Acts 11:19-12:17

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: Acts

Rusty's Notes

THE CHURCH IN ANTIOCH
Acts 11

• Antioch Map
• 41 AD

19 Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except (Hellenistic/Grecian)Jews.

• Antioch of Syria is located on the Orontes River and sits 300 miles north of Jerusalem.
• According to Jewish historian Josephus (A.D. 100), Antioch is the third largest city in the Roman Empire, following Rome and Alexandria.
• The city is known as “the queen of the East,” “Antioch the beautiful,” and “the third city of the Empire.”
• Antioch is the center of political, military, and commercial communication between Rome and the Persian frontier.
• It is a wealthy city and the only one that has streetlights at this time. Its main east-west street is paved with polished stone and there are colonnades on both sides.
• Antioch’s population is estimated between 300,000 and 500,000. The Jewish population is large and vigorous, standing between 22,000 and 50,000.
• In the years to come, Syrian Antioch will become the cradle of Gentile Christianity.

 

• Antioch of Syria is typical of all Greco-Roman cities of the first century. It is a pesthole of infectious disease. Sickness is highly visible on the streets.
• Swollen eyes, skin rashes, and lost limbs are readily seen in public.
• The city is populated with recent newcomers so it is peopled by strangers.
• The city is filled with misery, danger, despair, fear, and hatred.
• The average family lives in filthy and crowded quarters.
• At least half the children die at birth or during infancy.
• Most children lose one parent before reaching maturity.
• There is intense ethnic antagonism which breeds hatred and fear. This problem is worsened by the constant influx of foreigners.
• Crime is rampant, and the streets are unsafe at night.
• What Christianity will bring to this city and all others is a new culture capable of making life in Greco-Roman cities more tolerable.
• The community of Jesus Christ—the church—will bring joy, hope, charity, a sense of family, and social solidarity to such cruel conditions.[1]
• There were at least sixteen Antiochs in the ancient world, but this one was the greatest.
• Antioch was a wicked city, perhaps second only to Corinth.[2]

20 But there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

• Acts 21:16 - Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and brought us to Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.[3]

21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.

• The church in Antioch is quickly becoming a church full of Law-free Gentiles.

22 News about them reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas (originally from Cyprus) to travel as far as Antioch.

• Although this could certainly be seen as a sort of “supervision” by Jerusalem, in each instance the Christians of Jerusalem enthusiastically endorsed the new work and gave it their stamp of approval.
• The church leaders in Jerusalem had a responsibility to “shepherd” the scattered flock, which now included Gentile congregations as far away as Syria.
• Apparently the Apostles were ministering away from Jerusalem at the time, so the elders commissioned Barnabas to go to Antioch to find out what was going on among the Gentiles.
• This proved to be a wise choice, for Barnabas lived up to his nickname, “son of encouragement”[4]
• The Church in Jerusalem has great confidence in Barnabas.

23 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And large numbers of people were added to the Lord.

• Barnabas had a natural relationship with the Hellenists.
• As a native of Cyprus, he most likely was fluent in Greek.
• On the other hand, he did not seem to have originally belonged to their group but rather to have had ties from the beginning with the non-Hellenist church in Jerusalem and particularly with the apostles.
• He participated in exemplary fashion in the church’s practice of sharing (4:36f.).
• Barnabas was a “bridge-builder,” one who was able to see the positive aspects in both sides of an issue and to mediate between perspectives. [5]

 

• 42 AD

25 Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul, 26 and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

