Actschapter 11
30 verses · Luke · about AD 62 · Acts
Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,
Introduction
Luke, Acts, Acts Overview.
Luke wrote this chapter for readers who belonged to churches of Jews and Gentiles together, and he shows them how such churches began. The chapter stands in two parts. In the first, the church at Jerusalem has to decide what to make of Peter's visit to a Roman officer's house. In the second, the gospel reaches a great Greek city with no apostle present. Listen for how Peter answers his critics with events, and for the plain words that end their objection. Listen also for the good man sent to Antioch and for the name the city gives the believers.
Context
- Who
- Theophilus and Gentile readers, watching leadership of the mission begin to shift north.
- What
- Peter's account at Jerusalem of the Gentiles at Caesarea receiving the Holy Spirit, and the founding of the church at Antioch among Jews and Greeks.
- Where
- Jerusalem, then Antioch in Syria, the third city of the Roman Empire, with Tarsus in Cilicia and the famine gift sent back to Judea.
- When
- About AD 40 to 46 on the usual reckoning, from Peter's return to Jerusalem to the famine relief sent in the reign of Claudius.
- Why
- To show the Jerusalem church accepting that God had granted the Gentiles repentance unto life, and to introduce the church that would send out Paul.
Historical context
Antioch was the third city of the Roman empire, after Rome and Alexandria, perhaps a quarter of a million people, sitting on the trade road from the Euphrates to the sea, with its port at Seleucia sixteen miles downriver. It was cosmopolitan, notoriously pleasure-loving, and had a large, long-settled Jewish community.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
That mix is why the breakthrough happened there. Scattered believers from Cyprus and Cyrene started speaking to Greeks as well as Jews, and a mixed congregation formed that no one had planned.
The nickname "Christians" was coined here. The ending Luke uses is Latin in flavour, the way a political faction was labelled, Caesar's men, Herod's men. Outsiders were naming them after the person they would not stop talking about.
Agabus's famine warning fits the record: the reign of Claudius (AD 41-54) saw repeated grain shortages, and Josephus describes a severe famine in Judea around AD 46 in which a foreign queen bought grain to feed Jerusalem. The relief sent from Antioch is the first recorded church-to-church aid.
Significance
For the first readers, Peter's defence settled an argument. He does not appeal to his own authority; he simply narrates what God did, step by step, and the objection dies in the room.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
Antioch then showed what a mixed church could be. A congregation of Jews and Greeks, taught for a full year by Barnabas and Saul, responded to news of famine hundreds of miles away by sending money, each according to his ability. That instinct becomes a theme of Paul's whole career.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Peter Explains Himself to Jerusalem
Acts 11:1-3
the Gentiles also had received: On Peter's arrival the circumcised believers took issue with him, charging, You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them. The charge concerns the shared table, since by the custom of the day a Jew who ate with Gentiles shared their ritual uncleanness.
Acts 11:1
“And the apostles and brethren - The Christians who Were in Judea. Heard ... - So extraordinary an occurrence as that at Caesarea, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles, and their reception into the church, would excite attention, and be likely to produce much sensitiveness in regard to the conduct of Peter and those with him. It was so contrary to all the ideas of the Jews, that it is not to be wondered at that it led to contention.”
the circumcised believers took issue with him: Luke names Peter's critics as the circumcised believers, marked by the very sign the dispute over the Gentiles turns on. The same group stood amazed at Caesarea in 10:45. At 15:5 believers from the party of the Pharisees raise it again in Jerusalem.
Acts 11:2
“Contended with him - A manifest proof this that the primitive Church at Jerusalem (and no Church can ever deserve this name but the Jerusalem Church) had no conception of St. Peter’s supremacy, or of his being prince of the apostles. He is now called to account for his conduct, which they judged to be reprehensible; and which they would not have attempted to do had they believed him to be Christ’s vicar upon earth, and the infallible Head of the Church. But this absurd dream is every where refuted in the New Testament.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The complaint in Jerusalem names the meal Peter ate and passes over the baptism of 10:48. Jesus heard the same kind of charge at Luke 15:2, that He welcomed sinners and ate with them. Peter answers with an account of the events.
