Exactly as shown in Acts 13:48.
For those who aren't avoiding and ignoring my posts, let's consider some facts about this oft quoted (and quite abused) verse from the Calvinists:
First, the verse:
"When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed."
Sure sounds like it takes an "appointment" in order to have eternal life.
Yet, the Bible never teaches this anywhere, much less here.
Consider John 3:15,16,36, 5:24, 6:40,47, 11:25-27, 20:31 and 1 John 5:13.
These verses plainly state that eternal life is on the basis of believing the gospel.
Now, to exegete the verse in question.
The Greek word for "appointed" (sometimes translated ordained) is tasso. These are the 7 other uses in the NT:
Matt 28:16 “appointed” ASV, KJV “told to go” NIV “designated” NASB
Jesus told the disciples where to go
Luke 7:8 “under authority” NIV “placed under authority” NASV, NKJV “set under” ASV, KJV
Centurion explaining to Jesus he was a man under authority
Acts 13:48 “appointed” NASB, NIV, NKJV “ordained” KJV, ASV
Believing Gentiles being compared to unbelieving Jews: Jews unworthy, Gentiles devoted
Acts 15:2 “appointed” NIV, ASV “determined” NKJV, NASB, KJV
Paul and Barnabas appointed to go to Jerusalem
Acts 22:10 “assigned” NIV “appointed” NKJV, KJV, NASB, ASV
Paul relating Jesus telling him on Damascus road to go to Damascus and be told his assignment
Acts 28:23 “arranged” NIV “appointed” ASV, KJV, NKJV “set” NASB
People arranged to meet with Paul on a certain day to hear him explain the gospel
Rom 13:1 “established” NIV, NASB “appointed” NKJV “ordained” KJV, ASV
God has established all authorities
1 Cor 16:15 “devoted” NASB, NKJV, NIV “addicted” KJV “set” ASV
As can be seen, only Acts 13:48 is translated "ordained/appointed". None of the other 7 are even close to that.
There is another Greek word, "horizo" that is used of God or others appointing or ordaining. It also occurs 8 times in the NT, just as "tasso".
Acts 10:42 - He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God
appointed [horizo] as judge of the living and the dead. NIV, NASB “
ordained” NKJV, ASV, KJV
Luke 22:22 - The Son of Man will go as it has been
decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him." NIV “
determined” NKJV, KJV, NASB, ASV
Acts 2:23 - This man was handed over to you by God's
set purpose [horizo] and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. NIV “
determined purpose” NKJV “
predeterminate plan” NASB, “
determinate counsel” KJV, ASV
Acts 11:29 - The disciples, each according to his ability,
decided [horizo] to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. NIV “
determined” NKJV, KJV, NASB, ASV
Acts 17:26 - From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he
determined [horizo] the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. NIV, NKJV, KJV, NASB, ASV
Acts 17:31 - For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has
appointed. [horizo] He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead." NIV, NASB “
ordained” NKJV, KJV, ASV
Rom 1:4 - and who through the Spirit of holiness was
declared [horizo] with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. NIV, NKJV, NASB, KJV, ASV
Heb 4:7 - Therefore God again
set [horizo] a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." NIV “
designates” NKJV “
fixes” NASB “
defines” ASV “
limits” KJV
In 7 of these verses, the word is associated with what God has done. In the other verse, Acts 11:29, it is used of people who "decided" or "determined".
Luke used both "tasso" and "horizo" 6 times each. It should seem obvious that if Luke really meant that God appoints for eternal life, he would have used "horizo" rather than "tasso".
However, that's not all. The tense of the verb "tasso" has the same form for both the middle and passive voices, even though some lexicons indicate that "tasso" in Acts 13:48 is passive, which would indicate that someone else appointed them.
But, the only way to determine whether the author meant middle or passive voice is to examine context, which will clarify which was meant.
And we have context to determine whether middle (they performed the action on themselves) vs passive (someone else performed the action on them).
13:44 gives us clear insight as to what Luke meant.
"On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord."
The root meaning of "tasso" is:
NT:5021
tasso (tas'-so); a prolonged form of a primary verb (which latter appears only in certain tenses); to arrange in an orderly manner, i.e. assign or dispose (to a certain position or lot):
"To arrange in an orderly manner" actually fits the context of 13:44. For "almost the whole city" to gather to hear Paul preach, they would have had to arrange themselves in an orderly manner.
There is nothing in Acts 13 to even suggest that God ordained anyone for anything.
What is clear is that those who "lined themselves up" to hear Paul did so for eternal life. iow, they were quite interested in what Paul was preaching, and Paul contrasted the Gentiles who lined up to hear Paul preach about eternal life with the Jews who blasphemed and, according to Paul, didn't consider themselves worthy of eternal life.
v.45 - When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.
v.46 - Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles