Bible Strands
Acts 15:18
that have been known for ages.’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — James addresses the Jerusalem council concerning the status of Gentile converts, closing his speech on the inclusion of the nations.
The words — γνωστὰ (gnōsta) translates as "known" and αἰῶνος (aiōnos) as "from eternity" or "for ages." Combined with πάντα (panta, "all") and θεῷ (theō, "to God"), the phrase literally declares that all things are known to God from ages past.
The thread — This claim of divine foreknowledge aligns with Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 3:9, and Isaiah 46:9, which similarly attribute eternal knowledge and hidden counsel to God.
Why it lands — The text states that God's gathering of the Gentiles is not a recent adjustment but part of His long-standing knowledge, then interpreters infer that human deliberation must yield to that settled divine plan.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
Cross-references
- Ephesians 1:4 For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
- Ephesians 3:9 and to illuminate for everyone the stewardship of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
- Isaiah 46:9 Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.
- 1 Peter 1:20 He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.
- Ephesians 1:11 In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
- Acts 17:26 From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
- Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Matthew 13:35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth.
- Isaiah 41:22 “Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell the former things, so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome. Or announce to us what is coming.