Does Acts 13:48 support Calvinism? What is Luke’s Intent?

Acts 13:48

Before unpacking this passage lets be reminded of a couple rules for proper hermeneutics (method of interpretation).

  • Didactic texts set doctrine and narratives help inform doctrine. Narratives are meant to tell a story, not teach foundational theological beliefs. Acts 13 is a narrative and though it can help us better understand our doctrinal beliefs it should not be foundational to develop our systematic.Montoya-300x298
  • Text without context is a pretext for proof-text. We have to look at what is happening in the text in order to better understand the possible intent of the author. With this in mind let’s look at the context of Acts 13.

Imagine if the New Testament was written in North America during the civil rights movement. The “historical context” would involve the tensions between blacks and whites and therefore would affect the author’s choice of words within that social dynamic. Likewise, in the first century there is a dynamic that needs to be understood in order to capture the author’s intentions. Consider the fact that the “elect people” (Israelites) were not believing the gospel while the “non-elect people” (all kinds from other nations) were believing the gospel. The big debate of that day was whether God had included (grafted in) the non-elect people (the other nations). “Has God appointed those barbarian non-elect half-breeds and uncircumcised dogs for eternal life,” is the question of the Jewish leaders in that day. That is the point being debated in the first century world. The debate is not whether God has elected to irresistibly save some individuals and leave the rest in hopelessness. Those who wish to prove their individualized perspective assume that meaning on the text.

Let’s consider some phrases in the context of Acts 13 that clearly indicates the intention of the author. Notice in this speech, Paul is speaking to both Israelites and Gentiles. He begins by explaining the national election of Israel and the purposes God fulfilled through the Jewish peoples.

16 Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me! 17 The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors (national election of Israel); he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country; 18 for about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; 19 and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance.20 All this took about 450 years.

From verse 14 we know the apostles are speaking in a Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath and verse 16 specifies the audience includes Gentiles who are already believers in the God of Israel and desire to worship Him. Many God-fearing Gentiles genuinely believed in God and had not yet grown calloused in the religiosity of the Pharisaical teachings. No one could rightly describe these God fearing Gentiles as totally disabled, hardened or spiritually dead individuals in need of an irresistible calling.

Granted, these “Gentiles who worship God” had not yet come to believe the gospel, but could not that simply be because they had not yet heard the gospel.  How could they believe unless someone preaches, as Paul inquires in Romans 10:14?  These worshipping Gentiles are ready to receive the mystery of the gospel being brought by inspiration through the holy apostles (Eph. 3:1-10).  One might even say they are “disposed or prepared” to hear the truth being brought to them on this day. Further, one might rightly argue that God had already set his favor upon these Gentiles and “appointed them to eternal life” (Acts 13:48) because they have a humble and contrite heart that has believed in what revelation they have been given (Is. 66:2).



26 “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to US that this message of salvation has been sent. (Acts 13:16-26 emphasis added)

Paul summarizes God’s purpose of electing Israel when he states, “God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus…it is to US that this message of salvation has been sent.” God has chosen to bring His Messiah and His Message through Israel. There is nothing said about God choosing to irresistibly save individuals of Israel, but only his purpose in blessing the world through Israel by bringing the LIGHT.

ANTICIPATED OBJECTION: But, someone may object arguing that in order for God to accomplish the purpose of bringing his truth to the world through Israel, doesn’t He have to save the individuals he chooses to bring that truth? Yes. Paul is a great example of this. God used powerfully persuasive means to convince Paul to change his will (blinding light). Like Jonah (big fish) before him this divinely appointed messenger was in rebellion and unwilling to go the “non-elect people” with the truth of God. So, what does God do? He stepped in to persuade (through outwardly persuasive means) these men to believe His message so as to ensure they go into the world to proclaim it with authority. In other words, He elects them and persuades them so that His purpose in electing Israel would stand.

Is God obligated to do this for everyone?

Is God obligated to physically show his scars to the doubters, as he did for Thomas?

Of course not!

KEY POINT: Proof that God uses external miraculous means to convince the wills of his elect messengers from Israel to take the message to the non-elect nations of the world does NOT prove that God elects to make certain individuals believe their message by inwardly irresistible means. This is a foundational error leading to the Calvinistic misunderstanding of scripture.

The text continues in verse 38 to show this historical context:


Notice that righteousness is said to be unattainable through the law, but does that prove it is equally unattainable through faith? Calvinists presume that believing in the One who fulfilled the law for us is as equally unattainable as fulfilling the demands of the law ourselves. This is nowhere supported in the pages of scripture. If you ask a Calvinist to find a text that teaches the premise that lost men are unable to willingly respond to the powerful Holy Spirit wrought gospel appeal they will have a list of proof texts, but notice that not one of them actually mentions the gospel.

