13 Making Room for the Gentiles

Acts 11 describes how the church in Jerusalem related to “the saints below,” the Gentiles in Caesarea and Antioch who had trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Having fellowship with the Gentiles was a new experience for these Jewish Christians, who all their lives had looked on the Gentiles as pagans and outsiders. Tradition said that a Gentile had to “become a Jew” in order to be accepted, but now Jews and Gentiles were united in the church through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:26-28).

Acts 11 describes three responses of the Jewish believers to the Gentile Christians. As you study these responses, you will better understand how Christians today ought to relate to one another.

1. THEY ACCEPTED THE GENTILES (11:1-18)

Peter no sooner returned to Jerusalem when he was met by members of the strong legalistic party in the church of Judea (“they that were of the circumcision”) who rebuked him for fellowshipping with Gentiles and eating with them. Keep in mind that these Jewish believers did not yet understand the relationship between law and grace, Jews and Gentiles, and Israel and the church. Most Christians today understand these truths, but, after all, we have Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and Hebrews! There were many converted priests in the church who would be zealous for the law (Acts 6:7), and even the ordinary Jewish believer would have a difficult time making the transition (21:20). It was not only a matter of religion, but also of culture, and cultural habits are very hard to break.

The phrase “contended with him” comes from the same word translated “doubting nothing” in Acts 10:20 and 11:12. It means “to make a difference.” These legalists were making a difference between the Gentiles and the Jews after Peter had demonstrated that “there is no difference!” God had declared the Gentiles “clean,” that is, accepted before God on the same basis as the Jews–through faith in Jesus Christ.

Peter had nothing to fear. After all, he had only followed orders from the Lord, and the Spirit had clearly confirmed the salvation of the Gentiles. Peter reviewed the entire experience from beginning to end, and when he was finished, the Jewish legalists dropped their charges and glorified God for the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18). However, this did not end the matter completely, for this same legalistic party later debated with Paul about the salvation of the Gentiles (14:26–15:2). Even after the Jerusalem Conference, legalistic teachers continued to attack Paul and invade the churches he founded. They wanted to woo the believers into a life of obedience to the law (Gal. 1:6ff.; Phil. 3:1-3, 17-21). It is possible that many of these legalists were genuine believers, but they did not understand their freedom in Jesus Christ (Gal. 5:1ff.).

In his personal defense in Acts 11, Peter presented three pieces of evidence: the vision from God (Acts 11:5-11), the witness of the Spirit (vv. 12-15, 17), and the witness of the Word (v. 16). Of course, none of these men had seen the vision, but they trusted Peter’s report, for they knew that he had been as orthodox as they in his personal life (10:14). He was not likely to go to the Gentiles on his own and then invent a story to back it up.

The witness of the Spirit was crucial, for this was God’s own testimony that He had indeed saved the Gentiles. It is interesting that Peter had to go all the way back to Pentecost to find an example of what happened in the home of Cornelius! This suggests that a dramatic “baptism of the Spirit” (Acts 11:16), accompanied by speaking in tongues, was not an everyday occurrence in the early church. Peter could not use the experience of the Samaritans as his example, because the Samaritans received the gift of the Spirit through the laying on of the apostles’ hands (8:14-17). Cornelius and his household received the Spirit the moment they trusted Christ. This is the pattern for today.

“What was I, that I could withstand God?” asked Peter, and to this question, the legalists had no answer. From beginning to end, the conversion of the Gentiles was God’s gracious work. He gave them the gift of repentance and the gift of salvation when they believed. In later years, God would use the letters of Paul to explain the “one body,” how believing Jews and believing Gentiles are united in Christ (Eph. 2:11–3:12). But at that time, this “mystery” was still hidden, so we must not be too hard on those saints who were uneasy about the place of the Gentiles in the church.

Christians are to receive one another and not dispute over cultural differences or minor matters of personal conviction (Rom. 14–15). Some of the Jewish Christians in the early church wanted the Gentiles to become Jews, and some of the Gentile believers wanted the Jews to stop being Jews and become Gentiles! This attitude can create serious division in the church even today, so it is important that we follow the example of Acts 11:18 and the admonition of Romans 14:1, and receive those whom God has also received.

2. THEY ENCOURAGED THE GENTILES (11:19-26)

When the saints were scattered abroad during Saul’s persecution of the church (Acts 8:1), some of them ended up in Antioch, the capital of Syria, three hundred miles north of Jerusalem. (Don’t confuse this city with Antioch in Pisidia, Acts 13:14.) There were at least sixteen Antiochs in the ancient world, but this one was the greatest.

With a population of half a million, Antioch ranked as the third largest city in the Roman Empire, following Rome and Alexandria. Its magnificent buildings helped give it the name “Antioch the Golden, Queen of the East.” The main street was more than four miles long, paved with marble, and lined on both sides by marble colonnades. It was the only city in the ancient world at that time that had its streets lighted at night.

