Acts 13:48 and the Controversy of Eternal Predestination Unmasking Eternal Predestination: A Critical Examination

Jun P. Espina         20 min read

Written on December 3, 2023

As with other parts of Scripture, the message of God for humanity is the same: We can only live with Him in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ. Those who believe that faith in Christ is impossible because we are “dead to sin,” also preach that we are chosen or predestined before the foundation of the world to believe. Their teaching, which we refer to here as predestinarianism, aka ultra-Calvinism, is popularly christened as simply “Eternal Predestination.”

The rest of this article expounds on predestination that the hyper-Calvinists happily advertise on Facebook through Acts 13:48, one of their supporting Scriptures in attempting to validate ultra-Calvinism as biblical.

WHY THE NEED TO STUDY ETERNAL PREDESTINATION

The Bible says, “For the time will come when they will not tolerate [endure, KJV] sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires.” (2 Tim 4:3)

In their pursuit “to have their ears tickled,” people struggle against truth. (Did you notice how most young Americans support Hamas? We are in the last days, indeed!)

To satisfy their lust for false teaching, they would listen only to those so-called teachers who are apathetic and casual about the truth. Predestination is harmful teaching as it obscures the direct instruction of Christ to believe in Him to have a life after death.

• Most Controversial Verse…

Acts 13:48 is one of the most quoted verses ultra-Calvinists hire in their attempt to hide and mask Christ’s clear teaching to trust and believe in Him to be forgiven of God. It states: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained [appointed, NASB] to eternal life believed.” (Acts 13:14)

HOW DO ADVOCATES OF PREDESTINATION HIRE ACTS 13:18 TO PROVE THEIR FALSE CLAIM

Advocates of predestination argue that Acts 13:48 did not say, “and as many as those who believed were appointed to eternal life.” Humanity’s God-given free will to believe becomes their prime choke point in doctrine. They believe Adam and Eve disobeyed God because of our Father’s predetermined decree. Ultra-Calvinists have successfully enclosed predestination with an array of Scriptures, thus forming a highly attractive but deceptive theology.

• My Red Line…

I attended a church when the pastor, after a lengthy discourse on doctrine, blurted, “Faith cannot save.” It was my red line. I never returned to that old church I had been with for a long time, since it was run by a new Calvinist boss who avoided the word “predestination” in all his discourses. All Calvinists are just like that. When John MacArthur, chief Calvinist, was asked about the subject, he replied, “I feel your pain,” while asserting he was on the side of truth.

• Predestination is Not Christ-Glorifying

The predestinarian heresy is an effort to quash God’s sovereign decree for us to believe and trust in Jesus, our Lord and Savior, to live in heaven forever. It is doctrinal deception 101 from those careless expositors (proclaimed by their followers) who value theological preciseness at the cost of Christ’s glory. Ultra-Calvinism, where this heresy belongs, glorifies theology more than Christ. They proved their false teaching by citing quotes from Calvinist preachers, such as Spurgeon.

But sound doctrine is always Spirit-illuminated and Christ-glorifying. A teaching, such as predestination, which sends people to hell on account of God’s sovereign decree, cannot glorify Christ. It is equivalent to charging God with unfairness, cruelty, and hatefulness, which is not the biblical attribute of our Maker. Our Lord Jesus died for all, and He wanted all to repent and be saved. No preacher, no matter his fame, can bend this scriptural truth. As the apostle Paul has written:

• Free Will at Work

This is free will at work, with Christ’s Spirit illuminating—but not coercing—the gospel listeners to believe. —”This was the true Light [Jesus] that, coming into the world, enlightens every person.” (John 1:9) “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matt. 18:20)

WHY IS ETERNAL PREDESTINATION A FALSE TEACHING

Let’s answer the above question with a question: Does Acts, Chapter 13, teach predestination? Or does Acts 13, verse 48, teach eternal predestination? The answer to both questions is no, and here’s why.