Could it be that the gospel, and the mysteries contained therein, were being fulfilled at the time the scriptures were recorded? Is it possible, therefore, that the gospel, having not been completed and sent into the world was not drawing or enabling faith prior to Christ being lifted up? (John 12:32) Maybe the enabling, drawing, spiritual, gracious NEED of the natural, lost, unregenerate man is not met until the soul piercing sword of truth is sent to all peoples (Matt. 28:16-20) and the Holy Spirit is poured out like fire (Acts 2)?

The gospel is certainly stronger in accomplishing its purpose to make an appeal for reconciliation than the fallen nature of the one needing that appeal. If not, every unbeliever who perishes burns eternally with the excuse, “The gospel was not sufficient for me.”

Paul continues in verse 40 saying,

“Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you.”

41 “‘Look, you scoffers,
    wonder and perish,
for I am going to do something in your days
    that you would never believe,
    even if someone told you.’”

Israel’s unbelief is predicted, as their hearts had grown calloused after continual rebellion. If there is any doctrine of “total inability” this is it. It is the judicial hardening of Israel, which is NOT a condition of the heart from birth as the Calvinist presumes. In Acts 28 Paul lays out this clear distinction:

For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’


peanutstheologyThe apostle explicitly spells out the ability of those who have NOT yet grown calloused. “Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts…they will listen.” Anyone who has been involved with mission work can testify to the fact that taking the gospel to areas where it has not been preached before is typically meet with much more reception than the gospel-saturated regions. Why is this? People who reject God’s revelation grow calloused to it over time. They are not born in this condition, mind you, but may grow into this hardened and disabled state through continual rebellion.

This is most likely why Jesus uses a child as an example of what we must become like if we are to enter His kingdom (Matt. 18:3). If all are all equally born under God’s wrath and without the ability to respond then why would Jesus use a random child as any example? Isn’t he just as depraved and hardened from birth as the 80-year-old Israelite according to the Calvinistic system? The difference is that the child has not yet grown calloused. He is born sinful but not hardened.

The text continues:




Sound familiar? This is exactly what he speaks of in Acts 28:27-28 in reflection of Israel’s becoming calloused to the revelation of God. The elect people were hardened because they were saturated with revelation, so the revelation is sent to the non-elect ones. God “cuts off” Israel and “grafts in” all nations of the world (ref to Rom. 11). This is what “the election” is referencing throughout scripture: God’s election to bring his special revelation (through elect messengers), first to the Jew and then to all other nations.

Notice in verse 46 that Luke regards the Jews rejection of the gospel as THEIR OWN consideration of being unworthy for eternal life (not God’s rejection of them), which is the antithesis to verse 48 where the Gentiles belief in the gospel is proof of THEIR being prepared or “appointed” to eternal life (i.e. grafted in). So, in the same way Israel considered themselves unworthy for eternal life by their rebellion to God’s revelation thus leading to their being cut off, now the Gentiles, who were NOT hardened in like manner, but who were in large part open to hearing and believing the gospel truth, are being grafted in by faith. (See Romans 11)

Now, knowing this context where Israel is hardened and thus unable to see the truth, and the gospel is being taken to all the nations of the world (referred to generally as “Gentiles”), we read:

 47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,


There are a number of approaches to understanding the intention of this passage within this historical context.  Dr. Brian Abasciano, a notable Greek and New Testament scholar, writes, “The best understanding of ‘tasso’ [appointed] in Acts 13:48 is that it refers to Gentiles who were ‘in position for eternal life’ — ‘ready for eternal life’ — or even ‘intent on obtaining eternal life’ (particularly in contrast to the Jews of the same episode who opposed Paul and rejected the gospel, and so who judged themselves unworthy of eternal life [Acts 13:46]), and that the most accurate translation of the phrase in question would be something like: ‘as many as were disposed to eternal life believed’ or ‘as many as were aligned for eternal life believed’ or ‘as many as were positioned for eternal life believed.‘” (More of Dr. Abasciano’s grammatical perspective can be viewed HERE.)

Some Gentiles, like Lydia or Cornelius recorded in scripture, were referred to as “worshippers of God” or “God fearing” gentiles even before they heard the gospel and believed. It is likely that Luke intends to contrast these God-fearing Gentiles (prepared to come to faith in large numbers) to the self-righteous Jews who have grown self hardened in their stubborn religiosity (thus fitting themselves for destruction). (Acts 28:27; Romans 9:22)

Most scholars agree that God likely showed mercy to those who had even a mustard seed sized faith based on their limit revelation prior to the coming of the gospel message (i.e. Rahab). In other words, people who died prior to Christ’s coming, but who, like Cornelius, genuinely feared the Lord, would have been credited as righteous (i.e. appointed to eternal life) even though they never had opportunity to hear and believe the gospel. After all, God did promise Abram to “bless those who bless you” (Gen. 12:3). Those not even of the seed of Abram may receive the blessing of His mercy by grace through faith in the promise.

