Acts 11

1 in Judæa. Lit., “throughout Judæa.” 2 And when Peter was come up. Accompanied by the brethren from Joppa (ver. 12) who might corroborate all his statements.

they that were of the circumcision. Jewish believers.

4 rehearsed [the matter] from the beginning. R.V., “began, and expounded [the matter] unto them in order.” “It is precisely the fitting-in of single events in their history which produces so overpowering an impression, the separate parts fitting together, so that one point illustrates and confirms another, while the whole incontestably bespeaks the will of God” (Lange).

5-15. See notes on x. 9-44. 16 with the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Spirit to believing Gentiles clearly showed that they were included in the Lord’s promise here quoted from i. 5. To “forbid” the sign where God had granted the grace would have been to “forbid,” or oppose God.

18. Then, etc. Unlikely as it seemed to us

19. Phenice. Phœnicia, a district between Lebanon and the sea. It had been visited by our Lord (Matt. xv. 21-28).

Cyprus. A large island, lying off the coast of Syria. It was the birthplace of Barnabas: see iv. 36.

Antioch. Antioch on the Orontes, now Antakia, was the capital of Syria, and the residence of the proconsul of the province. It was one of the largest cities of the world. It contained a mixed population, including many Jews, who resided in a separate quarter, under their own governor. The Church in Antioch long retained a pre-eminence among the Eastern churches.

20. Cyrene. See note on ii. 10.

Grecians. See note on vi. 1. If this reading were retained, it would simply show that the gospel was widely extended among the Hellenic Jews through the death of the Hellenist Stephen. But most editors, on the authority of several early MSS., and on internal grounds of probability, read “Greeks” (so R.V.), which would mean “Gentiles,” in distinction from the “Jews,” mentioned in ver. 19. According to this reading, there is here a further extension of the gospel among the Gentiles; even more signal than the case of Cornelius. For the centurion, although not a Jew, had ceased to be an idolater. These “Greeks” in Antioch would be heathens.

22. Barnabas. Barnabas, as a Hellenist Jew of Cyprus, and a man of generous and candid disposition (iv. 37; ix. 27), was peculiarly fitted for this mission. On the supposition that these converts were heathen Gentiles, the mission would be one of peculiar delicacy.

23. Who, when he came, etc. Barnabas, being “a good man” (ver. 24), was anxious only to recognise the signs of the Divine working (“the grace of God”). When these appeared, he suffered no Jewish prejudices or Church traditions to stand in his way. This decision of Barnabas was, in fact, the opening of the kingdom of Christ to Gentile heathendom.

25 to seek Saul. The evangelists “from Cyprus and Cyrene” had begun a work which needed to be consolidated and continued by instruction. They were preachers; the Church at Antioch now needed a teacher. Saul of Tarsus, from his intellectual and spiritual gifts, his special commission, and his long preparation, appeared to his old comrade Barnabas the man most fitted for the task. As therefore Barnabas had introduced Saul to the apostles and to the Church in Jerusalem, so now by the same instrumentality Saul is brought into connexion with this rising Church in Antioch, henceforth the metropolis of Gentile Christianity, and the second great centre of missionary operations.

26. Christians. This name occurs only in two other passages of Scripture (xxvi. 28; 1 Pet. iv. 16), where it is applied to the disciples by unbelievers. The Jews would never have given them a name derived from that of the Messiah; ep. John xix. 21. It probably originated with the heathen population of Antioch, when the converts became a numerous and important body. At first probably the name was given in scorn, but it was afterwards adopted and gloried in by Christians themselves.

28 throughout all the world. Or, “upon the whole inhabited earth”; a phrase often used for the Roman empire (see note on Luke ii. 1, 2). During the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41-54), the different parts of the empire suffered successively from great famines, some of which were particularly severe in Judæa, about A.D. 44, 45. See Joseph, Antiq. xx 26.

30 elders. The office of elder (or presbyter) seems to have been adopted from the Jewish synagogue, and to have included the twofold duties of teaching and ruling; on which account, in the New Testament, elders are also called bishops or overseers.

Barnabas and Saul. This was Saul’s second visit to Jerusalem after his conversion. See note xii. 25.