Acts 15:18

Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) Known unto God are all his works.—The better MSS. give “all His work”—i.e., the great work of the government and education of mankind. The words are an implicit answer to the charge of innovation. If the work were of God, it could not be so called, for His mercies are everlasting, and the work which He carries on now must be thought of as contemplated and purposed from eternity. The principle has clearly a wider range than that within which St. James applies it. We do well to remember, whenever we are tempted to offer an obstinate resistance to what seems to us a novelty, and which we therefore are ready to condemn, that we ought first to inquire whether the “signs of the times” do not indicate that it is part of the divine plan, working through the ages, that the old order should change and give place to the new.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:7-21 We see from the words purifying their hearts by faith, and the address of St. Peter, that justification by faith, and sanctification by the Holy Ghost, cannot be separated; and that both are the gift of God. We have great cause to bless God that we have heard the gospel. May we have that faith which the great Searcher of hearts approves, and attests by the seal of the Holy Spirit. Then our hearts and consciences will be purified from the guilt of sin, and we shall be freed from the burdens some try to lay upon the disciples of Christ. Paul and Barnabas showed by plain matters of fact, that God owned the preaching of the pure gospel to the Gentiles without the law of Moses; therefore to press that law upon them, was to undo what God had done. The opinion of James was, that the Gentile converts ought not to be troubled about Jewish rites, but that they should abstain from meats offered to idols, so that they might show their hatred of idolatry. Also, that they should be cautioned against fornication, which was not abhorred by the Gentiles as it should be, and even formed a part of some of their rites. They were counselled to abstain from things strangled, and from eating blood; this was forbidden by the law of Moses, and also here, from reverence to the blood of the sacrifices, which being then still offered, it would needlessly grieve the Jewish converts, and further prejudice the unconverted Jews. But as the reason has long ceased, we are left free in this, as in the like matters. Let converts be warned to avoid all appearances of the evils which they formerly practised, or are likely to be tempted to; and caution them to use Christian liberty with moderation and prudence.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Known unto God ... - See the notes on Acts 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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18, 19. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning—He who announced these things so long before, and He who had now brought them to pass, were one and the same; so that they were no novelty.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This the apostle adds, that they might not be offended with the seeming novelty and surprise of the calling of the Gentiles, and abrogation of the ceremonies; for it was no other than what God had before determined to do, and therefore they ought to rest satisfied in the wise and holy appointments of God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 (z), 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.''

(z) Zohar in Exod. fol. 78. 2. Vid. ib. in Lev. fol. 25. 4.

Geneva Study Bible

{h} Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

(h) And therefore nothing comes to pass by chance, but only by God's appointment.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 15:18. In R.V. the phrase ἀπʼ αἰῶνος is connected closely with the preceding clause, see critical notes: “who maketh these things known from the beginning of the world” (“of time,” Ramsay), or margin, “who doeth these things which were known” etc. St. James may perhaps have added the words freely to the LXX to emphasise his argument that the call of the Gentiles was a carrying out of God’s eternal purpose, but there is nothing corresponding to the words in the Hebrew, although at the end of Acts 15:11 we have ׃בִּימֵי עוֹלָם: LXX, καθὼς αἱ ἡμέραι ἀπʼ αἰῶνος, and somewhat similar phrase in Isaiah 45:21, see Zöckler, in loco, for different authorities, and for further discussion of the words, Klostermann, Probleme im Aposteltexte, p. 128. ἀπʼ αἰῶνος is peculiar to Luke in N.T., cf. Luke 1:70, Acts 3:21; it may simply = “of old time,” see Plummer, St. Luke, l. c., but here it may intimate that St. James refers to that purpose of God revealed by all the prophets, as in Acts 3:21. In Psalms of Solomon, Acts 8:7, ἀπʼ αἰῶνος seems to be equivalent to “from the creation of the heaven and earth,” cf. Ps. 118:52. If the conference was held in Greek, as we may reasonably conclude from the fact that Gentile interests were at stake, and that many of the Gentiles, as of the Hellenistic Jews, would probably be present, it is very significant that St. James, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, quotes the rendering of the LXX so apposite for his purpose, and that he should see the spiritual restoration of the house of David in the kingdom of Jesus, and the fulfilment of prophecy in the reception of the Gentiles into the kingdom of the Messiah, so exclusively guarded by the Jews.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 15:18. Γνωστὸν ἀπʼ αἰῶνος, known from the beginning of the world) James infers this from the prediction itself, and from the words of the same prophet, which appeal to the days of eternity [LXX., αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ αἰῶνος: Engl. Vers. Amos 9:11, “I will build it as in the days of old”]; and to these words the apostle, returning back again to the same prophecy, alludes. We have commented on the words in our notes above. GOD predicted ἀπʼ αἰῶνος, “As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began” (from eternity, “a seculo”), Luke 1:70 : therefore He knew from eternity. Wherefore we ought not to shrink from this (the admission of the Gentiles) as something strange and marvellous. GOD did not give circumcision in such a way as that it was always to last: for at the same time He predicted the conversion of the Gentiles. An admirable Axiom; as Sir 23:20, πρινὴ (= πρὶν ἢ, Lat. prius-quam) κτισθῆναι, τὰ πάντα ἔγνωσται αὐτῷ, all things were known to Him before that they were founded, or created. And from this the Divine prescience of all things is demonstrated; for all the works of GOD, especially rewards and punishments, presuppose all the motions (even including the free motions of will and deed) of His creatures.—τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ, His work[89]) The singular number has peculiar emphasis. It is to be referred to the words, Ὁ ΠΟΙῶΝ ΤΑῦΤΑ, who doeth these things, Acts 15:17.