Acts 11:3
“Saying, thou wentest into men uncircumcised,.... Into the houses of such, and lodged with them, and familiarly conversed with them: and didst eat with them; which, according to the traditions of the Jews, were unlawful; See Gill on Act 10:28 they say nothing about his preaching to them, and baptizing them, because these were so manifestly agreeable to the commission of Christ, in Mat 28:19 and yet how these could be without the other, is not easy to say.”
2 more voices on this verse
Acts 11:3
“Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised - In a Jew, this was no small offense; and, as they did not know the reason of St. Peter’s conduct, it is no wonder they should call him to account for it, as they considered it to be a positive transgression of the law and custom of the Jews. There is a remarkable addition here in the Codex Bezae, which it will be well to notice.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Acts 11:3
“Besides, the Lord would not have been censured for partaking of food with Jews, but with heathens, from whose board the Jewish discipline excludes (its disciples).”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Modestypatristic
Acts 11:4-6
explained to them the whole sequence: Peter explained to them the whole sequence of events, the Greek word for in order describing a case laid out point by point. Luke tells the vision twice because God Himself opened the door to the nations.
Acts 11:4
“But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order - Εξετιθετο αυτοις καθεξης. This is the very style of St. Luke; see his Gospel, Luk 1:3. To remove their prejudice, and to give them the fullest reasons for his conduct, he thought it best to give them a simple relation of the whole affair; which he does, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, with a few additional circumstances here. See the notes before.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 11:4
“But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning,.... Of the vision at Joppa; and expounded it by order unto them; or related every particular, in a very methodical and orderly manner: he did not insist upon his authority as an apostle, and much less pretended to a primacy to the rest of the apostles; but submitted to have his case heard, examined, and judged of by the body of the brethren.”
Peter tells the vision from where he stood, adding that the sheet came right down to him. Luke's own account at 10:11 has it let down to the earth. Both accounts begin with prayer.
I looked at it closely: The Greek verb means to fix the eyes, and Luke uses it of Stephen at 7:55 and of Paul at 13:9. Peter examined the sheet and knew its contents. His list adds wild beasts to the account at 10:12.
Acts 11:7-10
Then I heard a voice: Told to kill and eat, Peter answers that nothing impure or unclean has ever entered his mouth. The reply, Do not call anything impure that God has made clean, comes three times, the mark of a settled matter.
Acts 11:7
"I heard a voice saying to me." The appearance of the sheet alone would have been sufficient to convince him; but to this, however, a voice was also added: "Rise, Peter, kill and eat."
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Commentary on Actspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Acts 11:7
“And I heard a voice saying unto me,.... As he apprehended in his mind; and this voice he heard in the same sense and manner, as the Apostle Paul heard when in a trance, Act 22:17. arise, Peter, slay and eat; that is, get up and slay some of these creatures upon the sheet, and dress them and eat them.”
Acts 11:7
“That allowance was afterwards limited by the ceremonial law; but now the restrictions were taken off, and the matter set at large again. It was not the design of Christ to abridge us in the use of our creature-comforts by any other law than that of sobriety and temperance, and preferring the meat that endures to eternal life before that which perishes.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
nothing impure or unclean has ever entered: Two words stand here, impure for what common contact had defiled and unclean for what Leviticus 11 forbade outright. Peter speaks as the faithful Jews of 1 Maccabees 1:62 to 63 did, who chose death over unclean food. His record was spotless.
call anything impure that God has made: The verb made clean stands in the past tense. Mark 7:19 records Jesus declaring all foods clean, and Peter now learns what that saying meant. At 15:9 he uses the same verb of God cleansing the hearts of the Gentiles.
everything was drawn back up into heaven: The sheet returns to heaven, where it began, so its contents belong to God. Bede read the vessel taken up as the church of every nation received into heaven at the last. Heaven had sent it and heaven kept it.
Acts 11:11-14
three men sent to me: Just then three men sent from Caesarea stopped at the house where Peter was staying, the vision's meaning arriving in the same hour. Six brothers went with him, witnesses Peter now needs before the church.
