What is the main point of Acts 2:23?
Acts 2:23 teaches that Jesus was delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, meaning His crucifixion was no accident. It was part of God's eternal plan for the ages, determined by the Triune God in eternity past, even though men freely carried it out.
Les teaches that Peter, preaching on the Day of Pentecost to Israel, rehearsed that they had crucified their Messiah, but the main point is that God has had a plan for the ages from eternity past. Acts 2:23 says Jesus was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, yet men took and crucified Him. Les explains that somewhere in eternity past the Triune God in counsel determined this plan. In His foreknowledge God could see every detail coming down through history, and though men and nations act with free will, the end result still brings everything to the end of God's purposes.
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
More Questions
What is 'the determining' in Acts 2:23?
Les explains that Peter is addressing the nation of Israel in Acts 2:22-23 about their having crucified Christ. The phrase “Him being delivered by the determinate” is rendered “the determining,” meaning the determining counsel. A council is a meeting of minds, like a president calling the cabinet together, where no decision is made until there is a meeting of minds. Les teaches that the triune God came together in eternity past before anything was created and laid out the whole plan of the ages. In that plan was the coming of Jesus of Nazareth to the nation of Israel, and in that plan was the nation's rejection of their king.
What does 'determinate' mean in Acts 2:23?
In Acts 2:23, the word 'determinate' can be understood as 'the determining' or 'the determining council,' meaning God's predetermined plan.