Dr. F.L. Forlines reflects on the teaching of notable scholar, F.F. Bruce, regarding the potential meaning of this text, “F. F. Bruce says that the ‘simple monotheism of Jewish synagogue worship’ and Jewish ethics attracted many Gentiles who were not ready to become full proselyte Jews. Some of these Gentiles went to synagogue and became very familiar with Jewish prayers and readings from the Septuagint. Others even observed Sabbath and abstained from certain foods. Thus Bruce argues, ‘That the first Gentile to hear and accept the gospel should be a God-fearer is the more significant because, as we shall see later in Acts, it was such God-fearers who formed the nucleus of the Christian community in one city after another in the course of Paul’s missionary activity.’ These Gentiles who were influenced by Jewish thought, but chose not to become proselytes, are referred to as devout men or God-fearers. If some of the Jews were saved by faith before the coming of Jesus, it follows that some of the Gentile proselytes and God-fearers were also saved by faith. I think that any serious study of Acts must keep this observation in mind. I am not suggesting that all of these God-fearers were saved prior to hearing that Jesus the Messiah had come. There would have been some who would not have taken matters that seriously. However, I do believe that some were saved by believing the redemptive revelation of God given in the Old Testament before they heard the gospel message. That possibility no longer exists. But it did exist during this transition period. The Gentiles who had been influenced by the Jews as they had migrated to different parts of the Roman Empire would not have found the concept of individual salvation as distinguished from corporate salvation as objectionable as the Jews did. I think this could account for much of the early success in reaching Gentiles with the gospel. Now, let us see how this viewpoint helps us understand Acts 13:48. Verse 43 mentions “proselytes.” They were among those who were persuaded by Paul and Barnabas “to continue in the grace of God.” On the next sabbath day “almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God” (verse 44). The Jews were envious of the success that Paul and Barnabas were having and spoke against them (verse 46). Paul and Barnabas, then, turned to the Gentiles. When this move was made to the Gentiles, it is said, “And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (verse 48, KJV).

The Greek word for “ordained” is tassō. It means “to ordain,” “to appoint,” “to allot,” or “to assign.” The form of the word that appears in verse 48 is tetagmenoi. It is a perfect passive participle form of tassō. It is preceded by ēsan which is the imperfect form of the Greek word eimi (to be). The expression ēsan tetagmenoi is what is called in the Greek a periphrastic pluperfect construction. The literal meaning would be “as many as were having been appointed to eternal life believed.” Or in a less literal way, it would be “as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” The “had been appointed to eternal life” or the “appointment to eternal life” had occurred before they heard and believed the gospel that was presented by Paul and Barnabas. However, the wording does not require that this appointment to eternal life must be a reference to eternity past. I think what the verse is telling us is that all of those who had been saved prior to their hearing the New Testament gospel subsequently believed when they heard the gospel being presented by Paul and Barnabas. At the moment of their salvation in the past, they were appointed to eternal life. When they heard about the redemptive work of Jesus the Messiah, they believed and became New Testament believers.” [Forlines, F. L. (2011). Classical Arminianism: A Theology of Salvation. (J. M. Pinson, Ed.) (pp. 164–165). Nashville, TN: Randall House. Emphasis added.]

The national conflict imposed by the Jews is made even more obvious in the final words of this chapter:IsraelGentilewords


The overwhelming point of contention among the people of the first century is the mystery that is just then being revealed for the very first time in history. That mystery is explained by Paul in Ephesians 3:1-6. It is the mystery that has become very common to us now and we refer to as the “good news” or the “gospel.”

It is this gospel truth “…that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus…”(Eph. 3:6). But imagine living in a world where the most notable spiritual and political leaders strongly believe and enforce through beatings and imprisonment their view that only the Jews are appointed to eternal life. Just imagine the conflict and type of words that would be used by the “apostle to the Gentiles” as he attempted to rebut this contentious war against the mystery of God’s eternal plan for the redemption of all nations. In that historical context a statement like we see in Acts 13:48 most likely carries the intent to address the Israelite’s objections to God’s in-grafting of many nations rather than the Calvinistic conflict we see today created by Western individualism.

15 thoughts on “Does Acts 13:48 support Calvinism? What is Luke’s Intent?

  1. I appreciate your attempt to link the interpretation of this Calvinistic sounding verse with the biblical teaching on corporate election. And since it is a reasonable alternative, it truly undermines the dogmatism that Calvinists try to get from this verse for their reasonable interpretation. It is obvious when looking at the Greek text, that the Calvinistic translation of “ordain” is a theological nuance forced upon the word τασσω. Also, to assume that God is the subject of that verb is a theological guess! And finally, the form of that verb is either passive or middle, and since other instances in the NT are found with this verb clearly in the middle voice, it could be so here, meaning the subject is initiating the action as well as benefiting from it in someway.

