48. when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad--to perceive that their accession to Christ was a matter of divine arrangement as well as apostolic effort.
      and glorified the word of the Lord--by a cordial reception of it.
      and as many as were ordained 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.

JFB.