One of the passages that has received a rather wide range of treatment from Mr. Hunt in his anti-Calvinistic crusade is Acts 13:48. The reason is clear to see. A quick review of the leading committee-led translations of the Bible in the English language presents a striking consistency in rendering this verse’s last clause:
| KJV | and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. |
| ASV | and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. |
| ESV | and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. |
| NASB | and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. |
| NET | and all who had been appointed for eternal life believed. |
| NIV | and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. |
| NKJV | And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. |
| NLT | and all who were appointed to eternal life became believers. |
| NRSV | and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers. |
| HCSB | And all who had been appointed to eternal life believed |
There is a reason for the consistency of these translations, a reason that is simply beyond Dave Hunt’s ability to address. And this raises one of the major reasons we have replied to Mr. Hunt: when challenged on issues of translation, grammar, and the like, he cries out that we are elitists, and that the gospel is simple enough to be understood by non-specialists. But if that is true, why does he make reference to the Greek term ta,ssw (tassw) here, and pretend to tell us what it means, or how it can be used? One cannot have one’s cake and eat it to, as the saying goes. So if Mr. Hunt is going to engage the subject, then should he not be held accountable for making errors in relationship to it? I believe so.
Hunt has done all he can to avoid the meaning of this text by seeking to inculcate in the minds of his readers a distrust of the passages clarity. He has done so by 1) showing his ignorance of the Greek language; 2) ransacking commentaries to find anyone who would like him seek to avoid the meaning of the text (there are plenty of those folks), and 3) using the oldest cult trick in the book, the “find a translation done by a single person that is so utterly obscure no one will ever track it down” means of avoiding the text. Then realize how often Hunt has had to re-work his attempted response to Acts 13:48, and you get a good idea of just how strong this passage is in refuting the synergistic viewpoint Hunt promotes.
In our next installment in this series we will review Acts 13:48: Battle Plan #1 from Dave Hunt and then compare that with his “revisions” over time.
