About Jesus     Steve Sweetman

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ch. 11:1-18    ch. 11:19-30

Peter Explains His Actions (ch. 11:1 - 18)

It did not take long for the news that Gentiles had “received the Word” of God, so when Peter got back to Jerusalem he had some explaining to do to his “circumcised” brothers.  Note that Luke calls these brother the “circumcised” brothers. Paul often refers to the Jews as “the circumcision group”, and so does Luke here.

These brothers confronted Peter by saying, “you went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them”. (ch. 11:3)  Notice their first reaction as recorded by Luke was not one of joyfulness because the Gentiles were now coming to Jesus, but their reaction was, “why did you disobey the Law”?  Once again, the apostles did not understand as yet that the gospel was for everyone.  They still had a Jewish only mentality. 

Verse 4 says that “Peter began to explain to them precisely what had happened”.  Peter explained to them how he had seen the vision of the unclean animals on what looked like a  sheet.  He mentioned how a voice told him to get up and eat.  His reply was, “certainly not Lord.  Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth”. 

Then the voice responded by saying, “do not call anything impure that God has made clean”.  The voice spoke 3 times, and then the vision disappeared as the blanket was taken back up into Heaven.

At the same moment the vision ended the Holy Spirit told Peter that certain men were at the door and that he was to go with these men.  So Peter went with these men, taking others with him.

Peter proceeded to tell the others that Cornelius, the Gentile,  had a visitation from an angel.  The angel said, “send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter.  He will bring you a message through which you and your household will be saved”. (ch. 11:14)

Peter states that while he began to speak, “the Holy Spirit came on them as He had  come on us in the beginning”.  Peter was referring to Acts 2.  What Peter was saying was that the same outpouring of the Spirit that came on the 120 Jewish believers in Acts 2 happened to these Gentile people.  In fact this was an Acts 2 experience for the Gentiles.  This was the opening of the door to the Gentile world.  This was a turning point in the young history of the church.  It also happened to be another one of those defining moments, or should I say "redefining" moments in the history of God and His people.  This was just another shift away from the Old Testament Law of Moses, which in my thinking was only a temporary thing.

The light-bulb went on in Peter’s head.  The words of Jesus came to his mind, giving him the understanding he needed for this occasion.  He remembered Jesus saying that  “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit”. (ch.11:16)  We note from these words that the way in which, both the Jews in Acts 2 and the Gentiles in Acts 10 received the Holy Spirit was through a baptismal of sorts.  This word “baptized” is a descriptive word to illustrate how these people received the Holy Spirit for the first time in their lives.  Prior to this, neither group of people had the Holy Spirit.  Peter makes this clear when he says, “so if God gave them the same gift He had given us…”, meaning the Holy Spirit.  God gave the Gentiles the gift of the Spirit, not a gift called the baptism in the Spirit. 

If this was really the case, that is the Gentiles received the Spirit of God, “who was I to oppose God,” Peter  asks.  It was a logical question.

Peter’s explanation satisfied the other apostles.  They replied by saying, “so then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life”. (ch. 11:18)  The words “God granted repentance” suggest to me that these men believed that repentance itself was a gift from God, and that man cannot repent totally on his own, but needs the help of the  Holy Spirit in the repentance process. I'd suggest that this is a compromise between Calvinism and non-Calvinism.

The Church In Antioch   (ch. 11:19 - 30)

Luke mentions in verse 19 that those who fled Jerusalem because of persecution only preached the gospel to the Jews in their travels.  They had no idea or thought of preaching to Gentiles.  This new found religion, for them was a Jewish religion, an extension of Old Testament Judaism.  But, this is just the opposite to what Jesus told them in the Great Commission.  He told His followers to go throughout the world preaching His good news.   Yet even with the Holy Spirit in their lives they missed this point.   

