What is the determinate counsel in Acts 2:23?
The determinate counsel in Acts 2:23 is God’s predetermined plan and decision, pictured as a meeting of minds among the triune God in eternity past. Before creation, they laid out the plan of the ages, including Jesus of Nazareth’s coming to Israel and Israel’s rejection of their King.
Les explains that Acts 2:22–23 records Peter addressing the nation of Israel about their having crucified the Christ. Les suggests that “determinate” can be understood as “determining,” and that “counsel” means a council, a meeting of minds, like a president’s cabinet coming together to reach a decision. This, Les says, is what the triune God did someplace way back in eternity past, before anything was ever created. They laid out the whole plan of the ages, and in that plan was the coming of Jesus of Nazareth to the nation of Israel, as well as the nation’s rejection of their King.
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
What does Acts 2:23 say about God's counsel and the crucifixion of Jesus?
Acts 2:23 states that Jesus of Nazareth was delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, yet He was taken and crucified and slain. The verse therefore sets the crucifixion within God's predetermined plan for the ages, while also addressing those who carried it out.
When did God's determinate counsel and foreknowledge in Acts 2:23 take place?
God's determinate counsel and foreknowledge took place in eternity past, before anything was ever called into being, when there was still nothing. The triune God counseled together and, in a counseled agreement, set everything in motion, including creation and the delivering of Christ.
More Questions
What is the determining council in Acts 2:23?
The 'determining council' is exactly what the triune God did in eternity past: they came together before creation to plan the ages.
Is the 'determinate counsel' in Acts 2:23 the same word as in Ephesians?
The phrase 'determinate counsel' in Acts 2:23 is the same word and language used in Ephesians about God's counsel and foreknowledge.