Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 15:18
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
Known unto God … – See the notes on Act 1:24. The meaning of this verse, in this connection, is this. God sees everything future; he knows what he will accomplish; he has a plan; all his works are so arranged in his mind that he sees everything distinctly and clearly. As he foretold these, it was a part of his plan; and as it was a part of his plan long since foretold, it should not be opposed and resisted by us.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning] As if he had said, This is not a new counsel of God: he had purposed, from the time he called the Israelites, to make the Gentiles partakers of the same grace and mercy; and ultimately to destroy those rites and ceremonies which separated them from each other. He therefore has sent the Gospel of his Son, proclaiming equally peace to him that is afar off, the Gentiles, and to him that is nigh, the Jews.
The whole of this verse is very dubious: the principal part of it is omitted by the most ancient MSS., and Griesbach has left ‘ doubtful, and has thrown out of the text. Of the former clause, Professor White, in his Crisews, says, “forsitan delenda,” “probably these words should be blotted out.” And of the latter clause he says, “certissime delenda,” “most assuredly these should be blotted out.” Supposing the whole to be genuine, critics have laboured to find out the sense. Some very learned men, and particularly Schleusner, contend that the word , from , to know, should be understood here in the same sense in which yada is in many parts of the Old Testament, which not only signifies to know, but to approve, love, c. They therefore would translate the passage thus: All the works of God are ever dear unto him. And, if so, consequently we might naturally expect him to be merciful to the Gentiles, as well as to the Jews and the evidence now afforded of the conversion of the Gentiles is an additional proof that all God’s works are equally dear to him.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This the apostle adds, that they might not be offended with the seeming novelty and surprise of the calling of the Gentiles, and abrogation of the ceremonies; for it was no other than what God had before determined to do, and therefore they ought to rest satisfied in the wise and holy appointments of God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18, 19. Known unto God are all hisworks from the beginningHe who announced these things so longbefore, and He who had now brought them to pass, were one and thesame; so that they were no novelty.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Known unto God are all his works,…. These are the words of James, and not of Amos; all the things which God does in the church and in the world, they were all foreknown and predetermined by him: from the beginning of the world; or from eternity; even all his works of creation, providence and grace: the Alexandrian copy, and Beza’s most ancient copy, and the Vulgate Latin version, read in the singular number, “his work”; the work of the conversion of the Gentiles; this was fixed and resolved on by God in eternity; he knew it would be, because he had determined it should be; and accordingly he foretold it, and spoke of it in various periods of time before it came to pass; and therefore it should not be looked upon as some new and strange thing, that was never known, spoken or heard of: and this holds true of every other work of God, and agrees with what the Jews sometimes say z, that
“every work which is renewed in the world, the holy blessed God has commanded (or ordered) it from the day the world was created.”
z Zohar in Exod. fol. 78. 2. Vid. ib. in Lev. fol. 25. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
From the beginning of the world (‘ ). Or, “from of old.” James adds these words, perhaps with a reminiscence of Isa 45:21. His point is that this purpose of God, as set forth in Amos, is an old one. God has an Israel outside of and beyond the Jewish race, whom he will make his true “Israel” and so there is no occasion for surprise in the story of God’s dealings with the Gentiles as told by Barnabas and Paul. God’s eternal purpose of grace includes all who call upon his name in every land and people (Isa 2:1; Mic 4:1). This larger and richer purpose and plan of God was one of the mysteries which Paul will unfold in the future (Rom 16:25; Eph 3:9). James sees it clearly now. God is making it known ( ), if they will only be willing to see and understand. It was a great deliverance that James had made and it exerted a profound influence on the assembly.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Known unto God, etc. The best texts join these words with the preceding verse, from which they omit all; rendering, The Lord, who maketh these things known from the beginning of the world.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Known unto God are all His works,” (gnosta) “Known,” to God are His works, purposes, and master plan — as the omniscient one who knoweth all, who does not change His purpose and plans because of deeds of depraved men, Isa 42:8-9; Isa 46:9-10; Mat 24:36; 1Jn 3:20 asserts that He “knoweth all things;” but let it be observed that though all things “are known,” and He knoweth all things,” in no place does the Word of God assert (as extreme Calvinists assert) -that He “forefixed all things!”
