Matthew Bates on Acts 13:48

The closest the Bible comes to affirming individual predestining election is Acts 13:48. The verse states that the gentiles rejoiced upon hearing Paul’s message, “and as many as were appointed [ēsan tetagmenoi] to eternal life gave pistis [episteusan].” But God’s foreordinaed or prior choosing (e.g., before time) is in all likelihood not emphasized here (to suggest otherwise is weak exegesis as it overloads the perfect passive participle tetagmenoi with inappropriate temporal and theological weight); rather it merely emphasized that God is sovereign over appointment to eternal life even at the individual level. The timing of this appointment is not specified other than that it is prior to or simultaneous with the individuals giving pistis. (Matthew B. Bates, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2017], 171 n. 11)