Acts 11:11
"And, behold - this too was part of his defence - three men stood at the house in which I was, sent to me from Caesarea. And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting." Do you mark that it is to the Spirit the enacting of laws belongs! "And these also accompanied me" - nothing can be more lowly, when he alleges the brethren for witnesses! - "these six men, and we entered into the man's house."
John Chrysostom · written before 407 · Homily on Acts 24patristic
The Spirit told me to accompany them: The phrase without hesitation renders a verb from the same root as took issue in verse 2. The Spirit told Peter to go making no distinction, while his critics made one. At 15:9 Peter says God made no distinction either.
Acts 11:12
“These six brethren - Probably pointing to them, being present, as proper persons to confirm the truth of what he was delivering.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
seen an angel standing in his house: Peter tells the council that an angel had stood inside the Gentile's house before he ever entered it. His critics objected to the visit of verse 3. Heaven had crossed that threshold first.
Acts 11:13
“And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house,.... The clause, "in his house", is very appropriately put; for since an angel had entered into his house, it could not be criminal in Peter, and the six brethren, to follow him.”
The message Peter would convey was for the whole household, family, servants and all who lived under one head. Cornelius had gathered relatives and close friends at 10:24. Whole households are saved again with Lydia at 16:15 and the jailer at 16:31.
Acts 11:14
“Thou and all thy house shall be saved - This is an additional circumstance: before, it was said, Act 10:6, Peter shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do; and, in Act 10:33, who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. But, in Peter’s relation, the matter is more explicitly declared, he shall tell thee words whereby thou and thy house shall be saved. He shall announce to you all the doctrine of salvation.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Acts 11:14
“Saved - With the full Christian salvation, in this world and the world to come.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Acts 11:14
“Observe, "salvation" is here made to hang upon "words," that is, the Gospel message concerning Christ. But on the "salvation" of Cornelius, see on Ac 10:34, 35.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the Holy Spirit fell upon them: Peter says the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius's household just as on the Jewish believers at the beginning, at Pentecost in 2:1 to 4. He measures the household by that first outpouring and finds it the same.
Acts 11:15
“And as I began to speak,...., That is, whilst he was speaking; the word "begin" with Luke, both, in his Gospel and in this history, is used not to denote the time or order of any action, but the thing itself; as in Luk 4:21 for otherwise it was towards the close, and not at the beginning of his discourse, that what follows happened: the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning; of our ministry, since the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ; meaning on the day of Pentecost, and that the Holy Ghost fell on…”
Acts 11:16-18
I remembered the word: Peter recalls the Lord's promise of Spirit baptism in 1:5, now fulfilled in a Gentile house. The objectors fall silent and glorify God, saying God has granted even the Gentiles repentance that leads to life.
Acts 11:16
“Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said,.... Just before his ascension, Act 1:5. John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost; as they were on the day of Pentecost, and as now Cornelius and his family were; and since they had the greater baptism, the baptism of the Spirit, the lesser baptism of water could not be denied them.”
2 more voices on this verse
Acts 11:16
“Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost - These words are very remarkable. The words of our Lord, as quoted Act 1:5, to which St. Peter refers here, have been supposed by many to be referred to the apostles alone; but here it is evident that St. Peter believed they were a promise made to all Christians, i.e. to all, whether Jews or Gentiles, who should believe on Jesus Christ.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Acts 11:16
“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. It was therefore without doubt from him that this gift came; and the filling of them with the Holy Ghost was his act and deed.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
who was I to hinder the work: The verb hinder is the one Peter used at 10:47 when he asked who could withhold the water. The eunuch asked the same at 8:36. Jew and Gentile alike received the gift on believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 11:17
“And who are we that we should withstand God? Particularly by laying down rules of Christian communion which exclude any whom he has admitted into the Church of the first born, from worshipping God together. O that all Church governors would consider how bold an usurpation this is on the authority of the supreme Lord of the Church!”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 11:17
“What was I - What power or right had I to oppose the manifest will of God that the Gentiles should be received into the Christian church. Withstand God - Oppose or resist God. He had indicated his will; he had showed his intention to save the Gentiles; and the prejudices of Peter were all overcome. One of the best means of destroying prejudice and false opinions is a powerful revival of religion. More erroneous doctrines and unholy feelings are overcome in such scenes than in all the bigoted and fierce contentions that have ever taken place.”