The entire chapter 13 of Acts was a record of Paul’s first missionary journey (together with Barnabas and John Mark, but John left them in Perga) from Antioch in Syria to Antioch in Pisidia. When the synagogue officials gave Paul the time to speak up, he preached to them the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection. In verses 38 and 39 of the same Acts 13, Paul said, “Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Him [Christ] forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.” Christ (faith in Christ, to be exact!) was Paul’s subject in that preaching. We must be clear on this point.

• Of Paul’s Biblical Teaching

The biblical teaching was established by the apostle Paul well in advance (before Acts 13:48) that forgiveness of sins is possible only through faith in Christ since “through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things.”

WHY IS PREDESTINATION NOT MENTIONED IN THE EARLY PART OF ACTS 13?

Acts 13 started with the story of Elymas, who tried to stop the proconsul (a high-ranking Roman official) from believing in Jesus. (Again, it’s all about faith in Jesus!) It states in verse 8: “But Elymas the magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.” Filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul stared at Elymas and said, “[W]ill you not stop making crooked the straight ways of the Lord? Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time… Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.” (Acts 13:10b-12)

• Faith is Always Fastened to the Scriptures

Note also that the proconsul was “amazed at the teaching of the Lord” after he saw Elymas blinded by Paul’s mere declaration. Faith, as outlined in the Holy Bible, is always fastened to the Scriptures. You can believe in Christ outside of the Bible. The devil also believed. (James 2:19) That type of faith, however, cannot save your soul. Observe Paul’s faith. It was both personal and empirical: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)

• The Proconsul’s Free Will to Believe

The Bible affirms in the most direct way the exercise of the proconsul’s free will to believe by stating that “the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.”

Let me repeat. From this Scripture of Acts 13, we find that faith in Christ to be saved is a “teaching of the Lord.” (v. 12) Second, it turns out that God hates anyone who seeks to “turn the proconsul away from the faith.” (v. 11)

Where is predestination in Acts 13? Well, what we have noticed so far is faith in Christ to enter heaven. It was Paul’s only exhaustive message. There is no eternal predestination.

WHERE IS PREDESTINATION IN ACTS 13:48?

Let’s pull back to Acts 13:48, where the Bible says: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained [appointed, NASB] to eternal life believed.” (KJV)

• About Satanic One-Liner

I attended a meeting when someone (a pastor) approached and told me unexpectedly that he transferred to the Calvinist camp because of Acts 13:48. Many well-meaning but half-baked truth-seekers fall for the same Satanic trap, which I’d like to call “Satanic one-liner.”

Why go all-out on one verse out of context?

Before Acts 13:48 (in verse 46), we find Paul and Barnabas saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you repudiate it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.” Acts 13:48 was part of the kick-off of Paul’s historic preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles.

• God’s Concern for Believers, Jews or Not

If there was a hint of eternal predestination in Acts 13:48, it would mean all Jews would go to hell and all Gentiles to heaven, right? In verse 46, Paul and Barnabas said that we informed you first, brother Jews, but you rejected our message—you disbelieved Christ’s death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins. We would go to the Gentiles.

If there was predestination in the context of this event, then, as we said above, all the Gentiles present would go to heaven. But, no. The Bible says, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord.” It means they believed in the Word of God, who is Christ our Lord. Faith is needed to be saved. That’s why “they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord.”

• My Salvation Experience

I experienced the same thing one Sunday morning when I heard the gospel, believed in Christ, and accepted Him in my heart as my only Lord and Savior.

The promised eternal life just exploded in my heart, just like Christ’s driving out and overturning the tables of sin and confusion out of my soul. The Gentiles “were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord” – because they had accepted the message of Paul’s gospel.

• About God’s Grace

Let us consider the operation of the grace of God, “for by grace are you saved.” (Eph. 2:8) As with my salvation experience, God opened my heart to the gospel before I could have received Christ. That is how God’s grace operates. When the Holy Spirit opened the hearts of the Gentiles, they received Christ gladly and did not resist the wooing of the Spirit as the Jews did.

As with the Jews, the Gentiles in this Scripture “came to their senses,” as experienced by the prodigal son. Aided by the Spirit’s illumination of the word of God, they believed the gospel. The Jews, on the other hand, after the Spirit’s intervention, rejected the Word of God out of envy. Luke tells us about it clearly in Acts 13:45: “But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.”

