Matthew Henry

This happened three times, and all at once the sheet was taken back up into heaven.

“Christ has opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers, and there we shall find, besides those that are sealed out of all the tribes of Israel, an innumerable company out of every nation ( Rev. vii.”

So Peter went down to the men and said, “Here am I, the one you are looking for. Why have you come?”

“So far was he from going out of the way, or refusing to be spoken with, as one that was shy of them, or making them tarry, as one that took state upon him, that he went to them himself, told them he was the…”

“Cornelius the centurion has sent us,” they said. “He is a righteous and God-fearing man with a good reputation among the whole Jewish nation.

“When Peter repeats this, he tells us more fully, they are words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved, ch. xi.”

So Peter invited them in as his guests. And the next day he got ready and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.

“This was one way in which the primitive Christians very much showed their respect to their ministers: they accompanied them in their journeys, to keep them in countenance, to be their guard, and, as there was occasion, to minister to them; with a further prospect…”

So I sent for you immediately, and you were kind enough to come.

“Note, Faithful ministers do well to come to people that are willing and desirous to receive instruction from them; to come when they are sent for; it is as good a deed as they can do.”

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard his message.

“It is not unlikely that some Gentiles might before now have stepped into a synagogue of the Jews, and heard the gospel preached; but the gospel was never yet designedly preached to the Gentiles, nor any of them baptized--Cornelius was the first; and here we…”

Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat.’

“That allowance was afterwards limited by the ceremonial law; but now the restrictions were taken off, and the matter set at large again.”

Then I remembered the word of the Lord, as He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

“This plainly intimated, First, that the Holy Ghost was the gift of Christ, and the product and performance of his promise, that great promise which he left with them when he went to heaven.”

When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.

“Where the grace of God is it will be seen, as the tree is known by its fruits; and, where it is seen, it ought to be owned.”

Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

“The goodness of his natural disposition would not have qualified him for this service if he had not been full of the Holy Ghost, and so full of power by the Spirit of the Lord. [3.]”

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch.

“Barnabas brought Saul to Antioch, though it might be the lessening of himself, to teach us to seek the things of Christ more than our own things. We are here further told, (1.) What service was now done to the church at Antioch.”

In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

“Barnabas came to exhort them, and they, having received the exhortation well, now have prophets sent them to show them things to come, as Christ had promised, John xvi. Those that are faithful in their little shall be entrusted with more.”

About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church.

“He was not only (as Herod Antipas was) tetrarch of Galilee, but had also the government of Judea committed to him by Claudius the emperor, and resided most at Jerusalem, where he was at this time.”

About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church.

“He began with some of the members of the church, certain of them that were of less note and figure; played first at small game, but afterwards flew at the apostles themselves.”

He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

“He was one of those sons of Zebedee whom Christ told that they should drink of the cup that he was to drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that he was to be baptized with, Matt. xx.”

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was fervently praying to God for him.

“James must be offered upon the sacrifice and service of their faith, and therefore prayer for him is restrained and prevented; but Peter must be continued to them, and therefore prayer for him is stirred up, and time is given them for it, by Herod's…”

Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from everything the Jewish…

“Thus souls who are delivered out of a spiritual bondage are not at first aware what God has wrought in them. Many have the truth of grace that want the evidence of it.”

And when he had realized this, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered together and were praying.

“This was in the night, when others were asleep, which was an instance both of their prudence and of their zeal.”

“You are out of your mind,” they told her. But when she kept insisting it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

“First, "It is a messenger from him, that makes use of his name;" so some take it; angelos often signifies no more than a messenger. It is used of John's messengers ( Luke vii. 24, 27 ), of Christ's, Luke ix.”

But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astounded.

“He knew the town very well, and knew where to find a place that would be a shelter to him. Note, Even the Christian law of self-denial and suffering for Christ has not abrogated and repealed the natural law of self-preservation, and care for our…”

After Herod had searched for him unsuccessfully, he examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent some time there.

“Nebuchadnezzar had been a very bloody man, and a great persecutor; but the word that was in the king's mouth when the judgments of God fell upon him was a proud word: Is not this great Babylon that I have built?”

And after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

“This very thing is explained ch. xiv. 26 , where it is said, concerning Paul and Barnabas, that from Antioch they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.”

Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked directly at Elymas

“Now of Paul it is said, [1.] That he was filled with the Holy Ghost upon this occasion, filled with a holy zeal against a professed enemy of Christ, which was one of the graces of the Holy Ghost-- a spirit of burning; filled with…”

and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery!

“He describes him to be, First, An agent for hell; and such there have been upon this earth (the seat of the war between the seed of the woman and of the serpent ) ever since Cain who was of that wicked one, an incarnate…”

And from Perga, they traveled inland to Pisidian Antioch, where they entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down.

“For, though it was by the death of Christ that the ceremonial law died, yet it was in the ruins of Jerusalem that it was to be buried; and therefore, though the morality of the fourth commandment was entirely transferred to the Christian sabbath, yet…”