[89] Not works, as Engl. Vers. with Ee and later Syr. BC Memph. and Theb. omit all but γνωστὰ ἀπʼ αἰῶνος: so Tisch. But ADd Vulg. and Iren. read τὸ ἴργον αὐτοῦ, as Beng. and Lachm.—E. and T.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - Who maketh these things known, etc., for who doeth all these things (in ver. 17 of A.V.); known for known unto God are all his works, A.V. and T.R. Known from the beginning of the world. The above passage from Amos 9:11, 12, is quoted, not very exactly, though with no change of sense, from the LXX., where it ends with the words, "saith the Lord, who doeth all these things," as in the A.V. But the LXX. ver. 17 differs widely from the present Hebrew text. For whereas the Hebrew has, "That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen that are called by my Name," the LXX. (Cod. Alex.) have Ὅπως α}ν ἐκζητήσωσιν οἱ κατάλοιποι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸν Κύριον καὶ ππάντα τὰ ἔθνη κ.τ.λ., where it is evident that they read יִדְרְשׁוּ, seek after, for יֵרְשׁוּ, possess, and אָדָם, men, for אֶדום, Edom. There is every appearance of the LXX., followed here by St. James, having preserved the true reading. As regards the reading of the R.V. in ver. 18, it is a manifest corruption. It is not the reading of either the Hebrew or the Greek version of Amos, or of any other version; and it makes no sense. Whereas the T.R., which is the reading of Irenaeus (3:12.), as Meyer truly says, "presents a thought completely clear, pious, noble, and inoffensive as regards the connection," though he thinks that a reason for rejecting it. Nothing could be more germane to St. James's argument than thus to show from the words of Amos that God's present purpose of taking the Gentiles to be his people was, like all his other works, formed from the beginning of the world (comp. Ephesians 1:9, 10; Ephesians 3:5, 6; 2 Timothy 1:9, etc.). As regards the interpretation of the prophecy of Amos intended, the idea seems to be that that apparent ruin of the house and family of David which culminated in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus would be followed by those "sure mercies of David," which consisted in his resurrection from the dead, his exaltation to the right hand of God, and the gathering in of the Gentiles to his kingdom. The phrase, "the tabernacle of David," is rather difficult, because the word in the Hebrew is סֻכַּת דָזִיד, tabernacle or booth of David. It is the word used for the booths at the Feast of Tabernacles, and denotes a temporary shed of branches or the like of a very humble character. It is difficult to say why this word was used, unless it was to show that the house of David had fallen to a low estate before it was pulled down. Acts 15:18

Vincent's Word Studies

Known unto God, etc

The best texts join these words with the preceding verse, from which they omit all; rendering, The Lord, who maketh these things known from the beginning of the world.