• The Unbelieving Jews Understood Paul’s Preaching. They Were Not “Dead to Sin” 100%

The Bible did not say the Jews couldn’t understand Paul’s preaching. They understood the gospel of Christ, for which Luke wrote: “[T]he people [the Jews] repeatedly begged to have these things spoken to them the next Sabbath.” (Acts 13:42b)

When they saw more people listening to Paul, they went seriously awry. They decided against the gospel—they rejected our Lord. Man’s God-given free will had led the Jews away from salvation. Eternal damnation, just like eternal predestination, was not God’s point in Acts 13. The Jews went to hell because they denied Christ. God did not plan for this. Jesus said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who held a wedding feast for his son. And he sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.” (Matt. 22:2-3)

AGAIN, WHERE’S ETERNAL PREDESTINATION OR DIVINE ELECTION IN ACTS 13:48?

I looked into the most popular Bible commentaries concerning Acts 13:48 and found many of them opposing hyper-Calvinism and the deception of so-called eternal predestination. From the Benson Commentary, I got this quote (you can google it):

• Man’s Free Will Clashing the Holy Spirit

Note that man’s free will to believe, after the operation of God’s grace—needed since the Holy Spirit is the Teacher of truth—is upheld in this exegesis as you notice the phrase, “believed, and openly embraced the Christian religion.” We need “to repent, believe, and obey the gospel.” Nowhere can we find in this exposition the concept advanced by the Calvinists known as “irresistible grace.” Acts 13:48 states, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord.” They believed first before being appointed or guaranteed eternal life. And this is the gist of John 3:16 without doubt: “whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.”

1. THE GENEVA STUDY BIBLE

The Geneva Study Bible commentary (as with “Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible” and “Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary”) on this subject shares the same Calvinistic interpretation of Acts 13:48. It says: “[W]hen the Gentiles heard this, they were glad—to perceive that therefore God did not only foreknow, but also foreordained, that neither faith nor the effects of faith should be the cause of his ordaining, or appointment, but his ordaining the cause of faith.”

• Problematic Line of Thought

This line of thought is problematic, seeing God does not fasten any eternal decree, such as that of election or predestination, in Acts 13:48. As upheld by the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary, “divine ordination to eternal life is the cause, not the effect, of any man’s believing.” Is it true that there was a “divine ordination to eternal life” in Acts 13:48?

2. WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS THE WOOING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The answer is no to the question raised above. What had happened was not eternal predestination but the wooing of the Holy Spirit for the Gentiles to receive the word of the Lord with gladness of heart, as with the case of Billy Graham’s crusade, and the people’s response and repentance of their sins. It is taught in John 1:9: “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Christ is the Light of the world. Our Lord was amid the Gentiles, touching their hearts, while Paul preached to them. Our Lord did the same to the Jews, but they rejected God’s word out of envy. The Gentiles, on the other hand, received the word of Christ through the Spirit’s illumination. It was not predestination. It was God’s grace and the free will to believe and obey the gospel.

Acts 13:46 states, “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” (Acts 13:46, KJV)

3. NEVER CHARGE GOD WITH CRUELTY FOR SENDING THE JEWS TO HELL BY HIS SOVEREIGN WILL

If the Gentiles’ conversion was caused by a divine decree of predestination, then God was part of the Jews’ rejection of Christ by the same essence of divine intervention. God could be charged with cruelty for predetermining the damnation of the Jews (as He foreordained the salvation of the Gentiles).

4. THE CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES COMMENTARY

The “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges” commentary observes that the events surrounding Acts 13:48 do not support a final divine order for the Jews to go to hell, and the Gentiles, to heaven.

Yes, we cannot find from Acts 13:48 and related verses a divine order—predetermination, if you will—that all Jews were damned, and all Gentiles were saved.