God has granted even the Gentiles repentance: At 5:31 Peter preached that God exalted Jesus to grant repentance to Israel. The same gift now reaches the Gentiles. Calvin reads the verse as teaching that repentance is God's gift, as 2 Timothy 2:25 also says.
Acts 11:18
“When they heard these things,.... Peter's vision at Joppa, and Cornelius's at Caesarea, and the wonderful pouring forth of the Spirit upon these Gentiles under Peter's sermon: they held their peace; and ceased contending and disputing with Peter, or blaming him for his conduct; for otherwise they were not silent, but made use of their tongues: and glorified God; praised his name, adored his rich grace, and gave him the glory of all the wonderful things related to them: saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”
3 more voices on this verse
Acts 11:18
“They held their peace - Their prejudices were confounded; they considered the subject, and saw that it was from God; then they glorified him, because they saw that he had granted unto the Gentiles repentance unto life.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Acts 11:18
“They glorified God - Being thoroughly satisfied. Repentance unto life - True repentance is a change from spiritual death to spiritual life, and leads to life everlasting.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Acts 11:18
“To "grant repentance unto life"--that is, "such as issues in life" (compare 2Co 7:10, "repentance unto salvation")--is more than to be willing to pardon upon repentance [GROTIUS]. The case of Cornelius is so manifestly one of grace reigning in every stage of his religious history, that we can hardly doubt that this was just the feature of it which they meant here to express.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Antioch: Where They Were First Called Christians
Acts 11:19-21
traveled as far as Phoenicia: Those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen in 8:1 traveled as far as Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews. Men from Cyprus and Cyrene broke that pattern and spoke to the Greeks as well, and their mission became the first Gentile church.
Acts 11:19
“Now they which were scattered abroad,.... These were not the apostles, but the other ministers of the word; see Act 8:1 who were dispersed upon the persecution that arose about Stephen; his preaching and miracles, his oration in defence of himself, and his death: these travelled as far as Phenice; a country near to Syria and Galilee; its chief towns and cities were Tripolis, Botrys, Biblus, Berytus, Tyre, Sidon, Ecdippa, Ptolemais, and Dora. It was famous, as Pliny says (x), for the invention of letters, and of the constellations, and of naval and warlike arts.”
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 11:19
"It was almost an Oriental Rome, in which all the forms of the civilized life of the empire found some representative; and through the two first centuries of the Christian era it was what Constantinople became afterwards, 'the Gate of the East'" [HOWSON].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
men from Cyprus and Cyrene: Manuscripts divide here between Hellenists, Greek-speaking Jews, and Greeks. The contrast with the Jews only of verse 19 favours Greeks, the reading the Berean follows. Lucius of Cyrene, named among the teachers at Antioch in 13:1, may have been one of these men.
Acts 11:20
“The Gospel had, from the first, been preached to "the Grecians" or Greek-speaking Jews, and these "men of Cyprus and Cyrene" were themselves "Grecians." How, then, can we suppose that the historian would note, as something new and singular (Ac 11:22), that some of the dispersed Christians preached to them?”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
Acts 11:20
"They spoke to the Greeks." Perhaps they were called Greeks because they did not know Hebrew.
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Commentary on Actspatristic
Acts 11:20
“Spake to the Greeks - As the Greeks were the most celebrated of the Gentile nations near Judea, the Jews called all the Gentiles by that name. Here we have the first account of the preaching the Gospel to the idolatrous Gentiles. All those to whom it had been preached before, did at least worship one God, the God of Israel.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Acts 11:20
“Men of - Cyrene - The metropolis of the Cyrenaica; a country of Africa, bounded on the east by Marmarica, on the west by the Regio Syrtica, on the north by the Mediterranean, and on the south by the Sahara. Cyrene is now called Cairoan. This city, according to Eusebius, was built in the 37th Olympiad, about 630 years before Christ. In consequence of a revolt of its inhabitants, it was destroyed by the Romans; but they afterwards rebuilt it. It was for a long time subject to the Arabs, but is now in the hands of the Turks.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The hand of the Lord was with them: In the Old Testament the hand of the Lord names God's power at work, as at Ezra 7:9. Luke used the same phrase of the child John at Luke 1:66.