There were some exceptions Luke points out.  Certain men from Cyprus and Cyrene did preach to the Greeks in Antioch , leading many to Jesus.  Luke does not say when this had transpired, but my guess, along with others, is that it was after Acts 10 and Peter's visit to Cornelius’ house.  I say this because of the chronology here in Acts, that is chapter 11 being after chapter 10.  Also, to me, Acts 10 seems to be a special event, just for Gentiles, just as chapter 2 was special for the Jews.  Also, there is no apparent backlash of Gentiles becoming Christians, possibly because of Peter’s success in convincing the Jerusalem Christians that what had happened in Caesarea was truly of the Lord.

As I've mentioned before, we have an Acts 2 event and an Acts 10 event that fulfills the Biblical principle, "to the Jew first and then to the Gentile" 

Verse 21 says that “the Lord’s hand was with them”, that is those Jews who preached to the Greeks, resulting in many believing in Jesus.  The use of the words, “the Lord’s hand being with them” suggests to me that miracles were part of the preaching of these people.

Luke mentions that “when this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem they sent Barnabas to Antioch ”. (ch. 11:22)  Remember, Barnabas was not one of the 12.  He was a friend of Paul’s and one who was sympathetic  to the Gentile cause.  The 12 must have trusted Barnabas.  Also, by this time some of the original misunderstanding about Gentiles becoming Christian were cleared up, although there were still some major outstanding issues to be resolved.  Yes, Gentiles could become Christians, but they had to become Jews as well.  Paul would redefine these things later.

Barnabas arrived in Antioch and saw “evidence of the grace of God”, and thus encouraged those new Gentile believers to “stay true” to the Lord “in their hearts”.  What evidence would Barnabas have seen?  Most likely he saw people with a heart after Jesus, and that is why he encouraged them to stay true in “their hearts”. 

In verse 24 Luke says that Barnabas “was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith”.  Compared to men like Paul and Peter, we know little about Barnabas, but these words say a lot about this man.  By what Luke says here, you can see why Paul wanted Barnabas to minister the gospel with him.

Verse 25 tells us that Barnabas went to Tarsus to find Saul.  Many believe that this was at least 7 years after Saul left Jerusalem with Barnabas.  What Saul was doing for all these 7 or so years is not known.  We do know that Barnabas went to find him, and when he did, he brought Saul back to Antioch, where the two of them worked together, teaching the disciples.

Luke points out that the believers were first called Christians at this time in Antioch , probably around 43 AD. This designation was most likely placed on them by others, by Greeks, not themselves.  The term Christian is used only in 2 other places in the New Testament, that being in Acts 26:28 and 1 Peter 4:16.  The name Christian was not the most common name for these people.  Disciples, saints, or believers were a more widely used designation.  In today's world the word Christian doesn't really denote followers of Jesus anymore.  We've lost the real meaning of the word.  There is no use asking someone if he is a Christian, because there's a good chance he will not define Christian in true Biblical terms. 

In verse 27 to the end of the chapter, Luke tells us the story of a prophet named Agabus.  Luke says that “some prophets came from Jerusalem ”.  This is the first mention of New Testament prophets.  We have seen the apostolic ministry from the beginning of Acts. Now we see the prophetic ministry.  Agabus was one of these prophets who came from Jerusalem.  During this year when Saul and Barnabas were teaching in Antioch Agabus stood up in a meeting and through the Holy Spirit prophesied that a famine would spread through the Roman world, which it indeed did during the reign of Emperor Claudius. 

As a result of this prophecy the disciples decided to help the believers in Judea .  Why these believers were helped and not other believers throughout the Roman Empire is not known. Maybe because of the Jewish dispersion they were poor, not having time to re-establish themselves in their new communities.

The method chosen to help these people was for believers to give “according to his ability”.  This action had nothing to do with tithing.  People were encouraged to give over a period of time, according to their ability.  This is the way the New Testament deals with the giving of money.  Tithing is not seen in the New Testament church (or at least not mentioned by New Testament writers), but generously giving according to one’s ability is what is taught, and this is what they did in this case. 

Saul would have been part of this giving.  He would later mount a major fund raising campaign to help these Jewish Christians once again.

Luke closes this chapter by saying that once sufficient funds were raised, Saul and Barnabas took the money to the elders at Jerusalem.  Note the use of the word “elders”.  The funds went to the “elders”, not the apostles suggesting a change of leadership style in Jerusalem.