5. “PLEASE RECEIVE INSTRUCTION,” JOB SAID

Job once said:

“Please receive instruction.” Follow the voice of the Holy Spirit in your heart, which is the operation of God’s grace in your soul. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Rom. 10:17) That’s how salvation works. Believe the wooing of the Holy Spirit on behalf of the gospel and Christ Himself, or be damned.

6. THE BENSON COMMENTARY

Here’s the condensed version of the Benson Commentary we mentioned earlier related to the errors of predestination buried by Calvinists in Acts 13:48:

7. UNTRA-CALVINISM: ALARMINGLY HERETICAL

The ultra-Calvinism pressed into Acts 13:48 by hyper-Calvinists is just unintelligible and alarmingly heretical.

8. JOHN MACARTHUR’S STUDY BIBLE

I consulted John MacArthur’s Study Bible since he has been a known Calvinist for decades. I was not surprised that under Acts 13:48, MacArthur just wrote 27 words, as if saying “I don’t need to explain what I see as plain truth.” Here’s MacArthur’s commentary: “appointed to eternal life. One of the Scripture’s clearest statements on the sovereignty of God in salvation. God chooses people for salvation, not the opposite (John 6:65; Eph. 1:4; Col. 3:12; 2 Thess. 2:13). Faith itself is a gift from God (Eph. 2:8-9).”^[2] MacArthur looked like a spiritual chef, telling his readers: “Here are the ingredients, cook them.” Writing Calvinist Scriptures proves nothing at all, except for the propagation of the predetermined-salvation heresy.

CONCERNING BIBLICAL BALANCE AND SYMMETRY

The Bible is symmetrical, not one-sided. When it says that God loves Jacob and hates Esau in Romans 9:13, God did not put any trace of predestination into it. Otherwise, all of Jacob’s descendants would have assurance of heaven, and Esau’s, certitude of damnation.

• Romans 9:13 is Not Predestination

Romans 9 is about Paul’s concern for the Jews, the so-called chosen people who are lost because they rejected Christ. Paul’s mention of Jacob and Esau spins around Jacob’s faith and Esau’s rejection—not predestination!

In verse seven of Romans 9, Paul said, “[N]or are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants.” It was a way to say, “Brothers, you are not predestined because you are Abraham’s descendants.” Paul made it clear to the Galatians. “Therefore, recognize that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” (Gal 3:7)

• We Are Admonished to Study

All predestinarians are juiced with Romans 9:13, as with other believers who don’t understand Paul’s admonition to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God.” (2 Tim. 2:15) Luke also wrote the same encouragement: “Now these people were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

WHAT ABOUT JOHN PIPER’S PET VERSE, JOHN 1:13?

I scoured the Web for more information about predestination when I found John Piper’s labored emphasis on John 1:13 as proof that faith is not needed to be saved because we are “born again to believe,” according to him.^[3] At first glance, Piper seems right. We are saved not “of the will of the flesh.” Let’s examine John 1:13: “[W]ho were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.” Are we born again outside of human free will? Verses 11 and 12 of the same chapter, however, prove that Piper just jumped to verse 13 to crow about his man-made theology.

• Anti-Piper Verses

Here’s how verses 11 and 12 have proven Piper wrong: “He [Jesus] came to His own, and His own people [the Jews] did not accept Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” It is the decision to receive and believe in Christ through the intervention of the Holy Spirit, who is the Teacher of Truth. It is the meaning of John 6:65: “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” God’s grace operates along these lines, but it is not predestination, because Christ said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33) You must decide to believe and trust in Christ or die in hell at your own fault because God prepares heaven and not hell for you (Matt. 25:41)—because God is love, and He did not predestine you to rot in hell by His sovereign decree (like a cruel God!) as alleged by hyper-Calvinists.

Read Also: John Piper’s Damnably Heretical Born Again Teaching

WHAT ABOUT THE WORD “PREDESTINED” MENTIONED BY PAUL IN HIS EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS?

