Acts 11

Ac 11:1-18.

PETER

VINDICATES

HIMSELF BEFORE THE

CHURCH IN

JERUSALEM FOR

HIS

PROCEDURE TOWARDS THE

GENTILES.

1-11. the apostles and brethren . . . in Judea--rather, "throughout

Judea."

2. they . . . of the circumcision--not the Jewish Christians generally,

for here there were no other, but such as, from their jealousy for "the

middle wall of partition" which circumcision raised between Jew and

Gentile, were afterwards known as "they of the circumcision." They

doubtless embraced apostles as well as others.

3, 4. Thou wentest in . . . But Peter rehearsed the matter,

&c.--These objectors scruple not to demand from Peter, though the first

among the apostles, an explanation of his conduct; nor is there any

insinuation on Peter's part of disrespect towards his authority in that

demand--a manifest proof that such authority was unknown both to the

complainers and to himself.

12-18. we entered the man's house--No mention of Cornelius' name, much

less of his high position, as if that affected the question. To the

charge, "Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised," he simply speaks of

the uncircumcised "man" to whom he had been divinely sent.

13. seen an angel--literally, "the angel," for the rumor took that

definite shape.

14. Who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be

saved--The historian makes the angel express this much more generally

(Ac 10:6).

So also the subsequent report of it by the deputies and by Cornelius

himself to Peter

(Ac 10:22, 32).

But as Peter tarried with Cornelius certain days, and they doubtless

talked over the wonderful scene together, perhaps this fuller and

richer form of what the angel said was given to Peter; or the apostle

himself may have expressed what the angel certainly

designed by directing them to send for him. 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.

On that of his "house," see on

Lu 19:10.

16, 17. Then remembered I the word . . . John . . . baptized with

water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then,

&c.--that is, "Since God Himself has put them on a level with

ourselves, by bestowing on them what the Lord Jesus pronounced the

higher baptism of the Holy Ghost, would it not have been to withstand

God if I had withheld from them the lower baptism of water, and kept

aloof from them as still 'unclean?'"

18. held their peace and glorified God--Well had it been if, when

Paul afterwards adduced equally resistless evidence in justification of

the same line of procedure, this Jewish party had shown the same

reverential and glad submission!

Then hath God also granted to the Gentiles, &c.--rather, "granted

to the Gentiles also." (See a similar misplacement of "also" in

Heb 12:1).

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. And this is the grace that reigns

in every conversion.

Ac 11:19-24.

THE

GOSPEL

BEING

PREACHED TO

GENTILES AT

ANTIOCH

ALSO

BARNABAS

IS

SENT

THITHER FROM

JERUSALEM,

WHO

HAILS

THEIR

ACCESSION AND

LABORS AMONG

THEM.

19. they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose

about Stephen--and who "went everywhere preaching the word"

(Ac 8:4).

travelled as far as Phenice--that part of the Mediterranean coast

which, commencing a little north of Cæsarea, stretches northwards for

upwards of one hundred miles, halfway to Antioch.

and Cyprus--(See on

Ac 4:36).

An active commercial intercourse subsisted between Phenice and Cyprus.

and Antioch--near the head of the northeast coast of the Mediterranean,

on the river Orontes, and containing a large colony of Jews, to whose

religion there were there numerous proselytes. "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].

20. some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene--(see on

Lu 23:26);

as Lucius, mentioned in

Ac 13:1.

spake unto the Grecians--rather, "the Greeks," that is,

uncircumcised Gentiles (as the true reading beyond doubt is). 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?

21. a great number believed--Thus the accession of Cornelius and

his party was not the first admission of uncircumcised Gentiles into

the Church. (See on

Ac 10:1.)

Nay, we read of no influence which the accession of Cornelius and his

house had on the further progress of the Gospel among the Gentiles;

whereas there here open upon us operations upon the Gentiles from quite

a different quarter, and attended with ever growing success. The only

great object served by the case of Cornelius was the formal

recognition of the principles which that case afterwards secured.

(See on

Ac 15:19-29.)

22. sent . . . Barnabas . . . as far as Antioch--implying that even

on the way to Antioch he found churches to visit [OLSHAUSEN].

