ethnos). BibliographyPoole, Matthew, "Commentary on Acts 17:26". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cgt/acts-17.html. See Matthew 8:19; Matthew 16:14. Acts 17:26-27 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 1851. (Aristot. 26. ἐποίησέν τε ἐξ ἑνὸς πᾶν ἔθνος ἀνθρώπων, and hath made of one every nation of men. This fact excludes the possibility of the essential superiority of any race. see critical note, “having determined their appointed seasons,” R.V. Compare "dwellers", Acts 2:5. Acts 17:4 "And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few." "E.W. Theb. Walton’s New Interpretation of Acts 17:26 With this background in mind, one of the reasons Walton believes Paul’s statement in Acts 17:26 is a reference to Noah is that it echoes Genesis 10:32: I would contend that in this verse he is not talking about biology or about human origins. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bul/acts-17.html. The previous verses had given what we may venture to call St. Paul’s Philosophy of Religion. The God of Creation is also the God of human history. "Mark Dunagan Commentaries on the Bible". Use this table to get a … "Commentary on Acts 17:26". One of these truths is the fact that the human family shares a common origin. i. And hath made of one blood all nations, [ pan (G3956) ethnos (G1484), 'every nation'] of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth. 2. The special gifts of character of each race—Hebrew thought of God, Greek sense of beauty, Roman sense of law, Teutonic truthfulness, Keltic impulsiveness, Negro docility—have all their work to do. καιροὺς: if we read προστεταγ. It is a general, if not universal, test of a species that the sexual union be fertile. Holding, with the Old Testament teaching, that in the blood is the life (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:11; Deuteronomy 12:23), the apostle (says Baumgarten) sees this life-stream of the whole human race to be one, flowing from one course. It is more than likely that the church was organized and the edifice built in some after age and named for Dionysius, the Pauline convert, as there were no church edifices built in the Apostolic churches until A. D. 150. When Renan and others speak of Christianity extending its hand to the philosophy of Greece in the beautiful theory which it proclaimed of the moral unity of the human race (Saint Paul, p. 197) it must not be forgotten that Rome and not Greece manifested the perfection of Pagan ethics, and that, even so, the sayings of a Seneca or an Epictetus wanted equally with those of a Zeno “a lifting power in human life”. What does this verse really mean? There is a oneness of physical structure, of conditions and modes of life, of possible or actual development, which forbids any one race or nation, Hebrew, Hellenic, Latin, or Teutonic, to assume for itself that it is the cream and flower of humanity. Acts 17:26 . It must take a lot of nerve (or unbelief) on the part of certain professed Christians, to assert that the early chapters of Genesis are mythical. Acts 17:24-26. Anatomically, “the missing link” between man and brute has, up to this date, never been discovered; and, spiritually, even Professor Huxley declares that the difference “is practically infinite.”. If God does not want the races to be together, then it would seem to be right for Christians to support segregation. protasso. "Family Bible New Testament". habitation. Moreover, nothing suggests that God… All local circumstances of soil and climate that influence character come under the head of the “bounds of men’s habitation.” All conditions of time—the period at which each race has been called to play its part in the drama of the world’s history—come under the head of the “appointed seasons.”. αὐτοῦ ἔσται, ἐν προστάγματι αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ εὐδοκία, having determined their appointed seasons, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. It is not merely that men are all of one family and so all equal in God’s eyes, and ought to be in the eyes of one another. For example, in Acts 21:17-26, we see Paul doing three things: – Asked if he keeps the law – Says he keeps the law – Performs a seven-day vow that this found in the law. "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". But DEde and both Syr. He asserts the unity of the living nature (for “the blood is the life”) of men. horizo. "To deny the Creation is not just to deny the Genesis record only. "He made of one" The particular one was Adam. If God does not want the races to be together, then it would seem to be right for Christians to support segregation. See Daniel 5:21 and Jeremiah 18:6-10. in Latin, maris facies, Æn., v., 768, naturæ vultus, Ovid, Met., i., 6.— ὁρίσας προτεταγ. The Greeks liked to think that they determined their own destiny. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Acts 17:26 – The Family of Man By Wayne Jackson. This doctrine was preached by Moses, who tells the people, that God is their life, and the length of their days, that they might love him, and obey his voice, and cleave unto him, Deuteronomy 30:20. Acts 21:17-26. Acts 17:26. ); but whilst the Apostle’s words were raised above any such special polemic, yet he may well have had in mind the characteristic pride of his hearers, whilst asserting a truth which cut at the root of all national pride engendered by polytheism on the one hand, by a belief in a god of this nation or of that, or of a philosophic pride engendered by a hard Stoicism on the other. The beautiful and true conception of the ‘common brotherhood of men’ has in no little degree contributed to the reception of the gospel amid so many different peoples: ‘Then, having met, they speak and they remember. They justify all that the wise of heart have said as to the “manifold wisdom of God,” as seen in history and in the education of mankind. "Whedon's Commentary on the Bible". 1905. He naturally accepted the truth as it was presented to him in the Mosaic history of the Creation; but the truth itself, stated in its fullest form, would remain, even if we were to accept other theories of the origin of species and the history of man. [The shortened reading - "hath made of one" ( ex (Greek #1537) henos (Greek #1520), leaving out the important word "blood") - which is the reading of 'Aleph (') A B, and a few other manuscripts, and of the Vulgate, and one or two other versions, is adopted by Lachmann (who usually follows the Vulgate); but not by Tischendorf, though he usually follows the above manuscripts. The Expositor's Greek Testament. Each has rights given him by his heavenly Father, of which no man or body of men can deprive him, without deep injustice against a brother, and flagrant rebellion against God. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is … And hath determined the times [before] appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. Thessalonica was a city actually of many synagogues. Here Paul definitely asserts that God created the whole human race from one common stock. Greek. All the varieties of man are by this test proved to be the same species; and all other earthly beings are by the same test excluded from humanity. This accounts for Paul’s failure at Athens, not making converts enough to organize a church. It is easier to convert a hundred illiterate, ignorant people than one highly-cultured infidel, as knowledge is a citadel of power, and with the unsaved always occupied by the devil. (26) And hath made of one blood all nations of men.—Literally, every nation. When Paul proclaimed the gospel of Christ in Athens, Greece, he set forth a number of profound truths regarding the Creator (the God not known by the Greeks — Acts 17:23). BibliographyJamieson, Robert, D.D. The Bible is clear, Adam was the first man (1 Corinthians 15:45). The true policy is to go for nothing but salvation, until you get them saved, and educate them afterward. BibliographySchaff, Philip. And He hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, ASV. BibliographyBullinger, Ethelbert William. But the true reading beyond doubt is, 'fixed the set times, and the bounds of their habitation' [ prostetagmenos (Greek #4367) is the only reading of authority: protetagmenos of the Received Text has next to none]. also πρόσταγμα, Jeremiah 5:24, Sirach 39:16. "Commentary on Acts 17:26". "Having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation" "Having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation" (NASV). "Commentary on Acts 17:26". If the word was to be taken with κατοικίας it would have the article and χρόνος would be more probably used, cf. Only here. And hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their, "and He made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined {their} appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation", "Having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation", "Although, God cannot be held responsible for the tyranny or aggression of individual nations (their abuse of freewill), yet both the history and the geography of each nation are ultimately under His control", Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Commentary Critical and Explanatory - Unabridged, Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible, Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures.