Important textual evidence may be cited (cf. p. 10) for the omission of “blood,” which word may have been later added to clarify the thought. Paul is stating the historical truth that all men, and consequently all nations, sprang from one common ancestor, Adam. The belief was one that no Greek, and especially no Athenian, was likely to accept. For such, the distinction between Greek and barbarian was radical and essential. The one was by nature meant to be the slave of the other (Aristotle Politics i. 2. 6). But there was no place in Paul’s theology for a “superior” race. He believed the Genesis account of the creation of man. He saw the oneness of physical structure, of potential or actual development, which forbids any one race or nation—Hebrew, Hellenic, Latin, or Teutonic—to assume that it is the cream and flower of humanity.

 Compare Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11, where Paul stresses the unity achieved through belief in Christ. The Christian is doubly obligated to recognize the oneness of men—through creation and through salvation.

A further link in Paul’s chain of reasoning. The Creator intended men to populate all parts of the earth, without assigning superiority to the inhabitants of any particular section.

Gr. prostetagmenoi kairoi, “appointed times [or “seasons”].” The sense is more readily perceived if the word “their” is inserted so that the phrase reads, “having determined their appointed times.” The word “times” (kairoi) refers to historical epochs rather than yearly seasons. The reference is to God’s knowledge of men’s affairs.

Gr. horizō, “to mark out the boundaries,” “to appoint,” “to determine.”

The form of the word used here is a participle, and may be translated “having determined.”

 That is, God, through His providence, has fixed the natural boundaries, or limits, for the nations (see on Dan. 4:17; cf. Deut. 32:8).