Acts 15:18

18 known from of old.'

Acts 15:18 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 15:18

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 ^F26, 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.''

---

FOOTNOTES:

F26 Zohar in Exod. fol. 78. 2. Vid. ib. in Lev. fol. 25. 4.

Acts 15:18 In-Context

16 'After these [things] I will return and build up again the tent of David that has fallen, and the [parts] of it that had been torn down I will build up again and will restore it,

17 so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles {who are called by my name}, says the Lord, who makes these [things]

18 known from of old.'

19 Therefore I conclude we should not cause difficulty for those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,

20 but we should write a letter to them to abstain from the pollution of idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood.

Footnotes

• [a] The last phrase of v. 17 and all of v. 18 is an allusion to Isa 45:21