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NASB | Acts 8:13 Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 8:13 Even Simon believed [Philip's message of salvation]; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he watched the attesting signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. |
Subject: How do I make sense of the context? |
Bible Note: "Here is where we differ on our definition of 'free'. If God has ordained that I would not pray, then how can I 'freely' disobey?" Let me quote the Puritan Thomas Vincent on that: "God's general decrees are his eternal purpose, whereby he hath fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass; not only the beaing of all creatures which he doth make, but also their motions and actions; not only good actions, which he doth effect, but also the permission of all evil actions." So God's decree, according to this view, does indeed include a permissive quality as well as a quality of direct intervention. Satan is not made to act in this world, but God allows him to act within the parameters that He has estblished, and ultimately uses Satan's evil for his glory. We see all throughout Scripture where the sins of men and the intentions of God go hand-in-hand. Joseph tells his brothers in Genesis 50:20 that what they meant for evil, God MEANT for good. He doesn't say that God simply "made lemonade out of lemons," but rather intended for Joseph to be sold into slavery and carted off to a foreign land and be framed and spend seven years in prison. Now did God cause the sin? No, that would be going to far, as you have stated. However, saying that He intended and decreed that the sin would happen is a different thing. Another interesting thing that I find is that, to me, God seems to direct the sinful hearts of men in almost imperceptible ways. For example, Joseph's brothers originally intend to kill him, but suddenly Reuben has an alternate plan (Genesis 37:21 ff.). The same thing is true in the case of Absalom. Absalom, already looking to sin, fulfills God's decree on the advice of another human being (2 Samuel 16:20-21). The sin is Absalom's (he wasn't a robot); the specific decree was God's, who said without a doubt that this thing GOD would do as a response to David's sin. We see this all throughout Scripture, like the pagan Assyrians (God-haters) being raised up as a tool for God's judgment against Israel, and then being destroyed themselves, according to God's purpose and plan, for their own arrogance. We see Paul commenting in Romans 9:17, pointing back to the Torah's comment that Pharaoh was raised up by God for the express purpose of demonstrate God's power in the destruction of his reign. Over and over again we see the truth that "The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps." --Proverbs 16:9 And most clearly, as you have stated, in the murder of Jesus: "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur."--Acts 4:27-28 "There are some things which are essential to God's plan, like the death of Christ, which are ordained, but not every act or decision. But, I can never accept any definition of free which includes 'ordained'." I am not sure I am following you, here. Let's look at the death of Christ. You yourself say that God ordained it to happen. Does that mean that the actions of the men who put him to death were not free? Was Judas free to betray or not to betray? Was Pilate free to wash his hands or not wash his hands? Assuming that you hold the answer to be "yes," how can you accept the simultaneous decree of God and the free actions of sinful men in this case but not in most of the others? --Joe! |