    I believe, therefore, that another reasonable alternative, also linked to the context, is that Luke is saying, just as Paul had recognized that the Jews had “judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life”, Luke saw that the Gentiles there were putting themselves in a position to receive it as evidenced by their public commitment of faith.


  2. With either translation of the word the clear existence of God fearing Gentiles who were already saved faith followers of God prior to hearing the Gospel negates any necessity to place the time of the appointing to eternal life in eternity past as the Calvinist does.
    As Forlines sttes the time would have been when they came t faith prior to hearing the Gospel.

    Before the Gospel there were not only true faith saved Jews there were faith saved Gentiles.
    Calvin himself makes this truth clear.
    Here Calvin is expounding on what Paul says about Cornelius.


    This is preceded and followed by other comments affirming Cornelius as a God Fearing OT man of faith

    Liked by 1 person

    1. There is a problem if we make god-fearing to always equal salvation. Cornelius received an angelic message to send for Peter who would tell him “the words by which [he] and [his] household will be saved” (Acts 11:13-14), indicating Cornelius was not yet saved. And in Antioch there were more at the meeting (vs. 44) then just god-fearing Gentiles.

      I still lean that the participle – τεταγμενοι, is better understood as middle voice. The Gentiles are the subject of each of the verbs in 13:48. It makes sense they are the subject of this participle, “getting in line” for everlasting life to make their public commitment of faith in Christ. Their personal acceptance mirrors the personal rejection of the Jews. The middle voice for this verb is other places in the NT. Outside the NT this verb is regularly used in the middle voice for soldiers who arrange themselves in line. 1Corinthians 16:15, though not middle voice, indicates that this verbal action can be done to oneself.


      1. This is an important point of clarity, Brian. Thank you!

        I’m not arguing that fearing the Lord is equal to salvation. Even the demons fear him. I’m merely suggesting that one who does fear and believe in God is going to be open to hearing the gospel and believing it, which certainly would have described well the large numbers of Gentiles responding positively to the gospel during that time.

        That large response is either because God just so happened to elect and effectually draw a bunch of Gentiles to be saved at that time or it was because they were disposed or prepared to believe and accept the gospel of repentance because they weren’t calloused in self-righteous religiosity like the Jews were at that time.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I’m sure not every God fearing gentile was truly a person of faith and in right standing with God.
        On the other hand I’m sure there must have been some who were true faith believers in the promised Messiah.
        These were already disposed to accept the now full revelation of the Messiah.
        They would have been so disposed by what God had already done in bringing them to OT faith in the promise.

        Liked by 2 people

  3. The absolute sovereign particular choice of God in salvation (and the resulting double predestination) is impossible to escape–even in the view of Mr. Flowers. How? Let’s grant the moving of the pivot of salvation over to man’s will and choice—-now….I ask you….WHO chose to give the prudence, sensitivity toward God, heart inclined toward humility, and detachment from the love of sin to the one particular group of individuals who believed? Answer? God. And now I ask, WHO deprived those virtues and sensitivity from the others who did not believe?
    Answer? God. And WHO KNEW with 100% certainty the end result of every soul God brought into this world–even before the world was made? God. So you have the same double predestination, and you have the same God choosing 100% in either system. So stop fighting these doctrines. You are busted. Your “unfair” God is in your own system.
    I am waiting for any Arminian to answer this point I make. I have not heard one. I wait…


    1. And who just misrepresented the God of the Scripture without any Scripture, and didn’t interact even with the reasonable meaning of Acts 13:48 presented in this post and supporting comments…? Roy!


  4. Honestly, I cannot understand how you people who are so dead set against the plain doctrines of predestination, election, particular atonement, effectual grace doctrines can deceive yourself that you are being led by The Spirit of God. All you are doing is the same thing that Jehovah’s Witnesses do in their philosophical premise that God cannot be a trinity, Christ cannot be divine, and hell cannot be real.
    Surely you have seen them duck dodge and deny the plain texts of Scripture that you give them….you do the same thing in opposition to your most disliked doctrines. The reality is the gospel as written offends you. Just face it. Don’t make strawmen called “Calvinists” that have nothing to do with these Biblical doctrines. Your dishonesty and denial is so obvious to everyone.


    1. Roy, you wrote, ” I cannot understand how you people who are so dead set against the plain doctrines of predestination.”

      Yet, if what you believe is true the only real reason we are dead set against your interpretation is because God has so ordained it. He has in his sovereign wisdom decreed not to grant us the needed grace to understand and accept your interpretation. That is a significant problem for your perspective IMO. It is not consistent to continually appeal to our wills if only God’s can change ours.

      Liked by 1 person

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