A busy port and a center for luxury and culture, Antioch attracted all kinds of people, including wealthy retired Roman officials who spent their days chatting in the baths or gambling at the races. With its large cosmopolitan population and its great commercial and political power, Antioch presented to the church an exciting opportunity for evangelism. Antioch was a wicked city, perhaps second only to Corinth. Though all the Greek, Roman, and Syrian deities were honored, the local shrine was dedicated to Daphne, whose worship included immoral practices. “Antioch was to the Roman world what New York City is to ours,” writes James A. Kelso in An Archaeologist Follows the Apostle Paul. “Here where all the gods of antiquity were worshipped, Christ must be exalted.” Not only was an effective church built in Antioch, but it became the church that sent Paul out to win the Gentile world for Christ.

When the persecuted believers arrived in Antioch, they did not at all feel intimidated by the magnificence of the buildings or the pride of the citizens. The Word of God was on their lips and the hand of God was on their witness, and “a great number” of sinners repented and believed. It was a thrilling work of God’s wonderful grace.

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” (Acts 4:36 NASB).

Acts 11:24 gives us a “spiritual profile” of Barnabas, and he appears to be the kind of Christian all of us would do well to emulate. He was a righteous man who obeyed the Word in daily life so that his character was above reproach. He was filled with the Spirit, which explains the effectiveness of his ministry. That he was a man of faith is evident from the way he encouraged the church and then encouraged Saul. New Christians and new churches need people like Barnabas to encourage them in their growth and ministry.

How did Barnabas encourage these new Gentile believers? For one thing, he rejoiced at what he saw. Worshiping with Gentiles was a new experience for him, but he approached it positively and did not look for things to criticize. It was a work of God, and Barnabas gave thanks for God’s grace. He emphasized dedication of the heart as he taught the people the Word of God. The phrase “cleave [cling] to the Lord” does not suggest that they were to “keep themselves saved.” The same grace that saves us can also keep us (1 Cor. 15:10; Heb. 13:9). The phrase reminds us of Joshua’s admonition to Israel in Joshua 22:5. To “cleave to the Lord” includes loving the Lord, walking in His ways, obeying His Word, and serving Him wholeheartedly. It means that we belong to Him alone and that we cultivate our devotion to Him. “No man can serve two masters” (Matt. 6:24).

There were two wonderful results from Barnabas’s work in Antioch. First, the church’s witness made a great impact on the city so that “many people were added to the Lord” (Acts 11:24 NKJV). When the saints are grounded in the Word, they will have a strong witness to the lost, and there will be a balance in the church between edification and evangelism, worship and witness, teaching and testifying.

Second, the growth of the church meant that Barnabas needed help, so he went to Tarsus and enlisted Saul. But why go so far away just to find an assistant? 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 (9:15; 22:21; 26:17). You recall that Barnabas befriended Saul in Jerusalem (9:26-27), and no doubt the two of them often talked about Saul’s special call from God.

Saul had been converted about ten years when Barnabas brought him to Antioch. The New Testament does not tell us what Saul did back home in Tarsus after he left Jerusalem (Acts 9:28-30), but it is likely he was busy evangelizing both Jews and Gentiles. It may have been during this period that he founded the churches in Cilicia (15:23, 41; Gal. 1:21), and that he experienced some of the sufferings listed in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28. As he witnessed in the synagogues, you can be sure he would not have had an easy time of it!

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. It was one of D. L. Moody’s policies that each new Christian be given a task soon after conversion. At first, it might be only passing out hymnals or ushering people to their seats, but each convert had to be busy. As previously mentioned, he said, “It is better to put ten men to work than to do the work of ten men.” Many of Mr. Moody’s “assistants” became effective Christian workers in their own right, and this multiplied the witness. It was at Antioch that the name Christian was first applied to the disciples of Jesus Christ. The Latin suffix -ian means “belonging to the party of.” In derision, some of the pagan citizens of Antioch joined this Latin suffix to the Hebrew name “Christ” and came up with Christian. The name is found only three times in the entire New Testament: Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16.

Unfortunately, the word Christian has lost a great deal of significance over the centuries and no longer means one who has turned from sin, trusted Jesus Christ, and received salvation by grace (Acts 11:21-26). Many people who have never been born again consider themselves “Christians” simply because they say they are not “pagans.” After all, they may belong to a church, attend services somewhat regularly, and even occasionally give to the work of the church! But it takes more than that for a sinner to become a child of God. It takes repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins on the cross and rose again to give us eternal life.

The believers in the early church suffered because they were Christians (1 Peter 4:16). Dr. David Otis Fuller has asked, “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” A good question! And the answer is a matter of life or death!

