Acts 13:48 is an interesting verse where the phrase "
as many as were appointed to life age-during"
Young's Literal Translation
Acts 13:
48 And the nations hearing were glad, and were glorifying the word of the Lord, and did believe — as many as were appointed to life age-during;
Romans 9:22 mentions vessels prepared for "utter destruction". It is used in conjunction with "Judas"
And used 2 times in Revelation concerning the "the beast".
G684 1. actively, a destroying, utter destruction: as, of vessels,
Romans 9:22; τοῦ μύρου, waste,
Mark 14:4 (in
Matthew 26:8 without a genitive) (in Polybius 6, 59, 5 consumption, opposed to τήρησις); the putting of a man to death,
Acts 25:16 Rec.; by metonymy, a destructive thing or opinion: in plural
2 Peter 2:2 Rec.; but the correct reading ἀσελγείαις was long ago adopted here.
2. passively, a perishing, ruin, destruction;
Rom 9:22
What if God, wanting to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath
prepared for destruction<684>,
Jhn 17:12
when I was with them in the world, I was keeping them in Thy name; those whom Thou hast given to me I did guard,
and none of them was destroyed<622>, except the son of the destruction<684>, that the Writing may be fulfilled.
Rev 17:8
'The beast that thou didst see: it was, and it is not; and it is about to come up out of the abyss, and
to go away to destruction<684>, and wonder shall those dwelling upon the earth, whose names have not been written upon the scroll of the life from the foundation of the world, beholding the beast that was, and is not, although it is.
Rev 17:11
and
the beast that was, and is not, he also is eighth, and out of the seven he is,
and to destruction<684> he doth go away
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Meyer's NT Commentary
Acts 13:48-49. Τὸν λόγον τ. Κυρίου] see on
Acts 8:25.
ὅσοι ἦσαν τεταγμένοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον] as many of them as were ordained to eternal (Messianic) life. Luke regards, in accordance with the Pauline conception (Romans 9;
Ephesians 1:4-5;
Ephesians 1:11;
Ephesians 3:11;
2 Thessalonians 2:13, al.), the believing of those Gentiles as ensuing in conformity to their destination, ordered by God already (namely, from of old), to partake of eternal life. Not all in general became believers, but all those who were divinely destined to this ζωή; and not the rest. Chrysostom correctly remarks: ἀφωρισμένοι τῷ Θεῷ. The τάξις of God in regard to those who became believers was in accordance with His πρόγνωσις, by means of which He foreknew them as credituros; but the divine τάξις was realized by the divine κλῆσις effectual for faith (
Romans 8:28-30)—of which Paul, with his preaching, was here the instrument. It was dogmatic arbitrariness which converted our passage into a proof of the decretum absolutum;[13] see Beza and Calvin in loc., and Canon. Dordrac. p. 205, ed. Augusti. For Luke leaves entirely out of account the relation of “being ordained” to free self-determination; the object of his remark is not to teach a doctrine, but to indicate a historical sequence. Indeed, the evident relation, in which this notice stands to the apostle’s own words, ἐπειδὴ … ζωῆς (
Acts 13:46), rather testifies against the conception of the absolute decree, and for the idea, according to which the destination of God does not exclude (comp.
Acts 2:41) individual freedom (ὡς οὐ κατʼ ἀνάγκην, Chrysostom); although, if the matter is contemplated only from one of those two sides which it necessarily has, the other point of view, owing to the imperfection of man’s mode of looking at it, cannot receive proportionally its due, but appears to be logically nullified. See, more particularly, the remark subjoined to
Romans 9:33. Accordingly, it is not to be explained of the actus paedagogicos (Calovius), of the praesentem gratiae operationem per evangelium (Bengel), of the drawing of the Father,
John 6:44;
John 6:37, etc., with the Lutheran dogmatic writers; but the literal meaning is to be adhered to, namely, the divine destination to eternal salvation: ἔθετο αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεὸς εἰς περιποίησιν σωτηρίας,
1 Thessalonians 5:9.
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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
48. and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed] In the controversies on predestination and election this sentence has constantly been brought forward. But it is manifestly unfair to take a sentence out of its context, and interpret it as if it stood alone. In
Acts 13:46 we are told that the Jews had judged themselves unworthy of eternal life, and all that is meant by the words in this verse is the opposite of that expression. The Jews were acting so as to proclaim themselves unworthy; the Gentiles were making manifest their desire to be deemed worthy. The two sections were like opposing troops, ranged by themselves, and to some degree, though not unalterably, looked upon as so arranged by God on different sides. Thus the Gentiles were ordering themselves, and were ordered, unto eternal life. The text says no word to warrant us in thinking that none could henceforth change sides.