After mentioning the word “predestined” in Ephesians 1 (see verses 5 and 11), the apostle Paul hurriedly added man’s moral duties of listening and believing in Christ in verses 13 and 14: “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Eph. 1:13-14) “Listening and believing” are outlined in the Scriptures as essential conditions to the divine election—“in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession.” The “sealing” by the Holy Spirit of our souls as saved individuals represents a warranty of our eternal life in heaven, of which event happens only after accepting Christ in our hearts by faith. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31) We cannot just form a doctrine and teach people about it based on a certain verse of Scripture without investigating the context from which the text of Scripture was quoted.

• Free Will is a Part of Salvation Just as Freedom to Love is a Part of Love

Free will is a part of salvation through the operation of the grace of God. That is why Paul said, “How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14) Hear the word of God—that is, free will. God will provide His word through a preacher and the Holy Spirit’s enlightening presence upon the preaching of the gospel—let alone the prayers of the saints—that is the operation of God’s grace. That is biblical salvation when the gospel is believed and trusted and Christ’s Spirit Himself is received in the heart by faith.

• Love Ceases to be Love When Enforced with Coercion

Our Lord Jesus nailed His theology on our faith in Him as He told Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26) Predestinarianism is just a foreign assumption motivated by the bright feeling of importance in the eyes of heaven. But it is not how heaven gives eternal salvation to sinful humanity. It is not predestination with God instilling faith into the heart beyond the borders of human free will. God is love, and love ceases to be love when enforced with coercion.

WHAT ABOUT EPHESIANS 2:8-9 WHERE PREDESTINARIANS CLAIM THAT FAITH IS GOD’S GIFT, THEREFORE, ETERNAL LIFE IS PREDETERMINED BY GOD’S SOVEREIGN WILL

Once more, the ultra-Calvinists erred in this Scripture.

Let’s first read the text between lines: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9)

“For by grace you have been saved” — Grace is “God’s favor toward the unworthy.” We are not worthy of living in heaven because of our sins. For it, Christ said, “[J]ust as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:28) Eternal life, therefore, is a gift from God. Christ is our “indescribable gift.” (2 Cor. 9:15) “For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23)

• Faith (in Ephesians 2:8-9) is Not a Gift

I know you have a bone to pick with me on this, but please listen to Albert Barnes (Barnes Notes):

Faith is not a gift of God in this context. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Rom. 10:17)

• God does NOT BELIEVE for us. He does NOT REPENT for us

Barnes also said that FAITH IS A GIFT. But you cannot make God repent or believe for you. You must exercise FREE WILL to repent and believe in Christ if you want eternal life. This reasoning of Barnes is priceless:

Read Also: Of Vessels for the Master’s Use

CONCLUSION: WHAT MORE

Most Christians are confused about God’s method of giving us eternal life, which is by faith in Christ alone. This happened because Satan attempted to twist Christ’s plain teaching to believe in Jesus, our Lord and Savior, to have everlasting life.

The most notorious of these demonic doctrinal twists is faith plus good works, such as faith plus baptism or faith plus good morality to enter God’s kingdom. Why is this “faith plus something” unable to save a soul from hell? The short answer is the sufficiency of Christ’s blood, which was shed on the cross for our forgiveness.

If Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was just half of the solution to live forever—and therefore, needing our good works to form a complete anti-hell formula—then Christ Himself was a liar. He said, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matt. 26:28, KJV) Yes, He cannot contradict Himself. Chapter 9:14 of the Hebrews also taught us the same thing: “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

What more can Satan-infused teachings harm us, born-again Christians, when the Holy Bible is conclusive against the so-called man-made, aka “good works,” theology? Well, there is one more. The verse-adorned ultra-Calvinism’s predestination.

May this poor article have helped shed a little light on the confusion around predestination and God’s sovereign decree (as preached by predestinarians) to send people to hell or heaven without their consent.
 

READ ALSO:

• Is Living a Sanctified or Holy Life Possible?
• Is God’s Love Unaffected by Man’s Behavior?
• Human Responsibility to Believe in Christ
• Hyper-Calvinism Rejected by Biblical Christians
• Psalm 23: Divine Promises of Provision, Assurance, and Hope

• My latest book: REFLECTING ON THE WORD: A Journey Through Scripture’s Most Meaningful Passages