Acts 17:26

"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"He made of one" The particular one was Adam. Paul again finds himself contradicting the theory of Evolution. Paul agrees with the Genesis record that from Adam and Eve, this pair, all the nations of the earth have sprung. Jesus also agreed with Genesis (Matthew 19:4). It must take. lot of nerve (or unbelief) on the part of certain professed Christians, to assert that the early Chapter s of Genesis are mythical. The Bible is clear, Adam was the first man (1 Corinthians 15:45). "To deny the Creation is not just to deny the Genesis record only. It is to deny all the Scripture" (Reese p. 630). "Every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth" "This statement of the origin of the human race was in direct opposition to the Athenian's notion of their own origin as being different from that of other men. The national pride held by various races (their gods were better than others; their origins were superior to other men's) tended to make the races alien to each other, and led to. haughty attitude toward foreigners and cruelty toward slaves" (Reese p. 629). This statement completely destroys any notion that one race is morally superior to another. Christianity and racial prejudice are two incompatible concepts. "This removed all imagined justification for the belief that Greeks were innately superior to barbarians" (Bruce p. 358).

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). "Fixing. time for their rise and fall" (TCNT). "Their territorial boundaries" (Rieu).

The God of Creation is also the God of human history. "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" (Stott p. 286). Thus only. believer can really understand the true meaning of human history. Notice how Paul insists that God is in control of history, without lapsing into the false doctrines of predestination, determinism or fate (Acts 17:30 "repent"). This statement is in contrast to popular pagan beliefs. McGarvey notes, "He next shows that this God, instead of being the god of some single nation, over whose destiny He presides, while He defends it against all other nations, actually created every nation and further, that the seasons of prosperity and adversity of all these nations, together with their national boundaries, instead of being regulated, as the heathen supposed, by separate national gods, were all controlled by this one God" (p. 127). See Daniel 5:21 and Jeremiah 2:6.