Copyright 2024 by Joseph Shulam
Acts 11 reviews Peter's experience with the house of Cornelius in Caesarea for the brothers in Jerusalem. The Jewish church in Jerusalem found it difficult to believe and accept that the God of Israel would receive Gentiles, a Roman centurion, into the Body of Christ. Peter had to recount the story and convince the leaders of the Jerusalem church that what happened was really from God. The writer of the book of Acts uses this event as an introduction to the ministry that God would give Paul the Apostle.
In this lesson, I would like to show how Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, prepares the reader for Paul's ministry among the Gentiles.
The recounting of the conversion of Cornelius is the approval of the Jerusalem church leaders for the Gentiles to come into the Body of Christ without conversion to Judaism. At the end of Peter's presentation of the story, the other Apostles of the Jerusalem church respond in this way:
"When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."
This verse reveals that Peter had to recount the story because the Jerusalem church had objections in the beginning. But after Peter's presentation and after they saw that God had given the Gentiles the Holy Spirit and the same gift, they had no further objections. The Jerusalem Apostles understood that God had given the Gentiles the same privilege that Jews had from the Law of Moses: "repentance unto life."
After describing the opening of the gates of God's Kingdom to the Gentiles, Luke sets the Geographical background for Paul's future mission among the Gentiles. The persecution of the Jerusalem Church in Jerusalem and Judea resulted from the stoning of Stephen, described in chapter seven of Acts.
Acts 8:1:
"On that day, a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria."
In chapter 11:19, we are told that the scattering of the believers was much larger geographically than just the areas of Judea and Samaria. Jewish believers from Jerusalem had gone as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, which are Israel's immediate neighboring countries. Interestingly, the Holy Spirit stresses that the Jerusalem Jewish believers continued to tell the message of salvation to Jews only. They had not learned what God told them from Peter's experience and Cornelious' conversion.
In verse 20, we are told that some people from Cyprus and Cyrene, who went to Antioch, also began to speak to the Greeks, "telling them the Good News about the Lord Yeshua." The word "Greeks" in this context is problematic. Typically speaking, the word "Greeks" means people from Greece. In the Jewish context of the first century CE, it can also mean Jews who had accepted the Greek culture and language. We clearly see this in Acts 6, verse 1, where the same Greek word "Hellens" is used. In chapter 6:1, it is clear that the meaning is Jews who were Hellenized, but in chapter 11:20, it might just mean regular Greeks from a Gentile background.
What is interesting is that it was people from Cyprus and Cyrene who did this preaching in Antioch, not Jews from Judea or Jerusalem. Overcoming racial prejudice is challenging. Note that God's hand was with these believers from Cyprus and Cyrene, and they produced good fruit from their work, and "many turned to the Lord."
The phrase "turned to the Lord" is very interesting. In the Hebrew language, the word for "repent" is תשרבה and means "to turn" -"to go back". When a Jew who is secular, not religious, becomes religious in Israel today, they call him בעל תשרבה- "Baal Teshuvah" - which means "one who has come back" -or - "one who has turned." The Greeks in Antioch who have "turned to the Lord" are Greeks who have repented and have left idolatry behind them and embraced faith in One God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
A second Greek word customarily used for "repentance" in the New Testament is "a change of mind." This word comes from the Greek background, and "to turn" comes from the Jewish background of the New Testament.
We are told in chapter 11:22 that when the church in Jerusalem heard the news about what God was doing in Antioch, they sent Barnabas. Why did they feel they had to send someone like Barnabas from Jerusalem? Verse 23 states Barnabas was sent to inspect if it is true that God's grace has been given to Gentiles in Antioch. When he saw that the news was accurate and that Gentiles had given their heart to God, he encouraged them to continue in their faith.
"But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. 18 Then, after three years, I went to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days".
Barnabas brings Paul to Antioch, and they spend a whole year with the church in Antioch. During this time, the name "Christian" began to describe the disciples of Yeshua, the Messiah. In order to understand this name, "Christians," we need to look a little into the Greek and Hebrew origin of the root words "Christ" in Greek and "Messiah" in Hebrew.
The Hebrew word מש׳ה (Mashiach) means "anointed." The Greek word for "anointed" is "Christos," and this is why the "Messiah" was called "Christ" in Greek.
John 1:41:
"The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ)."
So, in Greek, the disciples of Yeshua were called "Christians," meaning those who follow Christ. In Hebrew, the same word would come from "Messiah," and in the adjective form would be "Messianic." In the first century CE, there would be no difference between a Messianic person and a Christian person. The only difference would be in the language that would be spoken.
Today, after two thousand years of "Christian" history, a difference has been established because "Christianity" has become a different faith than the faith that the New Testament represents. Thousands of sects and churches are not a part of the program given to us in God's word, the reason why people who want to return and be as much as possible, like the Early Church, have chosen to call themselves "Messianic."
Verse 27 changes the scene and tells us:
"During this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up through the spirit and predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius) 29 The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabus and Saul."
Luke now introduces Paul's mission for the future. The prophecy of Agabus in Antioch of Syria allows the church to serve the brothers in Judea and Jerusalem. For Luke, Paul's whole mission is to bring this gift to Jerusalem and, by doing this, complete the cycle of reconciliation between the Jewish people and the Gentiles in Christ. Many of Paul's letters were written for the purpose of raising funds to fulfill this mission of helping the brothers in Jerusalem and Judea. Here is a list of passages that have this project of fundraising as their background:
Romans 15:26-27:
"For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed, they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings".
1 Corinthians 16:1-2:
"Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come, no collections will have to be made".
2 Corinthians 9:10-13
"Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will
also, supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 1 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion. Through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else".
The majority of Paul's ministry was involved in preparing for the fulfillment of what Agabus prophesied would happen in the Roman Empire. The rest of the Book of Acts tells the story of how God made it possible for Paul to bring the blessing of the Gentiles to Jerusalem.
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