And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
Acts 2:21-23
Luke, “the beloved physician” ( Colossians 4:14 ), described Peter’s statement in Acts 2:22-23 with clarity and bravery wrought by the LORD.
In Greek, Peter didn’t use the word that is normally used for the word “you crucified”. It is only used once in the Bible and literally means “to nail upon…”. The “you” is embedded in the last word, the verb “to kill”. So, it can be rendered, “having fastened, you killed.”
According to Alford’s Greek New Testament Volume 2, “The harshness and unworthiness of the deed are strongly set forth by a word expressing the mechanical act…” (23)
It is also captured by Darell Bock in Baker Exegetical New Testament Commentary: Acts “The double charge is emphatic and suggests that the handing over permitted by God included the Jewish leadership and made the nation as a whole culpable.” (II. D)
So the first and last words in v. 23 are “this [man]” and “you killed” sandwiched the double agencies…
by the definite plan and foreknowledge of God…
by the hands of wicked man…
We cannot fully understand this. But we need to accept this truth humbly because God revealed it in His infallible Word.
How can God ordain the greatest evil committed by man against His only begotten Son? But we stand amazed because, through this evil act of men, the greatest gift of salvation is wrought for all sinners. Truly, men meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
The Spirit-inspired Scripture is not ashamed to explicitly teach that the greatest evil man committed was ordained by God.
SOLI DEO GLORIA!
This article was published by Jeff Chavez for Herald of Grace Covenant Bible Church of Cavite. Click on the link for the original source: https://hgcbcc.com/2024/01/08/the-greatest-evil-ordained-by-god/