• Why not send to Jerusalem and ask the deacon Nicolas who was from Antioch? (Acts 6:5)
• Because Barnabas knew that God had commissioned Saul to minister to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; 22:21; 26:17).
• You recall that Barnabas befriended Saul in Jerusalem (Acts 9:26–27), and no doubt the two of them often talked about Saul’s special call from God.
• In Antioch, Saul lives with Simon of Cyrene (also called Simeon), his wife, and his two sons, Rufus and Alexander.
• Simon’s wife cares for Saul and acts like a mother to him. (Simon carried the cross of Christ.)
• The believers are first designated “Christians” (Christ’s people) in Antioch.
• They do not call themselves Christians, nor is this name given to them by the Jews (for the Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Christ—the Messiah).
• It is rather given to them by their Greek-speaking neighbors.
• The reason? The believers are constantly talking about their Lord, just as Jesus constantly talked about His Father.
• The Christians in Antioch are consumed with Jesus Christ, and out of the abundance of their hearts their mouths speak.
• The new movement is also called “The Way”—a term the Christians use for the way of salvation and the way of life.
• In Palestine, the Christians are known as “Nazarenes.”
• There are two men in the Antioch church who will play a key role in the story: Luke and Titus.
• Titus will one day become an apostolic worker (church planter), but only after he has had time to develop spiritually in the church.
• Luke is a Gentile itinerant (traveling) physician who plies his trade in places like Troas and Philippi.
• Titus is Luke’s younger brother.[6]

 

• What Barnabas did for Saul needs to be practiced in our churches today.
• Mature believers need to enlist others and encourage them in their service for the Lord.[7]

 
FAMINE RELIEF

• 43 AD

27 In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine throughout the Roman world. This took place during the reign of Claudius (Roman Emperor from 41-54 AD)

• In Jerusalem, King Herrod Agrippa, grandson of the Herod the Great, is ruler.

29 Each of the disciples, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea. 30 They did this, sending it to the elders by means of Barnabas and Saul.

• Ancient writers mention at least four famines: two in Rome, one in Greece, and one in Judea.
• The famine in Judea was especially severe, and the Jewish historian Josephus records that many people died for lack of money to buy what little food was available.
• The pattern for Christian giving today is not Acts 2:44–45 and 4:31–35, but Acts 11:29, “every man according to his ability.”
• It is this pattern that Paul taught in 2 Corinthians 8–9.
• The practice of “Christian communism” was found only in Jerusalem and was a temporary measure while the message was going “to the Jew first.”
• Like God’s care of the Jews in the wilderness, it was a living exhibition of the blessings God would bestow if the nation would repent and believe.
• The word elders in Acts 11:30 has not been used before in Acts, except to refer to the Jewish leaders (Acts 4:5, 23; 6:12).
• In the church, the elders were mature believers who had the spiritual oversight of the ministry (1 Peter 5:1; 2 John 1).[8]

 
JAMES MARTYRED AND PETER JAILED

• April, 44 AD

12 About that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church,

• This evil man was the grandson of Herod the Great, who ordered the Bethlehem children to be murdered, and the nephew of Herod Antipas, who had John the Baptist beheaded.
• His father, Aristobulus, had been executed in 7 b.c. by his grandfather for fear that he might usurp his throne.
• After his father’s death, while still a child, Agrippa was sent to Rome with his mother, where he was reared and educated along with the children of the Roman aristocracy.
• These childhood friendships eventually led to his ruling over a Jewish kingdom.
• In 37AD, the emperor Caligula gave him the title of king and made him ruler over the territories formerly ruled by his uncle Philip, lands in the Transjordan and the Ten Cities (Decapolis) north of Galilee.
• In 39AD, Caligula extended Agrippa’s rule by giving him Galilee and Perea, the territory of his uncle Antipas, who had been sent into exile.
• Finally, when his former schoolmate Claudius became emperor in 41AD, he was given rule of Judea and Samaria, which had been under Roman jurisdiction for thirty-five years.
• He was truly “king of the Jews” now, ruling over all of Judea, Samaria, Galilee, the Transjordan, and the Decapolis.
• Though king, Agrippa was hardly secure. Much of his good fortune was due to his friendship with Caligula, and Caligula had not been a popular emperor with the Romans.
• In fact, Agrippa could not count on always being in the good graces of Rome.
• It became all the more important for him to win the loyalty of his Jewish subjects in order to give him at least a firm footing at home.
• Everything Josephus said about Agrippa would indicate that he made every attempt to please the Jews, particularly currying the favor of the influential Pharisees.
• His “Jewishness,” however, seems to have been largely a face he put on when at home.
• When away, he lived in a thoroughly Roman fashion.
• Why persecution of the Christians was particularly pleasing to them at this time is not stated. Perhaps the acceptance of uncircumcised Gentiles as related in chap. 11 had something to do with their disfavor.[9]

