And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad - glad to perceive that their accession to Christ was matter of divine arrangement as well as apostolic effort,
And glorified the word of the Lord (Jesus) - by a cordial reception of it, giving to it the obedience of faith. Compare John 3:33, "He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true; and 2 Thessalonians 3:1, "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified."
And as many as were ordained [ tetagmenoi (G5021 ), or 'appointed,'] to eternal life believed. A very remarkable statement, which cannot, without force, be interpreted of anything lower than this-that a divine ordination to eternal life is the cause, not the effect, of any man's believing. Grotius (and after him many others, as Humphry) plead ingeniously for a middle sense of the verb, and translate thus: 'As many as disposed (or 'addicted') themselves to eternal life'-referring to 1 Corinthians 16:15. But this, besides having very much of a strained appearance, is vapid, and almost tautological. In favour of the King James Version are such critics as Bengel, Olshausen, Meyer, DeWette, Winer, Alford, Hackett, Webster and Wilkinson. 'In the words, "as many as were ordained to eternal life," we must reckon (says Olshausen, himself a Lutheran) the idea which pervades the whole Scriptures of a predestination of saints. The attempts which have been, made to evade it are in the highest degree forced.'