Acts 13:48

ἐδόξ. τὸν λ. τοῦ Κ.: δοξ. τὸν Θ.; frequent in Luke and Paul, cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:1 for the nearest approach to the exact phrase here. ὅσοι ἦσαν τεταγ.: there is no countenance here for the absolutum decretum of the Calvinists, since Acts 13:46 had already shown that the Jews had acted through their own choice. The words are really nothing more than a corollary of St. Paul's ἀναγκαῖον : the Jews as a nation had been ordained to eternal life they had rejected this election but those who believed amongst the Gentiles were equally ordained by God to eternal life, and it was in accordance with His divine appointment that the Apostles had turned to them. Some take the word as if middle, not passive: “as many as had set themselves unto eternal life,” and in support of this Rendall refers to 1 Corinthians 16:15, ἔταξαν ἑαυτοὺς (see also Blass, in loco). The rendering here given by Rendall may be adopted without pressing the military metaphor in the verb, as has sometimes been done; see Wendt's note, p. 308 (1888). St. Chrysostom takes the expression (rightly as Wendt thinks): ἀφωρισμένοι τῷ Θεῷ. Mr. Page's note, in loco, should be consulted.