It was in

the first instance, no doubt, a mission of inquiry; and no one could be

more suitable to inquire into the proceedings of those Cyprians and

Cyrenians than one who was himself a "Grecian" of Cyprus

(Ac 4:36),

and "a son of consolation."

23. when he . . . had seen the grace of God--in the new converts.

was glad--owned and rejoiced in it at once as divine, though they

were uncircumcised.

exhorted them all that with purpose of heart--as opposed to a hasty

and fickle discipleship.

they would cleave unto the Lord--the Lord Jesus.

24. For he was a good man--The sense of "good" here is plainly

"large-hearted," "liberal-minded," rising above narrow Jewish

sectarianism, and that because, as the historian adds, he was "full of

the Holy Ghost and of faith."

and much people were added unto the Lord--This proceeding of Barnabas,

so full of wisdom, love, and zeal, was blessed to the great increase of

the Christian community in that important city.

Ac 11:25, 26.

BARNABAS,

FINDING THE

WORK IN

ANTIOCH

TOO

MUCH FOR

HIM,

GOES TO

TARSUS FOR

SAUL--THEY

LABOR

THERE

TOGETHER FOR A

WHOLE

YEAR WITH

MUCH

SUCCESS, AND

ANTIOCH

BECOMES THE

HONORED

BIRTHPLACE OF THE

TERM

CHRISTIAN.

25. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul--Of course,

this was after the hasty despatch of Saul to Tarsus, no doubt by

Barnabas himself among others, to escape the fury of the Jews at

Jerusalem. And as Barnabas was the first to take the converted

persecutor by the hand and procure his recognition as a disciple by the

brethren at Jerusalem

(Ac 9:27),

so he alone seems at that early period to have discerned in him those

peculiar endowments by virtue of which he was afterwards to eclipse all

others. Accordingly, instead of returning to Jerusalem, to which, no

doubt, he sent accounts of his proceedings from time to time, finding

that the mine in Antioch was rich in promise and required an additional

and powerful hand to work, he leaves it for a time, takes a journey to

Tarsus, "finds Saul" (seemingly implying--not that he lay hid [BENGEL], but that he was engaged at the time in some

preaching circuit--see on

Ac 15:23),

and returns with him to Antioch. Nor were his hopes disappointed. As

co-pastors, for the time being, of the Church there, they so labored

that the Gospel, even in that great and many-sided community, achieved

for itself a name which will live and be gloried in as long as this

world lasts, as the symbol of all that is most precious to the fallen

family of man:--"The disciples were called CHRISTIANS first in Antioch." This name originated

not within, but without, the Church; not with their Jewish

enemies, by whom they were styled "Nazarenes"

(Ac 24:5),

but with the heathen in Antioch, and (as the form of the word

shows) with the Romans, not the Greeks there [OLSHAUSEN]. It was not at first used in a good sense (as

Ac 26:28;

1Pe 4:16

show), though hardly framed out of contempt (as

DE

WETTE,

BAUMGARTEN, &c.); but as it was a noble testimony

to the light in which the Church regarded Christ--honoring Him as their

only Lord and Saviour, dwelling continually on His name, and glorying

in it--so it was felt to be too apposite and beautiful to be allowed to

die.

Ac 11:27-30.

BY

OCCASION OF A

FAMINE

BARNABAS AND

SAUL

RETURN TO

JERUSALEM WITH A

CONTRIBUTION FOR THE

RELIEF OF

THEIR

SUFFERING

BRETHREN.

27. came prophets from Jerusalem--inspired teachers, a class we shall

afterwards frequently meet with, who sometimes, but not necessarily,

foretold future events. They are classed next to apostles

(1Co 12:28, 29;

Eph 4:11).

28. that there should be great dearth throughout all the world--the

whole Roman empire.

which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cæsar--Four famines

occurred during his reign. This one in Judea and the adjacent countries

took place, A.D. 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).

29. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined

to send relief, &c.--This was the pure prompting of Christian love,

which shone so bright in those earliest days of the Gospel.

30. sent it to the elders--an office well known to be borrowed

from the synagogue; after the model of which, and not at all of the

temple, the Christian Churches were constituted by the apostles.

SECOND

VISIT TO

JERUSALEM after his conversion.