2 and he executed James, John’s brother (sons of Zebedee), with the sword. 3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

• James is the first of the Twelve to be martyred.
• James and John, with their mother, had asked for thrones, but Jesus made it clear that there can be no glory apart from suffering.
• “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” He asked (Matt. 20:22).
• Their bold reply was, “We are able.”
• The martyrdom of James is told with the utmost brevity.
• Luke did not want to dwell on it but used the incident to set the stage for his main emphasis—God’s deliverance of Peter.[10]

4 After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

• Herod would not risk his favor with the Jews by executing Peter during this time, since that would be considered a desecration.[11]

5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.
 
PETER RESCUED
6 When Herod was about to bring him out for trial, that very night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.

• That Peter could sleep so soundly the night before his trial is perhaps indicative of his calm assurance that he was in God’s hands.[12]
• But the main cause of Peter’s peace was the knowledge that Herod could not kill him.
• Jesus had promised Peter that he would live to be an old man and end his life crucified on a Roman cross (John 21:18–19 - “Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go.” 19 He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God.)[13]
• Peter simply laid hold of that promise and committed the entire situation to the Lord, and God gave him peace and rest.
• He did not know how or when God would deliver him, but he did know that deliverance was coming.[14]

7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, “Quick, get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8 “Get dressed,” the angel told him, “and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Wrap your cloak around you,” he told him, “and follow me.”

• This was the end of the Passover week.
• The Passover was a week long rememberance of how God delivered the Israelites from Egypt.
• Now God is delivering Peter from the hands of King Herod.

9 So he went out and followed, and he did not know that what the angel did was really happening, but he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him.
11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.” 12 As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many had assembled and were praying.

• Since it was the prayers of God’s people that had helped to set him free, Peter decided that the best place for him would be in that prayer meeting at Mary’s house.
• Furthermore, he wanted to report the good news that God had answered their prayers.

13 He knocked at the door of the outer gate, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer. 14 She recognized Peter’s voice, and because of her joy, she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the outer gate.

• Rhoda had been praying for a week for Peter’s release but when it actually happened, she did not have enough faith to open the door.
• She couldn’t believe God answered their prayers.
• We must face the fact that even in the most fervent prayer meetings there is sometimes a spirit of doubt and unbelief.
• We are like the father who cried to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)
• These Jerusalem saints believed that God could answer their prayers, so they kept at it night and day.
• But, when the answer came right to their door, they refused to believe it.[15]

15 “You’re out of your mind!” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true, and they said, “It’s his angel.” 16 Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.
17 Motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Tell these things to James and the brothers,” he said, and he left and went to another place.

• Where Peter went when he left the meeting, nobody knows to this day!
• It certainly was a well-kept secret.
• Except for a brief appearance in Acts 15, Peter walks off the pages of the Book of Acts to make room for Paul and the story of his ministry among the Gentiles.
  
• 1 Corinthians 9:5 tells us that Peter traveled in ministry with his wife, and 1 Corinthians 1:12 suggests that he visited Corinth.[16]

[1] The Untold Story of the New Testament Church: An Extraordinary Gide to Understanding the New Testament, Frank Viola, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 2004. Chapter 8
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 449). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ac 21:16). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 449). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 272). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[6] The Untold Story of the New Testament Church: An Extraordinary Gide to Understanding the New Testament, Frank Viola, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 2004. Chapter 8
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 449). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[8] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 451). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[9] Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, pp. 277–278). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[10] Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, pp. 278–279). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[11] Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 279). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[12] Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 280). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[13] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Jn 21:18). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[14] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 453). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[15] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 454). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[16] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 454). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

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