covenant as the Abrahamic Covenant. So does God. Through the family he raised up from Abraham he has made the way for God and man to be reconciled by having their sins taken away. So, by the way of the cross of the Jewish Christ, God has kept his promise to Abraham and his family and through his seed, Jesus Christ, all peoples of the earth are blessed in him.

God can bless all people because it is in the capacity of all men to believe. All men with cognizance and reason and intelligence can believe. God will save all men now, Jew or gentile, who will believe the gospel of Christ. There is no one he will not save. The promise of this salvation was to Abraham and his family and the fulfillment of the promise is in their salvation and the salvation of the gentiles who had no promises. For the gentiles, salvation is by the divine principle of grace,

Gen 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Ge 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Ac 3:25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

Abrahams family would now be the highway of the seed of the woman who would eventually destroy the author of death, the Serpent, and by taking sin away.

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children (of Abraham in context) are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

The Abrahamic covenant is in view in Ga 3.

Ga 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
Heb 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

17 And this I say, that the (Mosaic) covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after (the Abrahamic Covenant), cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

Following is the reason the Mosaic covenant was added as an addendum to the Abrahamic covenant and was temporary. Only Abraham's family were obliged to keep the law to condition them for the coming of the Abraham's greater seed through whom all the world would be blessed. When he comes the requirements of the law, perfection, can be realized in all men when they believe in Christ.

19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It (the Mosaic Covenant) was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

Life and righteousness is a promise of God that will come to all who will believe in Christ.

22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise (eternal life and perfect righteousness) by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

One misapplied verse in Acts 13 does not negate this promise.

Ga 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

I think God allowed these false teachers in Galatia for an occasion to put this logic of his in print It makes perfect and glorious sense to me. I understand the argument.

 

What did Luke mean when he wrote Acts 13:48 about the gentiles who believed being ordained to eternal life?

He meant that we who are saved and have eternal life have what the scriptures calls "an earnest" on our promised inheritance as Christians, the Holy Ghost. What is the inheritance? It is to be joint heirs with Christ, which requires adoption. The eternal Spirit is given to us to indwell us in these mortal bodies that we possess, but Christ is in heaven where we cannot dwell in these bodies. We must have new bodies that have the capability of living in that dimension and receiving that inheritance.

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. (not immediately but surely)
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. (not immediately, but surely)

Acts 13:48 is no more complicated than that.

 

By saying these things;

How does that fit with there being some "heirs according to the promise" that are Abraham's seed?

 

'Faith' is a fruit and effect of the decree of eternal life.

That is a telling question and impossible to answer,
since he Luke didn't say, "the Gentiles who believed being ordained to eternal life", he said, "as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed."

 

Acts 13:48 indicates Election resulting in Faith in Christ, hence the Faith of Gods elect Titus 1:1-2

Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Notice how both mentions Eternal Life

Acts 13:48

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

The ones ordained to eternal life, are the ones its promised to before the world began.

 

Actually context once again shows your error. Acts 13:16 tells us who Paul was speaking to:
Act 13:16 Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen:

These were people that were seeking to know God, Jews and Gentiles. Acts 13:46 shows us that some of the Jews rejected Christ and Acts 13:48 shows us that some of the Gentiles trusted in Him. And we know they were seeking to understand the truth because we are told so:
Act 13:43 Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

Does God know who will trust in His son? Of course, He's omniscient, does He cause them to believe, no. The text of the bible does not support your contention.

BF you contend that it is "Election resulting in Faith" but you are using a text that has been disputed over those that are clear.

Rom 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Rom 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

Those that freely believe will be saved. You have those that do not even believe being saved.

If we hold that we become regenerate before having exercised faith,
then we have to show why it is necessary to exercise faith at all.

The gospel message has to make sense to our mind before it will reach our heart resulting in faith exercised by our will.

 

Acts 13:48 indicates Election resulting in Faith in Christ, hence the Faith of Gods elect Titus 1:1-2

Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Notice how both mentions Eternal Life

Acts 13:48

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

The ones ordained to eternal life, are the ones its promised to before the world began.

 

Rather childish response there BF. Deal with what I have written. If you think your view is correct then show how it is when read in context.

 

Acts 13:48 indicates Election resulting in Faith in Christ, hence the Faith of Gods elect Titus 1:1-2

Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Notice how both mentions Eternal Life

Acts 13:48

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

The ones ordained to eternal life, are the ones its promised to before the world began.

 

Still a childish response no matter how many times you post it BF. You're the one that claims your view is correct so prove it if you can.

 

Acts 13:48 indicates Election resulting in Faith in Christ, hence the Faith of Gods elect Titus 1:1-2

Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Notice how both mentions Eternal Life

Acts 13:48

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

The ones ordained to eternal life, are the ones its promised to before the world began.

 

If and when you grow up and we can have a serious dialogue then get back to me.

 

Acts 13:48 indicates Election resulting in Faith in Christ, hence the Faith of Gods elect Titus 1:1-2

Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Notice how both mentions Eternal Life

Acts 13:48

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

The ones ordained to eternal life, are the ones its promised to before the world began.