Acts 4:28

Acts 4:28. To do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. These important words must be connected closely with the foregoing clause, thus: ‘Herod and Pontius Pilate, etc., were gathered together to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done.' Meyer well observes here: ‘The Lord's death was not the chance work of arbitrary hate, but, on the contrary, the necessary result of the Divine purpose, which must use man's free acts as its instrument. The words of Œcumenius are to the same purpose: ‘They came together as enemies; but they were doing what Thou didst plan.' Leo I. writes on this difficult question: ‘The Lord did not direct the hands of those raging ones against Himself, but He allowed them to be so directed; nor did He, by His foreknowledge of what would be done, oblige it to be done; nor did He require them to will these things; but He gave them power (so to will) if they pleased.' Wordsworth's three great principles which he lays down as not to be lost sight of in discussions on this and similar texts, are admirable:

(1.) That God is the one great First Cause.

(2.) That He wills that all should act according to the law which He has given them.

(3.) That it is His will that man's will should be free.