And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Not that the ordination was the cause of the belief, but that the belief identified those who could now be described as the ordained to eternal life.
When did it become known that these were ordained to eternal life? After they heard and believed the Word.
God had foreordained it that believing would result in eternal life. Therefore the believers were ordained to eternal life. And it was known that they were now so ordained after it was known that they had become believers.
It's a bit like saying, "The exact number of the people whom it was anticipated would attend the free concert, accepted the free-entry tickets".
I use the word "anticipated" because God predestined as many as He foreknew.
Ordination is not the same as pre-determinism in the hyper-Calvinistic sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment