Intro to Acts 9.1-21.17

Part 2. Unto the uttermost part of the earth (9.1-21.17)

Just before His ascension, the Saviour promised his disciples ‘ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth’ (1.8). The Acts of the Apostles records this outward dissemination of the Gospel. Even though ‘we never read of the church at Jerusalem … deliberately initiating any mission to the Gentiles’[i], as Samaria, and then the Gentile regions beyond, received the word of God, Jerusalem remained a firm feature in the narrative. For example, ‘when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John … [who] when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans’ (8.14, 25). The converted Ethiopian eunuch ‘had come to Jerusalem for to worship’ (8.27). Determined to prevent further spread of the Christian message, Saul of Tarsus obtained authority from the high priest to travel 300km north east to the ancient Syrian city of Damascus to bind, and bring to Jerusalem any believers he found in its synagogues (9.1, 2).

But there was a seemingly insurmountable barrier to overcome. In the OT Jehovah graciously chose Israel to be His highly prized, “special people”, set apart from the surrounding nations and devoted entirely to Himself (Ex 19.5; Dt 7.6, 7; 14.2; 26.18, 19). The Law, which He gave Israel, was designed to separate her from the idolatrous practices of her Gentile neighbours. The dietary prohibitions alone prevented Jews from eating with Gentiles (Lev 11). Devout Jews took this one stage further, refusing to even enter a Gentile house (10.28; 11.3).

When Christ died on the cross, He broke ‘down the middle wall of partition between [Jew and Gentile]; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace’ (Eph 2.14, 15). Jews, who under Law, had been treated like children (Gal 4.1-3), were ‘now to leave their childhood and learn to live and be trusted as grown-up sons. One of the first things to go was the food laws’[ii]. God, Who instituted them, now annulled them (10.15; 11.9). All could now be eaten (cf. 1 Tim 4.3-5). Of course, the Lord Jesus had already ‘declared all foods clean’ (Mk 7.19, NASB).

But how could the longstanding division between Jews and Gentiles, so clearly laid out in Mosaic Law and firmly embedded in the Jewish conscience, be abolished functionally in the church? The story of Cornelius answers this key question (10.1-11.18). It shows how the doctrinal reality ‘that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel’ (Eph 3.6), was realised practically. Of course, Luke, being a converted Gentile physician, had great personal interest in this vital issue.

Meanwhile, about the time of Stephen’s stoning (which Saul had fully endorsed), severe persecution in Jerusalem led to many believers being ‘scattered abroad [diaspeirō, to sow throughout] throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria’, some travelling ‘as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch’ (8.1; 11.19). ‘Phenice’ (11.19; 15.3), also known as ‘Phenicia’ (21.2), or Phoenicia, was the narrow coastal strip between the Mediterranean and the Lebanon mountain range, now called Lebanon. Christ’s own ministry extended into this region (Mt 15.21); later in Acts we read of at least three churches in this area: at Tyre (21.3, 4), Ptolemais (21.7), and Sidon (27.3). During their first missionary journey, Barnabas and Saul preached on the island of Cyprus (13.4-13). Antioch, the capital city of the Roman province of Syria, was the third largest city in the Empire (after Rome and Alexandria), with an estimated population of 500,000.[iii] At first, the scattered disciples preached ‘the word to none but unto the Jews only’ (11.19). But things changed. When several from Cyprus and Cyrene (‘a Greek colonial city in North Africa’[iv], cf. Mt 27.32), arrived in Antioch, they ‘spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord'” 11.20, 21. As far as the Acts record is concerned, this was “the first church to be planted outside of Jerusalem and Judaea’[v].

When ‘tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem … they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch’ (11.22). Their delegate choice proved crucial to the work of God. Although Barnabas, being a Cypriot Levite (4.36), came from a Dispersion family, he ‘was regarded with complete confidence in Jerusalem and acted as a pivot or link between the Hebrew and Hellenistic elements in the church’[vi]. Being ‘full of the Holy Ghost and of faith’, and the only man in Acts to be called ‘good’, Barnabas was exceptionally godly (11.24). As a natural encourager (4.36; cf. 9.27), sensitive and discerning, ‘when he came, and had seen the grace of God, [he] was glad’ (v23). Avoiding any attempt to enforce these newly converted Gentiles to observe Mosaic Law, he ‘exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord’ (11.23).

Appreciating his own limitations and understanding the enormity of the task in hand, Barnabas departed ‘to Tarsus for, to seek Saul’ (11.25). Tarsus, which was a university city in the imperial province of Cilicia, was ‘ranked as a free city under the Romans from 64 BC’[vii]. Three years post-conversion, after a brief visit to Jerusalem, Saul had returned to Tarsus, his home city (9.28-30; Gal 1.18, 21). When Barnabas found him, he was likely obeying his divine call and evangelising the Gentile ‘regions of Syria and Cilicia’ (9.15; Gal 2.2). The churches of ‘Syria and Cilicia’ which he confirmed at the beginning of his second missionary journey had probably been founded during this initial preaching period (15.41).

Saul responded positively to Barnabas’ request. ‘And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch’ (11.26). Their one year of teaching together shows the priority local churches should give to Christ-exalting Bible exposition, the need for new believers to be established in the faith and the benefit of sitting under the varied ministry of more than one teacher.

When the Jerusalem-based prophet Agabus came to Antioch, he ‘signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar’ (v28). Moved with pity towards their Jewish brethren, these Gentile Christians, ‘every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea: which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul’ (vv29, 30). This generosity must have contributed to the practical fusion of Christian Jews and Gentiles. After delivering the gift, Paul and Barnabas returned from Jerusalem to Antioch, accompanied by John Mark (12.25).

During the first missionary journey, after leaving Cyprus, John Mark ‘returned to Jerusalem’ (13.13). Sadly, the link between Jerusalem and Antioch temporarily soured when men from Judaea told the Antioch Christians they had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses (15.1). This prompted the Jerusalem council, which further addressed the issue of Gentile Christians being accepted by their Jewish brothers (15.2-31).

[i] Gooding D. True to the Faith (Coleraine, N Ireland: The Myrtlefield Trust, reprinted 2013), p. 221.

[ii] Ibid, p. 207.

[iii] Marshall IH. ACTS. (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, Reprinted 1984), p. 201.

[iv] Davis Dictionary of the Bible (London: Pickering & Inglis Ltd.), p. 162.

[v] Gooding D. True to the Faith (Coleraine, N Ireland: The Myrtlefield Trust, Reprinted 2013), p. 220.

[vi] Marshall IH. ACTS. (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, Reprinted 1984), p. 202.

[vii] Bruce FF. The Book of the Acts (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing Company, Reprinted 1984), pp. 207, 208.