Acts 11:21
“The expression "the hand of the Lord was with them" shows that they were performing miracles. Do you see why miracles were needed now as well? So that they would believe.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Commentary on Actspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 11:21
“And the hand of the Lord - See the notes on Luk 1:66. Compare Psa 80:17. The meaning is, that God showed them favor, and evinced his power in the conversion of their hearers.”
Acts 11:22-24
When news of this reached: The church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch, the same man who vouched for Saul in 9:27. When he saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.
Acts 11:22
“The Church which was in Jerusalem - This was the original, the mother Church of Christianity; not the Church of Rome; there were Christian Churches founded in many places, which exist to the present day, before Rome heard the Gospel of the kingdom. A Christian Church means a company of believers in Christ Jesus, united for the purposes of Christian fellowship, and edification in righteousness. They sent forth Barnabas - It seems, then, that the Church collectively had power to commission and send forth any of its own members, whom it saw God had qualified for a particular work.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 11:22
"They commissioned Barnabas to go to Antioch." Why did they not write about this to Paul, but sent Barnabas? Because they did not yet know about the virtue of this man.
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Commentary on Actspatristic
saw the grace of God, he rejoiced: Grace and rejoiced share one root in Greek, charis and chairo. Barnabas saw the grace of God in the changed lives of Gentile believers. His name, explained at 4:36 as son of encouragement, matches the verb Luke gives him here.
Acts 11:23
“Had seen the grace of God - The favor, or mercy of God, in converting sinners to himself. Was glad - Approved of what had been done in preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, and rejoiced that God had poured down his Spirit on them. The effect of a revival is to produce joy in the hearts of all those who love the Saviour. And exhorted them all - Entreated them. They would be exposed to many trials and temptations, and he sought to secure their firm adherence to the cause of religion.”
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 11:23
“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. What we see which is good in any we must call God's grace in them, and give that grace the glory of it; and we ought ourselves to take the comfort of it, and make it the matter of our rejoicing.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Barnabas was a good man: Luke gave the same pair to Stephen at 6:5, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. The word good is the one he used of Joseph of Arimathea at Luke 23:50. Barnabas stands in their company.
Acts 11:24
“For he was a good man - Here is a proper character of a minister of the Gospel. 1. He is a good man: his bad heart is changed; his evil dispositions rooted out; and the mind that was in Christ implanted in him. 2. He is full of the Holy Ghost. He is holy, because the Spirit of holiness dwells in him: he has not a few transient visitations or drawings from that Spirit; it is a resident in his soul, and it fills his heart.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 11:24
“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.] He was full of faith, full of the Christian faith himself, and therefore desirous to propagate it among others; full of the grace of faith, and full of the fruits of that faith that works by love.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Acts 11:25-26
Barnabas went to Tarsus: Barnabas brought Saul back from Tarsus, where he was sent in 9:30, and for a full year they taught large numbers at Antioch. There the disciples were first called Christians, a Greek name meaning those of Christ.
Acts 11:25
“Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus,.... "In Cilicia" to seek Saul; who had been sent thither by the brethren that he might escape the rage of the Grecians, who sought to slay him, Act 9:29.”
The disciples were first called Christians: The disciples are called Christians only three times in the New Testament, here, by Agrippa at 26:28, and at 1 Peter 4:16. The name has a Latin ending, formed like Herodians at Mark 3:6. Tacitus, Annals 15.44, shows it in common use at Rome by AD 64.
Acts 11:26
“And the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch - Here it was that they first received this standing appellation. They were before termed Nazarenes and Galileans.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
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Acts 11:26
Let us not, therefore, be insensible to His kindness. For were He to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be. For "if Thou, Lord, shalt mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" Let us therefore prove ourselves worthy of that name which we have received. For whosoever is called by any other name besides this, he is not of God; for he has not received the prophecy which speaks thus concerning us: "The people shall be called by a new name, which the Lord shall name them, and shall be a holy people."