3. THEY RECEIVED HELP FROM THE GENTILES (11:27-30)

The foundation for the church was laid by the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20), and then both eventually moved off the scene. After all, you don’t keep laying the foundation! The New Testament prophets received their messages from the Lord by the Holy Spirit, and delivered them to the people, sometimes in a tongue. The message would then have to be interpreted, after which the people would evaluate the message to make sure it came from God (see 1 Cor. 12:10; 14:27-33; 1 Thess. 5:19-21).

The New Testament prophets received their messages from the Lord immediately, but ministers and teachers today get their messages mediately through the Scriptures. We today have the completed Word of God from which the Holy Spirit teaches and guides us. First Corinthians 12:10 ties together the gifts of prophecy, discernment, and tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Of course, the Spirit is sovereign and can give to a believer any gift He desires (1 Cor. 12:11), but the passing of apostles and prophets from the scene, and the completing of God’s revelation in the Word, suggest that a change has taken place.

There are people today who claim to receive special “words of revelation” or “words of wisdom” from the Lord, but such revelations are suspect and even dangerous. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20). “Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you,” warned Jeremiah. “They make you vain [fill you with false hopes]: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD” (Jer. 23:16).

The Spirit told Agabus (see Acts 21:10-11) that a great famine was soon to come, and it did come during the reign of Claudius Caesar (AD 41-54), when crops were poor for many years. 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.

Agabus delivered his message to the Antioch believers, and they determined to help their fellow Christians in Judea. The purpose of true prophecy is not to satisfy our curiosity about the future but to stir up our hearts to do the will of God. The believers could not stop the famine from coming, but they could send relief to those in need.

An important spiritual principle is illustrated in this passage: If people have been a spiritual blessing to us, we should minister to them out of our material possessions. “Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches” (Gal. 6:6 NKJV). The Jewish believers in Jerusalem had brought the gospel to Antioch. Then they had sent Barnabas to encourage the new believers. It was only right that the Gentiles in Antioch reciprocate and send material help to their Jewish brothers and sisters in Judea. Some years later, Paul would gather a similar offering from the Gentile churches and take it to the saints in Jerusalem (Acts 24:17; and see Rom. 15:23-28).

It is important to note that a change had taken place in the Jerusalem church. At one time, nobody in the church had any need (Acts 4:34), nor was it necessary to ask others for help. Those early years were “days of heaven on earth” as God richly blessed His people and used them as witnesses to the unbelieving nation. They were “times of refreshing” from the Lord (3:19). But when the message moved from the Jews to the Samaritans and the Gentiles, the Jerusalem “sharing program” gradually faded away and things became more normal.

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 fact that the church elected Barnabas and Saul to take the relief offering to Jerusalem is evidence that they had confidence in them. The men had been working together in the teaching of the Word, and now they joined hands in the practical ministry of relieving the wants of the Jerusalem believers. No doubt they also ministered the Word along the way as they made the long journey from Antioch to Jerusalem. In a short time, the Spirit would call these two friends to join forces and take the gospel to the Gentiles in other lands (Acts 13:1ff.), and they would travel many miles together.

Another significant result from this ministry was the addition of John Mark to their “team” (Acts 12:25). It is likely that Mark was converted through the ministry of Peter (1 Peter 5:13). His mother’s house was a gathering place for the Jerusalem believers (Acts 12:12), and she and Barnabas were related (Col. 4:10). Even though John Mark failed in his first “term” as a missionary (Acts 13:13), and helped cause a rift between Barnabas and Paul (Acts 15:38-40), he later became an effective assistant to Paul (2 Tim. 4:11) and was used of God to write the gospel of Mark.

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). When you compare Acts 20:17 and 28, and Titus 1:5 and 7, you learn that “elder” and “bishop” [overseer] are equivalent titles. The elders/bishops were the “pastors” of the flocks, assisted by the deacons, and the qualifications for both are found in 1 Timothy 3.

Wherever Paul established churches, he saw to it that qualified elders were ordained to give leadership to the assemblies (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). In the Jerusalem church, the apostles and elders gave spiritual oversight (Acts 15:2, 4, 6, 22). The delegation from the Antioch church did not ignore the spiritual leaders in Jerusalem, but delivered the gift to them for distribution to the needy members. This is an important principle and should be heeded in this day when so many organizations want to get support from local churches.

Was it a humbling experience for the Jewish believers to receive help from the Gentiles? Perhaps, but it was also a beautiful demonstration of love and a wonderful testimony of unity. Sir Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” It was an enriching experience for the churches in Jerusalem and in Antioch, for there is blessing both in giving and receiving when God’s grace is in control.

It is unfortunate when individual Christians and local churches forget those who have been a spiritual blessing to them. The church at Antioch is a splendid example of how we as believers ought to show gratitude in a practical way to those who have helped us in our Christian life. Phillips Brooks was asked what he would do to revive a dead church, and he replied, “I would take up a missionary offering!”

Sincerely thinking of others is still the best formula for a happy and useful Christian life, both for individuals and for churches. Acts 11