Acts 15:18
in Acts 15that have been known for ages.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Saith the Lord, who maketh these things known from of old.
KJV
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
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This verse in Acts 15
Commentary
10 notes on this verseKnown 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.
This site's exposition
words of the prophets
on Acts 15:15-18
James cites Amos 9:11 to 12, reading the inclusion of the Gentiles as the restoration of the fallen tent of David. The line so that the remnant of men may seek the Lord follows the Septuagint, which reads seek where the Hebrew reads possess.
This site's exposition
that have been known for ages
These closing words stand beyond Amos 9:12, and Knowling hears in them Isaiah 45:21, where God declared His purpose long ago. The received text lengthens them into a statement that God knows all His works. The plan is older than the objection.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
The Jews understood this to refer to the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem after the exile. But this is not true, for that temple was destroyed many times thereafter; the prophecy promises an everlasting rebuilding. Those who say it refers to Zerubbabel have not …
"Saith the Lord, which doeth these things." Not "saith" only, but "doeth." Why then, it was God's work. "But the question is other than this namely, what Peter spoke more plainly, whether they must be circumcised. Then why dost thou harangue about these matters?" For what the objectors asserted, was not that they must not be received upon believing, but that it must be with the Law. And upon this Peter well pleaded: but then, as this very thing above all others troubled the hearers, therefore he sets this to rights again. And observe, that which was needful to be enacted as a rule, that it is not necessary to keep the Law, this Peter introduced: but the milder part, the truth which was received of old, this James saith, and dwells upon that concerning which nothing is written, in order that having soothed their minds by that which is acknowledged, he may opportunely introduce this likewise.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Known unto God are all his works from eternity - Which the apostle infers from the prophecy itself, and the accomplishment of it. And this conversion of the Gentiles being known to him from eternity, we ought not to think a new or strange thing.
Known unto God are all his works,....
The result of this debate, and the circular letter that was written to the Gentile converts, directing them how to govern themselves with respect to Jews,
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
It is an excellent maxim here laid down concerning all God's works, both of providence and grace, in the natural and spiritual kingdom, that they were all known unto him from the beginning of the world, from the time he first began to work, which supposes his knowing them (as other scriptures speak) from before the foundation of the world, and therefore from all eternity.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
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.
The words behind it
3 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| γνωστὰ | gnosta | known | G1110 → | 15 times |
| ἀπ᾽ | ap᾽ | from | G575 → | 640 times |
| αἰῶνος | aionos | eternity’ | G165 → |
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ephesians 1:4For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
it leads to
- 2 Timothy 1:9
He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.
- Romans 8:28–30
And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
- Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
- Matthew 25:34
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
- 1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- 2 Timothy 1:9
Through
Ephesians 1:11In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
it leads to
- Romans 8:28
And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
- Romans 8:28
Through
1 Peter 1:20He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.
it leads to
- Ephesians 1:4
For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
- 2 Timothy 1:9–10
He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.
- Ephesians 1:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies19
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On this chapter
About Acts
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 33; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on Acts and R. J. Knowling, The Acts of the Apostles, The Expositor's Greek Testament.