Appointed to Eternal Life - Acts 13:48
- Salvation (Soteriology)
- 26 Replies
Yeah, so? It doesn't say they were appointed to believe. What don't you understand about that? According to John 3:16, those who believe are appointed to eternal life and, since God loves everyone in the world, all people get the opportunity to believe unto eternal life. Some resist the gospel and the promptings of the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51) and make themselves unworthy of eternal life as a result of their choice to reject the gospel (Acts 13:46). You can't say that they will not receive eternal life because God chose not to appoint them to eternal life. Scripture never teaches such a thing. Yet, that's what you believe. Instead, scripture teaches that God offers salvation to all people (Titus 2:11), making the reason that some will not inherit eternal life is not because God didn't appoint them to it, but because they chose to reject God's offer of eternal life.Those who were appointed to eternal life, did what? They believed.
God appoints whoever believes to eternal life, as John 3:16 says. He doesn't just randomly appoint people to eternal life and then cause those people to believe, as you imagine. Instead, He graciously offers salvation and eternal life to all people and make everyone responsible to chooes whether to accept or reject His offer.It is not believers who were appointed to eternal life on account of their belief.
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
It makes sense that God would offer salvation to all people since He so loves the world that He sent His Son to die for the sins of the whole world (John 3:16, 1 John 2:1-2) and He wants all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-6).
Nope. That is not what it says. That's what you think it says, but it definitely doesn't actually say that.It was those who were appointed to eternal life, who consequently believed on account of that appointment.
Please don't pretend like you are a Greek expert. I am using ALL of scripture to back up my beliefs. Are you? Clearly not. I don't need a Greek lesson from you.That is the way the grammar reads. ὅσοι ("as many as") is the subject of both ἦσαν τεταγμένοι ("were appointed") and ἐπίστευσαν ("believed").
So two things are true of ὅσοι. (1) They believed, and (2) they were in the prior established state of "were appointed," at the moment they believed. Thus, the appointing precedes and qualifies the reason for their belief. It is ὅσοι ἦσαν τεταγμένοι -- those characterized as the appointed ones -- who believed.
What doesn't make sense about that is the idea that being judged unworthy of eternal life is based on man's choice, as Acts 13:46 implies, but being judged worthy of eternal life is God's choice, as you think Acts 13:48 implies. If you think that makes sense, I can't help you. Those things are contradictory. I'm not sure why you can't be honest about verse 46. Can you not bring yourself to acknowledge that you believe God judges people to be unworthy of eternal life rather than people judging themselves unworthy of eternal life, as Acts 13:46 indicates?The contrast between v. 46 and 48 is between that of self-judgment and divine appointment. Self-judgment explains unbelief. Divine appointment explains belief. What "doesn't make sense" about that?
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