2) “From the beginning of the world.” (apo aionos) “Which originated from the ages,” or had their origin before ages and eras were marked out as time; God has not only known all things from the beginning of the world, or the ages, but He also knows all things now, is never less than omniscient, (all-knowing) at any time, and all times, Act 3:18; Psa 139:1-16; 1Pe 1:18-20. But to say what the Bible does- not say, “that He foreknew all things, acts, deeds, etc., is to add to the Word of God! God has not involved His mind in pre-review or revelation of when every grasshopper may lose his leg, or every grass its seed, before the grasshopper existed or the grass ever came forth from a previous seed. This bold, broad, unsustained, extreme Calvinist position that “God fore-knew all things,” as a major premise on which to argue their extreme prefixing of salvation for aII men is an error, involves God in pre-mental exercise of folly, a thing unsustained by the Scriptures, Isa 40:22; Isa 40:28.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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18. Known from the beginning. This is a prevention, − (133) to put away the hatred which might have risen upon the novelty; for the sudden change might have been suspected, and therefore did it trouble weak minds. Therefore James preventeth, showing that this was no new thing with God, though it fell out suddenly otherwise than men thought; because God saw, before the world was created, what he would do, and the calling of the Gentiles was hidden in his secret counsel. Whereupon it followeth, that it must not be esteemed according to the sense of man. Furthermore, James hath respect unto the words of the prophet, when he affirmeth that God, who should do all these things, was also the author of the prophecy. Therefore, his meaning is, that, seeing God speaketh by his prophet, he saw then, yea, from the very beginning, − (134) that neither uncircumcision nor anything else should let him, but that he would choose the Gentiles into his family. Nevertheless, there is comprehended under this a general exhortation, that men do not take upon them to measure, with the small measure of their wit, the works of God, the reason whereof is oftentimes known to none but to himself; but rather let them cry, being astonished, − (135) that his ways are past finding out, and that his judgments are too deep a depth, ( Rom 11:33.)
(133) −
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Prolepsis,” an anticipation
(134) −
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Ab ultima aeternitate,” from the remotest eternity
(135) −
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Exclament cum stupore,” exclaim in amazement.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) Known unto God are all his works.The better MSS. give all His worki.e., the great work of the government and education of mankind. The words are an implicit answer to the charge of innovation. If the work were of God, it could not be so called, for His mercies are everlasting, and the work which He carries on now must be thought of as contemplated and purposed from eternity. The principle has clearly a wider range than that within which St. James applies it. We do well to remember, whenever we are tempted to offer an obstinate resistance to what seems to us a novelty, and which we therefore are ready to condemn, that we ought first to inquire whether the signs of the times do not indicate that it is part of the divine plan, working through the ages, that the old order should change and give place to the new.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. Known from the beginning God is not taken by surprise; nor has he changed the eternal plans of his own conduct. What seems a great change to us is, in fact, fully accordant with Jehovah’s most comprehensive plan, which takes all the wise changes into its own scope.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Act 15:18. Known unto God are all his works The apostle plainly speaks here, not of God’s works in the natural world, but of his dispensations towards the children of men: now he could not know those, without knowing the actions and characters of particular persons, on a correspondence to which, the wisdom and goodness of those dispensations is founded. Thus, for instance, he must have knownthat there would be Gentile idolaters, (a thing as dependant on the freedom of the human mind, as any thing that we can imagine,) or he could not have known that he would call them into his church. This text, therefore, must remain an unanswerable proof, amongst a thousand more from the word of God, that he certainly foreknows future contingencies. Dr. Clarke’s paraphrase of the text is, “The method of his universal government, through the whole system, both of the natural and moral world, is according to certain uniform rules eternally established by unerring wisdom.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
Ver. 18. Known unto God, &c. ] And consequently the calling of the Gentiles is foreknown and foreappointed by him, as a thing to be done in due time, though they be never circumcised.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
18. ] The variation of reading here is remarkable. The text which I have given is in all probability the original, and the words inserted in the rec. have been intended as a help out of their difficulty. Not only are they wanting in several ancient MSS., but they bear the sure mark of spuriousness, manifold variations in the MSS. where they do occur. The sense, and account of the text seem to be this: the Apostle paraphrases the ( ) of the LXX, adding , and intending to express ‘saith the Lord, who from the beginning revealed these things,’ viz. by the prophet (of old, see reff.) just cited. The addition in the rec. has been made to fill up the apparently elliptical , which not being found in the passage of Amos, was regarded as a sentence by itself. These last words, . . . . ., may perhaps be an allusion to the mystery of the admission of the Gentiles into the, church, which was now being revealed practically, and had been from of old announced by the prophets: cf. Rom 16:25-26 ; Eph 3:5-6 , &c.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 15:18 . In R.V. the phrase is connected closely with the preceding clause, see critical notes: “who maketh these things known from the beginning of the world” (“of time,” Ramsay), or margin, “who doeth these things which were known” etc. St. James may perhaps have added the words freely to the LXX to emphasise his argument that the call of the Gentiles was a carrying out of God’s eternal purpose, but there is nothing corresponding to the words in the Hebrew, although at the end of Act 15:11 we have : LXX, , and somewhat similar phrase in Isa 45:21 , see Zckler, in loco , for different authorities, and for further discussion of the words, Klostermann, Probleme im Aposteltexte , p. 128. is peculiar to Luke in N.T., cf. Luk 1:70 , Act 3:21 ; it may simply = “of old time,” see Plummer, St. Luke, l. c. , but here it may intimate that St. James refers to that purpose of God revealed by all the prophets, as in Act 3:21 . In Psalms of Solomon , Act 8:7 , seems to be equivalent to “from the creation of the heaven and earth,” cf. Ps. 118:52. If the conference was held in Greek, as we may reasonably conclude from the fact that Gentile interests were at stake, and that many of the Gentiles, as of the Hellenistic Jews, would probably be present, it is very significant that St. James, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, quotes the rendering of the LXX so apposite for his purpose, and that he should see the spiritual restoration of the house of David in the kingdom of Jesus, and the fulfilment of prophecy in the reception of the Gentiles into the kingdom of the Messiah, so exclusively guarded by the Jews.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Known. Greek. gnostos. See note on Act 1:19.