Ignatius of Antioch · written before 108 · Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesianspatristic
Acts 11:26
“He brought him unto Antioch - As this city was the metropolis of Syria, and the third city for importance in the whole Roman empire, Rome and Alexandria alone being more eminent, Barnabas might think it expedient to have for his assistance a person of such eminent talents as Saul; and who was especially appointed by Christ to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles. Saul appears also to have been a thorough master of the Greek tongue, and, consequently, the better qualified to explain the Gospel to the Greek philosophers, and to defend it against their cavils.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Agabus Foretells Famine and Relief Is Sent
Acts 11:27-28
some prophets came down from Jerusalem: One of the prophets from Jerusalem, Agabus, named again at 21:10, predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would sweep across the whole world. Suetonius, Tacitus and Josephus record grain shortages in the reign of Claudius, among them a severe famine in Judea.
Acts 11:27
“And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem to Antioch., That is, some time in that year that Saul and Barnabas were at Antioch, there came from Jerusalem thither some Christian prophets; for such there were in the Christian church, who had not only a gift of expounding the more mysterious prophecies of the Old Testament, but also of foretelling things to come; see Act 13:1.”
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 11:27
“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. The best understanding of scripture-predictions is to be got in the way of obedience to scripture-instructions.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
sweep across the whole world: The whole world renders the Greek for the inhabited Roman world, the word of the census at Luke 2:1. Josephus, Antiquities 20.2.5, tells how Queen Helena of Adiabene bought grain in Egypt for Jerusalem in this famine. Its worst years in Judea fell about AD 46 to 48.
Acts 11:28
“Agabus - This prophet, of whom we know nothing, is once more mentioned, Act 21:10. He was probably a Jew, but whether converted now to Christianity we cannot tell. Great dearth throughout all the world - The words εφ’ ὁλην την οικουμενην probably here mean the land of Judea; though sometimes by this phrase the whole Roman empire is intended. In the former sense the disciples appear to have understood it, as the next verse informs us; for they determined to send relief to their brethren in Judea, which they could not have done had the famine been general.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Acts 11:28
“41 [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 20.2,5]. An important date for tracing out the chronology of the Acts. (But this subject is too difficult and extensive to admit of being handled here).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Acts 11:29-30
decided to send relief: Each according to his ability, the disciples sent relief to Judea, the first recorded gift from a largely Gentile church to the believers there. Paul's later collection in Romans 15:25 to 27 follows the same pattern.
Acts 11:29
“Then the disciples - The Christians at Antioch. According to his ability - According as they had prospered. It does not imply that they were rich, but that they rendered such aid as they could afford. Determined to send relief - This arose not merely from their general sense of obligation to aid the poor, but they felt themselves particularly bound to assist their Jewish brethren. The obligation to relieve the temporal needs of those from whom important spiritual mercies are received is repeatedly enforced in the New Testament. Compare Rom 15:25-27; 1Co 16:1-2; 2Co 9:1-2; Gal 2:10.”
sending their gifts to the elders: Elders of the Jerusalem church appear here for the first time, and they stand beside the apostles at 15:2. W. M. Ramsay identified this famine visit with the visit Paul describes at Galatians 2:1 to 10. J. B. Lightfoot matched Galatians 2 with chapter 15.
Acts 11:30
“Which they also did,.... They not only determined, but they put their resolutions into execution, and acted according to a rule which the apostle recommends, 2Co 8:11 and sent it to the elders; to the apostles; for though there were deacons there, yet they chose to send it to them, that they might put it into proper hands to distribute to the necessitous: and this collection they sent by the hands of Saul and Barnabas; of this journey to Jerusalem, Paul makes no mention in Gal 1:17.”
2 more voices on this verse
Acts 11:30
"To send relief to the brethren." From this it becomes clear that the apostles held the dignity of elders as well, although, besides this, they were at the rank of deacons and bishops.