from the . . . world = from the age. Greek. ap’ aionos. App-151.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
18.] The variation of reading here is remarkable. The text which I have given is in all probability the original, and the words inserted in the rec. have been intended as a help out of their difficulty. Not only are they wanting in several ancient MSS., but they bear the sure mark of spuriousness,-manifold variations in the MSS. where they do occur. The sense, and account of the text seem to be this: the Apostle paraphrases the () of the LXX, adding , and intending to express saith the Lord, who from the beginning revealed these things, viz. by the prophet (of old, see reff.) just cited. The addition in the rec. has been made to fill up the apparently elliptical , which not being found in the passage of Amos, was regarded as a sentence by itself. These last words, . . . . ., may perhaps be an allusion to the mystery of the admission of the Gentiles into the, church, which was now being revealed practically, and had been from of old announced by the prophets: cf. Rom 16:25-26; Eph 3:5-6, &c.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 15:18. , known from the beginning of the world) James infers this from the prediction itself, and from the words of the same prophet, which appeal to the days of eternity [LXX., : Engl. Vers. Amo 9:11, I will build it as in the days of old]; and to these words the apostle, returning back again to the same prophecy, alludes. We have commented on the words in our notes above. GOD predicted , As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began (from eternity, a seculo), Luk 1:70 : therefore He knew from eternity. Wherefore we ought not to shrink from this (the admission of the Gentiles) as something strange and marvellous. GOD did not give circumcision in such a way as that it was always to last: for at the same time He predicted the conversion of the Gentiles. An admirable Axiom; as Sir 23:20, (= , Lat. prius-quam) , , all things were known to Him before that they were founded, or created. And from this the Divine prescience of all things is demonstrated; for all the works of GOD, especially rewards and punishments, presuppose all the motions (even including the free motions of will and deed) of His creatures.- , His work[89]) The singular number has peculiar emphasis. It is to be referred to the words, , who doeth these things, Act 15:17.
[89] Not works, as Engl. Vers. with Ee and later Syr. BC Memph. and Theb. omit all but : so Tisch. But ADd Vulg. and Iren. read , as Beng. and Lachm.-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Act 17:26, Num 23:19, Isa 41:22, Isa 41:23, Isa 44:7, Isa 46:9, Isa 46:10, Mat 13:35, Mat 25:34, Eph 1:4, Eph 1:11, Eph 3:9, 2Th 2:13, 1Pe 1:20, Rev 13:8, Rev 17:8
Reciprocal: Job 28:23 – General Psa 33:11 – all generations Isa 41:4 – calling Isa 42:9 – new things Isa 48:5 – even Jer 32:17 – there Dan 5:26 – God Dan 10:21 – I will Zec 8:20 – there Zec 14:7 – which Mal 1:11 – my name Joh 6:64 – For Act 2:23 – being Act 18:10 – for Rom 3:25 – set forth Rom 4:17 – calleth Rom 11:2 – which he foreknew 2Ti 1:9 – before Tit 1:2 – before
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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Act 15:18. All of this was according to what God always knew he was going to do. With Him all dates are the same as “now” (Isa 46:10).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 15:18. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. There are many variations of the Greek text here, but they all yield much the same meaning. On the whole, the translation of the best supported reading isAct 15:17, Saith the Lord, who doeth these things, Act 15:18, which were known from the beginning of the world; in other words, James says, What we now propose to sanction, namely, the extending the gospel summons to the heathen world without imposing upon them the hard yoke and burden of the Mosaic rites and ceremonial law, God has from the very beginning known. It is no unexpected event; it is simply carrying into effect an eternal decree of the ever blessed Trinity.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 13
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
15:18 {h} Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
(h) And therefore nothing comes to pass by chance, but only by God’s appointment.