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Commentary on Actspatristic
Acts 11:30
“And sent it to the elders - These probably mean those who first believed on Christ crucified, either of the seventy disciples mentioned Luke, Luk 10:1, or the one hundred and twenty mentioned, Act 1:15, or the seven deacons, Act 6:5. Some have divided the primitive disciples into three classes: 1. The αυτοπται, those who were eye witnesses. 2. The απαρχαι, those who were the first fruits, or converts of the apostles’ preaching. 3. The διαδοχοι, those who were the successors of the preceding from whom they had received the doctrines of the Gospel.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Narrative with a defence speech, followed by the founding of a church, as Alexander classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The Cornelius account told a second time | Verses 5 to 17 retell in Peter's own words what chapter 10 has already narrated: the vision, the three men, the angel in the house and the Spirit falling on the hearers. J. A. Alexander records that Luke gives the account twice within two chapters. The retelling adds details of its own, such as the six brothers of verse 12.J. A. Alexander, The Acts of the Apostles Explained, 1857, on Acts 11:4. | Acts 11:5, Acts 11:12, Acts 11:13, Acts 11:15 |
| A defence that ends on a question | Peter answers the charge of verse 3 with the events told in order, and he closes at verse 17 with a question about hindering God. Verse 18 records that the objections were put to rest.The Berean text of Acts 11:3 to 18, counted, The verses table, translation id 3. | Acts 11:4, Acts 11:17, Acts 11:18 |
| A great number | The growth at Antioch is marked twice with the same words, a great number of people, at verse 21 of those who believed and turned and at verse 24 of those brought to the Lord. Verse 26 adds the large numbers taught for a full year.The Berean text of Acts 11:21, 24 and 26, counted, The verses table, translation id 3. | Acts 11:21, Acts 11:24, Acts 11:26 |
How this chapter is built
11 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter has two halves. Verses 1 to 18 are Peter's account at Jerusalem, told as a defence against the charge of verse 3 and ending in the verdict of verse 18.
Verses 19 to 30 turn back in time to the scattering after Stephen at 8:1 and follow it to Antioch. Barnabas is sent there, fetches Saul from Tarsus, and carries the famine gift to Judea with him.
Where it stands in Acts
Chapter 10 left one question open, whether the church at Jerusalem would accept what happened in the house of Cornelius. Verse 18 answers it.
The second half hands the story to Antioch. The return of Barnabas and Saul at 12:25 and their sending at 13:1 to 3 pick up from verse 30, so the account of the Antioch church runs from 11:19 to 13:3 with the account of Herod set inside it.
The readings debated
The manuscripts of verse 20 read either Hellenists, meaning Greek-speaking Jews, or Greeks. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown and R. J. Knowling take Greeks as the sense, set against the Jews only of verse 19, and the Berean follows it.
W. M. Ramsay matched the famine visit of verse 30 with the visit Paul describes at Galatians 2:1 to 10. J. B. Lightfoot matched Galatians 2 with the council of chapter 15.
The exposition of verses 25 and 26 reads the name Christian as one first given by outsiders at Antioch, with W. M. Ramsay among its sources. The name carries a Latin ending of the kind used for the followers of a leader.
The reach of the chapter
Verse 16 recalls the word of Jesus at 1:5, which repeats the promise of John the Baptist at Luke 3:16. The gift of repentance at verse 18 answers 5:31, where the same gift was offered to Israel. Paul's collection for Jerusalem at Romans 15:26 to 27 and in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 follows the pattern of verses 29 and 30.
Keep studying
Studies7
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
J. A. Alexander, The Acts of the Apostles Explained, 1857, on Acts 11:4 and R. J. Knowling, The Acts of the Apostles, The Expositor's Greek Testament, 1900, on Acts 11:1 to 18.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on Acts; Bede; J. A. Alexander, The Acts of the Apostles Explained; J. A. Bengel, Gnomon of the New Testament; J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles; John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Josephus; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; R. J. Knowling, The Acts of the Apostles, Expositor's Greek Testament; Tacitus, Annals 15.44; W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen and William Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire.